Garmin Vs. Raymarine

[DCMY #92]

I am on the fence between installing the Garmin 4212 Chartplotter or the Raymarine E120, each with black box sonar and sat weather.

Any testimonials would be appreciated.

 

[Boatsb]

I have the E120 and I love it. I like the support of the other system components and believe it better than Garmin. On the other hand the Furuno is sweet too.

FYI the Raymarine E-120 is now the little brother to the G series so I suspect there may be some updates that are coming as the new G series gets more features.

 

[SeaEric]

I have owned both. I prefer the Garmin as I find the operation of it to be more user-friendly.

 

[Genesis]

I have owned Garmin for years and have used lots of Ray stuff and while I like the Ray radar sets you couldn't GIVE me their plotters.

I vote for the Garmin.

BTW, I have the sounder + XM Weather/Radio and plotter system in my little boat. It rocks.

 

[sofarelli]

I have the new Garmin touch screen and love it.
It is very user friendly. In fact, it is idiot friendly.
It's almost fun to work with. Very easy set up and
installation.
Mike

 

[doc g]

Garmin if not just for thier customer service, great people to work with if you have any problems with the unit .............................Pat

 

[roundIII]

I have the Garmin 4212 with the 4kw radar and sonar. Best all around unit I have ever owned. Product support is excellent. In the process of installing the fuel flow management and the technical service people have been a great help.

Ron

 

[Skip]

I have owned both in the past and Garmin is the most user friendly by far. Raymarine is absolutely difficult to navigate because it was probably designed by non-boating engineers. Unfortunaely, I'm stuck with Raymarine now.

 

[34Hatt]

All Garmin products are always easy to use, they have that down to a tee....

 

[dougl33]

I've got a RM C70 (Chart plotter and FF), a RM C120 (Chart Plotter and radar), and a Garmin 182C.

The clarity of the Navionics chart chips on both the C120 and C70 are great, but when it comes time to plotting routes and adding waypoints its Garmin all the way.

I've got all 3 snyched up so a route I input on the Garmin shows on the RM's.

I bought the Garmin when I first got the boat and the old radar and FF were working. When I added the hardtop a few years later Garmin did not yet have a radar and I did not want to put a 20 year old bath tub sized dome on a brand new hard top so I got a brand new 2kw RM dome with the C70. It was the best color radar I could get for the money.

A couple of years later I got a great deal on a one year old C120 (love the 12 inch screen for both radar and viewing charts). Last year when the old furuno ff crapped out I decided to bring the C70 out of early retirement and got the DSM30 with a b60 tilted element TD. Nice FF.

If I was buying all new from scratch I'd go with Garmin all the way.

I still think RM makes a better radar than garmin, but the CP is much better/easier to use on the Garmin.

Finally, while I've never had to use RM service (knock on wood), Garmin's service (screen coating) was perfect. As a final note, Garmin's are much easier to update the software on than the RM's. I'd bought the data cable/power cord for the Garmin so I could plot routes at home. This makes software updates a snap as you just plu the cord into both the GPS and your computer and then download the updates from the website.

For the RM you need a card reader/writer and there is no power adapter available to take the unit home.

 

[johngalt]

Last year I was undergoing the same dilemma as yourself regarding C120 vs 4212 and I asked the same forum and the same questions as yourself . After intensive research and many conversations with owners of both units , I opted to save myself 1200.00 or more and went with the Garmin . I must say that I am very ,very happy with the 4212. It is very easy to use and I added the sounder module this season that is also great. Next up I plan to integrate my Furuno radar into the 4212 . All that is required according to the Garmin techs is a simple readymade for the purpose cord from Garmin . When I queried Raymarine as to this possibility the techs told me that the c120 would only interface with other Raymarine products . Bruce

 

[thoward]

Chart plotter goes to Garmin hand down. I have a 12kw furuno Navnet unit in the CC and am adding a Garmin Plotter. Raymarine will have a better sounder and radar.

If you need the radar included then Raymarine, if just plotter go Garmin.

 

[DCMY #92]

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the testimonials. It looks like I'll opt for Garmin.

 

[kwerges]

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone have any experience between the Garmin 3210C and the 4200 series. 3210C has been discontinued, but there are some unbelievable deals on packages ($1675.00 for the chartplotter display, sounder and XM radio/weather module). As my budget is limited, and I boat in California and Mexico, is the 3210C enough?

 

[41-Hatteras]

I have the Raymarine 120 and user friendly it's not. The Garmin is more user friendly. My next choice will be Garmin.

 

[major hattitude]

as a cert. raymarine tech I recomend buying two of everything so you might have a working unit when you send the other unit in for repair.raymarine is not = to furuno or garmin. due to the failure rate I have had with raymarine I no longer sell it.

 

[captddis]

as a cert. raymarine tech I recomend buying two of everything so you might have a working unit when you send the other unit in for repair.raymarine is not = to furuno or garmin. due to the failure rate I have had with raymarine I no longer sell it.

I have been telling people this for years! But all you hear is RAY RAY RAY.
I have never been on a boat where all the raymarine equip worked.

A few times people insisted that I put this or that Raymarine gadget on, Within a couple years it was always replaced with Furuno, Garmin or Northstar, although I no longer use northstar.

 

[Sparky1]

Not to hijack the thread, but does anyone have any experience between the Garmin 3210C and the 4200 series. 3210C has been discontinued, but there are some unbelievable deals on packages ($1675.00 for the chartplotter display, sounder and XM radio/weather module). As my budget is limited, and I boat in California and Mexico, is the 3210C enough?

Kent, I'd say the 3210 is more than enough being the happy owner of a 2210 which is basically the same unit. I haven't paid much attention to the new 4200 series, but it seems to me the major difference is the touch screen operation.

As for Raymarine, I distinctly remember Carl Guzman losing all his stored waypoints while we were headed out on his 67CPMY. The factory never could come up with an explanation of how that happened, and needless to say, years of info was lost.

 

[MikeP]

I know integration is the trendy thing but I REALLY recommend NOT integrating anything unless you have two completely separate integrated systems OR available separate back up for each part of the system. It is no fun losing the device that has all your nav/depth/radar data.

None of these products are more reliable than others; there are horror stories for all of them. They are computers with all the same quirks as computers everywhere. If your home computer fails, who cares, it can't cause you to hit anything...

 

[ThirdHatt]

Kwerges, the 3210 is a great unit (and identical to the 2210 but with networking capability) but it is nowhere near the unit that the new 4200 series is. I have and use both units regularly on my boats. The 4200 series is NOT touchscreen at all, only the 5200 series is touchscreen and they are much more expensive and not worth it in my opinion. What is the difference between pressing a button or touching a screen to select a function? NOTHING other than the fingerprints all over your screen!

There are so many differences and upgrades from the 3200 to the 4200 series I can't begin to go into them all, but there are much fewer buttons and an even easier menu system on the 4200's that even a 10yr old can navigate. On a budget, I would rather a 4208 with a 2" smaller screen than the 3210 because it is that much better for similar money.