Shopping for new plotter/radar

[Molson]

So, if anyone saw my other thread, we have an offer on a 1997 330 DA. It had an old Raytheon radar unit in the dash. I'd like to upgrade to a new unit, I'm only really familiar with Raymarine and an older Furuno unit (Wasn't impressed) What are your recommendations, and why?

I had a Garmin GPSmap 640 and wasn't overly impressed with the touch screen, it was difficult to use when the boat was moving around.

 

[Alegria]

I went through this last year on our boat. I like the Simrad line. I got an NSS8 on rebate new for under $700. I am growing to like the Navico charts installed by default on the unit. The unit will read a CMAP+ card which I like. But now I have Garmin Bluecharts on my ipad I like those a bit more then the CMAP cartography. But CMAP is a bit cleaner to look at and I've used CMAP for years on the Navionics software prior to Garmin being available.

The Simard unit is both touch and has buttons which I like. You can zoom with the dial, but still can touch the screen and scroll it with a finger if needed.

The new Simrad EVO line is also very nice and you might be able to get the EVO9 in the dash on your 330. You will need to cut out a larger hole for what ever you replace. Also the broadband radar on the Simard is very good.

The only drawback to the older Simard line is that there is no built in WIFI nor easy way to plan routes on an ipad and transfer them to the unit without buying the WIFI module which was about $199 last time I checked.

Good luck on the shopping!

 

[Molson]

Thanks Tom!

I found the following sale:

Raymarine A75 7" and RD418D 4kw 18" dome for $1999.00. (CDN)

Doesn't seem like too bad of a price.

 

[BOEMARINEBRIAN]

I would look elsewhere! The Garmin units of today are far from those of years past. Much better interface , bright screens , intuitive, great customer service and great cartography as well as the best backwards forwards compatibility in the business

 

[Molson]

Thanks Brian, I'll keep shopping around. Wish the US / CDN dollar were closer together.

 

[Alegria]

I think the 7" screen is a bit too small. The larger raymarine unit will fit in the dash on your boat. I do agree Garmin's are very nice and around the price point of the raymarine.

Don't underestimate the rotary control for zooming while on cruise. Doing a two finger pinch to zoom while on plane on my boat would be annoying.

I think the Garmin 7608 would fit on your helm.

 

[wellswa]

So, if anyone saw my other thread, we have an offer on a 1997 330 DA. It had an old Raytheon radar unit in the dash. I'd like to upgrade to a new unit, I'm only really familiar with Raymarine and an older Furuno unit (Wasn't impressed) What are your recommendations, and why?

I had a Garmin GPSmap 640 and wasn't overly impressed with the touch screen, it was difficult to use when the boat was moving around.

I agree with Alegria, I installed a Simrad NSS8 system with the 3G radar package about 2 years ago in my 330. Very easy system to use (touch screen and/or buttons/dials)and navigate with. The package back then was around $2400 I believe. I made a trim plate from Corian material to go around the chartplotter because my Raymarine unit was a bit larger than the Simrad.

 

[Molson]

Thanks folks, I'll start looking for pricing on the Simrad units.

 

[Molson]

I'm about 95% on the NSS8 and 3G radar (or maybe the 4G) Now I'm trying to price them out.

 

[gmacd81]

I highly recommend the new Raymarine eS line. They have both touch screen and rotary/joystick controls with super resolution. Just installed both the 7" eS75 and 12" eS128 along with SHD Color radar. They have a flush mount option that looks nearly like the glass bridge models.