Raymarine C90W, You Have a Problem

[J Ventura]

Between October and now I delivered 5 new boats over nearly 9000 miles , all of them equipped with the Raymarine C90W chartplotter.
Each and every one regularly crashed , seized up , rebooted itself randomly , lost the fix or showed readings like SOG of 600kts. My colleagues doing identical runs on identical boats reported the same issues , and since the boats were not all commissioned in the same place and we tend to know what we are doing , installation or operator error can be written off. Raymarine has a problem here , so will people who buy this kit and rely on it fully. Raymarine's gear is usually great and of course they will honor the warranties but if I was buying my own electronics I would be taking hard long looks at other brands.

[senormechanico]

I wonder if they became a part of, or have parts inside from, Xantrex?
Just sayin...

[LexLocal]

Agreed about Raymarine--I think it is the software--

Have an older RL 70 C --worked fine until I upgraded to software Version 4.11--

Same squalks--crash -reboot-Chart not available--

Beware any product/Manufacturer that is being bought and sold repeatedly--like Raymarine-

[Bergovoy]

i heard on another thread that they arent supporting any products older then 5 years old.. apparently it isnt cost effective to fix something and is better/cheaper to replace it..

if we were talking about a hundred buck item, i would agree.. who fixes VCR's... or DVD players...

but, a grand or $5g item, better damn well servicable, and housings and brackets and all that better be there...

as of now, between that other thread and this thread, i doubt i will own raymarine..

[Srah 1953]

Originally Posted by J Ventura

Between October and now I delivered 5 new boats over nearly 9000 miles , all of them equipped with the Raymarine C90W chartplotter. .

Do these problems also extend to the E90W chartplotter - I have a choice between one or the other on a new boat ordered. E90 obviously the more expensive option?

[PamlicoTraveler]

Originally Posted by LexLocal

Beware any product/Manufacturer that is being bought and sold repeatedly--like Raymarine-

I think that's true. These companies survive on obsolesence and I'm not playing until I have to. I have an RL70C now and it's working OK, but I know I'm not on the cutting edge.

[J Ventura]

The only thing amiss I noticed on the E90W and the E120 is that in some of them sometimes the screen tends to "flash" , as if someone is turning the dimmer all the way up and down really quick . Other than that , just fine.
I didn't know that Raymarine was changing , or changed ownership, the last I heard about that was when the recreational marine operations were sold by Raytheon.
All things but price considered , all plotters I've worked with , I would go Simrad.

[goboatingnow]

What is it with the hate Raymarine thing. I've sailed twice this year with boats fitted with C 80W. They were fine.

As to not to buy because companies. Have been sold. Well there goes simrad, nexus, etc. Raymarine was MBO'd out of Raytheon ( well over 10 years ago), which was killing it's leisure division. That debt has always hampered Ray. While it remains the Market leader in marine it's competitors are on it's heels. The recent sale to Flir should help

Dave

[J Ventura]

I surely don't hate Raymarine and have sailed dozens of boats in which the Raymarine electronics were fine. I just have a problem with new pieces of kit costing thousands consistently malfunctioning , that's all

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by J Ventura

I surely don't hate Raymarine and have sailed dozens of boats in which the Raymarine electronics were fine. I just have a problem with new pieces of kit costing thousands consistently malfunctioning , that's all

There's no evidence of a systemic failure in my experience. I remember I had a trip where we had intermittent raystar dropouts. Turned out one of the crew liked to sit in the stern quarter seats and was using the mushroom as a hand hold !!

Dave

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by Bergovoy

i heard on another thread that they arent supporting any products older then 5 years old.. apparently it isnt cost effective to fix something and is better/cheaper to replace it..

if we were talking about a hundred buck item, i would agree.. who fixes VCR's... or DVD players...

but, a grand or $5g item, better damn well servicable, and housings and brackets and all that better be there...

as of now, between that other thread and this thread, i doubt i will own raymarine..

Funny - I JUST got a marine electronics survey from Cruising World - and this is EXACTLY my gripe. IF they support it, it still costs the same as it did 5 years ago! I mean really, $1000 to repair a Raymarine chartplotter from 2005? Yeah, it DID cost $6K back then, but a replacement is a minor fraction of that.

[dennisjay]

I installed a Raymarine C90W last fall and have sailed down the east coast the last three months and the chartplotter has worked flawlessly. Raymarine has sold a ton of these units. This is the first I've heard of any cronic problems.

[Australis]

Have been using the C80 chartplotter now for two years. It has never let me down. Easy to use and very intuitive.

DJR
Equinox

[Srah 1953]

There is a warning note on the Raymarine website about a problem with C series when using a datum other than WGS84 (see below). Could this have been the source of your problem? This note was dated May 2009 so you would imagine it has been fixed on newer models off the production line, but there is no mention of this on the website.

"It has come to our attention that G-Series systems or C-Series Widescreen displays using any datum other than the default WGS1984 (also known as WGS84) may provide inaccurate vessel position information.

C-Series Widescreen Owners Note: This condition only occurs if you are receiving GPS data from an external SeaTalk GPS source like the Raystar 125. C-Series Widescreen users using the internal GPS sensor are not affected by this condition "

[LexLocal]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

What is it with the hate Raymarine thing. I've sailed twice this year with boats fitted with C 80W. They were fine.

As to not to buy because companies. Have been sold. Well there goes simrad, nexus, etc. Raymarine was MBO'd out of Raytheon ( well over 10 years ago), which was killing it's leisure division. That debt has always hampered Ray. While it remains the Market leader in marine it's competitors are on it's heels. The recent sale to Flir should help

Dave

Hate/Love is not relevant-- Is Raymarine Seaworthy-Reliable?

Disclaimer- Reply is by boat owner-- No interest other than a seaworthy GPS-

Raymarine and its customer support are not reliable--It is interested in revenue-
FACTS-
Raymarine Support-2010/2011 recommended replacing 120 GPS antena with 125 antena-My RL 70 C is now thousands into "repairs" with no reliable GPS-drops chart,
resets --
Local Electron Guy found Part on their website for $270.00 US-Raymarine said Part was out of stock--BUT COULD RETURN RL 70 C to factory for $800.00 flat rate-Asked how it could repair if Part out of stock--It stammered well we "keep stock in reserve".


Conclusion-Do not upgrade Raymarine-Fix what you got-


...and-Un-Seaworthy organizations need Exposure-

Lex