Garmin or B&G

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by CarlF

I think price is a perfectly good decision criteria because all the major chartplotters are very good now. They all have too much functionality making them more complicated than necessary. I have no need for 3D, stereo controls, and autorouting but seem stuck with having it in my chartplotter.

I've used Garmin on my last three boats because it was the one my wife found easiest to use (I had her try a bunch at a boat show). The interface does seem slightly more intuitive and easier to remember than the others. I don't think I've ever opened the manual. Since she's at the helm a lot, it's important for safety that she be comfortable with the navigation gear.

I've also found Garmin's reliability to be excellent and the few times I've called support has been quick and well handled. Networking is also well implemented (a place that Raymarine continues to lag)

I agree

[svtrio]

Hi Foster,

If I understand your message correctly, you want opinions re: Garmin vs B&G [Simrad]. You also have the opportunity to purchase Garmin with a discount of 35-40%, which is substantial.

I just wrestled with the same issue after sorting through all the popular brands and narrowed the choice to Garmin and B&G. Garmin was chosen based because I could get the best price, in concert with a satisfactory compromise/awareness of the features that seemed most important to me and my wife.

Also, our sailboat has a Garmin Reactor hydraulic autopilot, that will play well with a like chart plotter. However, it would play okay with the B&G. That is, the B&G nav data would be shared over the NMEA 2000 network, but I couldn’t command the Garmin AP from the B&G screen. A control head is required. Worth noting, but not a deal breaker for us.

Limited to a domed radar, I preferred the B&G Halo+, but for our use the Garmin FantomX will be satisfactory as a navigational aid in high-traffic areas of south Florida’s east coast, along the ICW, inlets, barrier/spoil islands, and off shore, especially for night ops/fog. Compare the specs, especially horizontal target discrimination. As others have noted, radars aren’t interchangeable between brands.

As for user friendliness, I believe at first look, Garmin has the edge – especially from my wife’s viewpoint. She readily pronounces Garmin the most user friendly (she is a licensed master and has operated commercial tour boats). But I believe B&G is equally user-friendly with a brief look at the user manual.

The chart plotters provide the selection of a variety of screen views, a key element in user friendliness, and I believe they are about equal among the manufacturers.

You say you don’t need the “fishing” features, but internal sounders are standard among today’s chart plotters. While you might not be a fisherman, the sonar features with the appropriate transducer might be very useful in anchoring and providing a visual display of the bottom (soft vs hard, wrecks, reefs, etc.) rather than relying only on the numbered depth.

As for charts, Garmin plotters use proprietary G3 charts and Navionics Charts, (Navionics is owned by Garmin). I believe the Navionics charts will become standard in their line going forward, but G3 charts will be available for past products. Navionics and C-Map charts are compatible with B&G.

I’ve had the opportunity to use these brands on the water (as well as the other brands mentioned on this thread), in addition to firsthand “button pushing” at West Marine.

User manuals are available online, and provide great information. Armed with a list of questions, I was able to answer them from the user manuals using the indexes.

There have been some very helpful responses on this thread. Let us know what you decide. Good luck.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by CarlF

B&G was part of a private equity "roll up" where it was mashed together with Simrad and Lowrance. It's not a very well capitalized company and presumably the private equity guys will sell it to someone one of these days to take their profit.

Navico was purchased by Brunswick and is now under the umbrella with Mastervolt, BEP, Blue Seas Systems, Mercury, ETC.

[kingle]

Originally Posted by flee27

I know this is probably close to "which anchor is best" post but hoping I can get some useful feedback.

Through a family member I can get 35-40% Garmin products. I have used B&G and do like them and they seem to have more sailing features. I don't care about all of the sonar type fishing features that Garmin seems to be loaded with. I will be purchasing a chart plotter in the 9-12 inch range and 3 4" multi function displays. My sailboat currently has a Garmin radar and chart plotter. The chart plotter screen is all but non useable so I haven't done a lot of playing around with the unit. Not sure if the radar is compatible with the B&G system or if that will need to be replaced if I go with B&G.

Please offer any feed back with using either of these 2 brand. Although I love the idea of saving some money, more importantly is that I enjoy using the units I purchase.



Thanks
Foster

I have B&G and like it a lot. 9" Display and 3G Radar. The sailing features come in handy. The selling feature for me is the knob versus touch screen. I do like Garmin's raster charts. It took a little while to get used to the B&Gs c-map. I like it (c-map) fine. The radar overlay and resolution is superb. It has been on the boat for about 5 years and has worked flawlessly - It reads the Raymarine depth and knot meter as well. I would buy B&G again. I did have to buy a new Navpod. Too bad the manufacturers can't standardize size. So - you may have a Navpod consideration.

[Happ]

Garmin has phenomenal customer service. B&G (in the US) has horrible if nonexistance customer service.

[Alita49DS]

When I bought my MFD I asked the salesman in an outlet that sold the whole gamut which one was the easiest to use and the clearest to see. His reply was Garmin. Far fewer bemused purchasers coming back for help.

Easiest to see was also a big deal for me. Set a Go To or Route on Garmin and you get a really easy to see - even from a distance - chunky purple line on the MFD. I don't know about B&G but on Raymarine there is a pathetic series of near invisible dots and no way that I can find to change it.

Unless you are a serious racer I cannot see why you would other than use your discount and go with Garmin. Especially if the radar works.

Now, can we all find out where to get that discount?

[Happ]

Most likely the little dots are showing your track.

[Alita49DS]

Absolutely not. They are the course markers.

I should know. I have a Raymarine unit - as well as a Garmin one - on my boat. I also have tried on newer Raymarine units on the boats of friends. Nobody I know has bought B&G so cannot try with that.

The last bit of B&G kit I used was a radio direction finder way before the days of GPS. It, and its headphones, looked as if they had come out of a Lancaster bomber.

[OS2Dude]

We have a B&G Vulcan 7FS at our nav station that the depth and wind instruments attach to. The helm has a Simrad 9" NSS EVO2 (I got this before I had heard of B&G) that gets its data via NMEA2000. The depth transducer is specific to the chart plotter used. Our wind instrument is a Garmin Nexus GWind. I -REALLY- like the Garmin GMI-20 MFDs. I find them much more configurable than most of the rest. I have not really bothered to learn much about the sailing specific features of the B&G chart plotter. My first boat (An O'Day 23) just had Garmin wind & depth transducers and a small chart reader.

[cottonsail]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Personally if I was starting again I would go garmin , but raymarine autopilots in a long tradition from autohelm have always been better if not the best for the money.

Of the 5 Raymarine products only the new wheel pilot works. I40 speed, I40 depth, I40 wind and Autohelm 4000+ all failed to function at one time or another. Some items were returned to the factory. HOURS spent with tech support. Never again.

[wingssail]

I have been a B&G user for 40 years, (a few upgrades along the way). I have also had Garmin, Ray Marine, and Lowrance. Cruising boats I have sailed have had a variety of systems but all the race boats I've been on had high end B&G.

Currently I have a Lowrance plotter and an android tablet with Sail Racer app. plus a Ray Marine autopilot. All tied into the B&G Hercules system.

I have very little interest in a new chart plotter or radar but I am intensely interested in the sailing, racing, wind and tactical instrumentation. The B&G is fast and accurate. I prefer it.

For the 40 years I've had B&G it has been reliable. (my original B&G 190 system is still operative, but now boxed for sale).

I will stick to B&G.

[FlyingScot]

I love our complete B&G setup, but adding any pieces right now seem to be at or near full retail. A large discount would likely sway me to my 2nd choice which is Garmin.