Ray Marine Axiom series

[Musicaltrees]

I’m about to pull the trigger on a new multifunction display/GPS plotter. If there’s anyone who has personal experience either owning or using the Ray Marine Axiom series unit I would love to pick your brain. There seems to be options within the Axiom series, some more intended for off shore fishing which is not so much my game. We can PM if so. Many thanks!

[Sailmonkey]

We’ve got one and a quantum radar. We’ve only had it a short time, but I’ve already removed the icons that are geared to fishing.

I will say that I wish we had sprung for the axiom pro. As good as the touch screen is, the buttons are better, for me anyway.

[Pete7]

You might look at the Element S chart plotter which uses buttons rather than touch screen. There are two types, EV and S. The EV is the fishing version with some super sounder properties. The S version is for sailing which we have. Still very new having only just fitted it, but I like it and will allow me to add radar in the future.

Size matters, so be aware I was shown the difference between radar on a 7" and a 9" plotter. This applies to both Axiom and Element, in that the display is in landscape so a radar display circle is chopped of at the top and bottom on the 7" or if you display it in a multi screen view so small as to be difficult to use. We bought the Element 9s.

The only downside I have found is no MOB button. However, pressing the waypoint button puts a WP at the boats location or the cursor if you are scrolling across the chart.

Connected up to the VHF and AP using Seatalk NG it worked first time and I then updated the various items software using the Elements SD micro card although wifi is also available and easy to connect.

Pete

[mlydon]

A friend of mine picked one up last year, which I used for a day or two. I currently own an e7.

I found the system to be faster overall, but I wasn't happy with the restructured menus of lighthouse 3 - the look and feel just wasn't as nice (to me) as LH2. could just be that I didn't get used to it, but I prefer my e7....

I also seriously DISLIKED the fact that there were no analog controls, and they got rid of some connectivity.

FYI (and Sailmonkey's) they make a separate button panel that will give you back analog, for a couple of hundred bucks. Needs it's own seatalk link....

The pro has the panel built in, main advantage is much better optics, but jeez the price.....

[Lost Horizons]

I have a 12” Axiom Pro. That thing is revolutionary compared to my previous boat’s display, a C80. Still learning how to use the Axiom. They come with two types of built-in fish finder scanners, but since I am neither using it nor planning to, I do not know the details other than you would need an additional transducer for the scanner. The user interface is great and the screen itself is a pleasure to look at even when it is turned off.

[RaymondR]

I have both an a7 and 9"Axiom with a Navionics gold Australia and New Zealand chart package.

The a7 was purchased and used for a coastal voyage of almost 4,000 nm and performed very well.

The 9" Axiom was purchased to allow upgrade of the radar system (presently a Furuno 6" mounted at the chart table rendering it fairly useless for a single hander) and to be mounted at the helm allowing the a7 to be mounted where it can be swiveled for viewing at both the chart table and the galley.

My experience with the Axiom has been marred by a software bug which effects it's software power button which hopefully has been fixed by a software update.

Previous to the purchase of the a7 I used OpenCPN on a 10" Asus computer at the nav station talking to a Raymarine 4000 autopilot with a Sony tablet using Navionics charts in the cockpit and the system worked well for many years even if a little inconvenient at times.

I changed boats and the new one had a Simrad autopilot, which is far more industrial than the Raymarine, but have been unable to get the a7 or the Axiom to connect with the autopilot (I purchased the a7 for use with the new boat)

Having mastered the software change over from OpenCPN I found that by using the "Goto" function and a bit of zooming in and out I did not miss the connection between MFD and autopilot.

I downloaded both the free Android and Windows software packages which allow display and control of the MFD via wifi and found them both easy to use however the Fugawi route planning software was not a success and I reverted to OpenCPN on an Android tablet for route planning. The software allows route planning on the large screen of a computer with the convenience of a mouse and later transfer to the MFD over wifi. However I found it very inconvenient after the practicability of Open CPN so have given up on it.

It would be great to be able to transfer GPX files from OpenCPN on the tablet or computer to the MFD but I suspect the wifi transfer software is proprietary to Fugowi.

I should receive the Raymarine dopler radar during the next week and will see how it works via the wifi connection.



I found the a7

[mark maulden]

I had an e7D and ran out of cuss words for it. The touch screen is crap with wet fingers or in the fog etc. I’ve had the joystick disintegrate on me. I just sprang for an axiom 9 pro and currently installing it on the binnacle. Before I bought it, I took a spray bottle of water into West Marine and soaked one down and it operated well. The touch screen reports seem pretty positive.

[dlane1181]

We have two Axioms aboard, a 9" at the nav station and 12" at the helm. They are a significant improvement over the A series models they replaced.
Concern about the touch screen not working when wet is valid. Ours worked great when wet, until one night it didn't. And it's worked fine ever since, even when wet.
However, because the Axiom Pro is at an entirely different price point, I recommend purchasing an RMK-10 keypad if your Axiom will be exposed to the elements. We've just installed one, so I can't comment on its performance yet.

[captnknopf]

I have a 12 inch axiom on a 38 foot Leopard. I am really disapointed with it. It is new with radar. My last boat I installed a Garmin 4612 and the previous one a Garmin 5212. Both far superior for cruising. The Ray is just not freindly. Making a course is very difficult and almost impossible to make changes. The Garmin was easy to make changes on the fly. I have spent a lot of time on the phone with Ray and not found anyone who knows how to use one for cruising. Super display and charts, just not cruiser friendly.

[mark krebs]

Originally Posted by Musicaltrees

I’m about to pull the trigger on a new multifunction display/GPS plotter. If there’s anyone who has personal experience either owning or using the Ray Marine Axiom series unit I would love to pick your brain. There seems to be options within the Axiom series, some more intended for off shore fishing which is not so much my game. We can PM if so. Many thanks!

I've got Axiom+ (no buttons), quantum2 radar (doppler, low power, solid state).

I think this is a great combo: chartplotter with RADAR overlay is a good product. I will add a depth sounder too. Agree with others that the fishing bent is not a problem. The user interface is very clean and well organized: if you don't use the fishing pages, you never need to notice them.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by mark krebs

I've got Axiom+ (no buttons), quantum2 radar (doppler, low power, solid state).



I think this is a great combo: chartplotter with RADAR overlay is a good product. I will add a depth sounder too. Agree with others that the fishing bent is not a problem. The user interface is very clean and well organized: if you don't use the fishing pages, you never need to notice them.

We installed an Axiom+ a year ago and took the opportunity to add a 3D sonar transducer (RV-200) during a recent haul out. The fish finder pages have all the sonar functions, so don’t count them out if you have a sonar transducer. The sonar view is great to see the bottom detail in profile, while the 3D view shows about 20m width of bottom in plan view.

One very weird thing with the sonar transducer is that when it loses the bottom it often (but not always!) doesn’t show blank or ‘- -‘; rather it shows 1.7m. Very annoying. It takes a while to regain the bottom once we’re back in range and eventually shows the correct depth again. It seems more flakey than the regular Airmar depth transducer that we had before. No Raymarine tech has so far figured it out, sigh.

[Letterkenny]

I have the full suite of Axiom 7+, i70 display, latest autopilot and display, AIS 700, and Quantum 2 radar. Used B&G on the last boat. Overall, I like the combo and meets my expectations from a marine display perspective. I will say, however, that I am disappointed regarding marine displays as a whole. They are all underpowered and use very low DPI screens with huge bezels. There’s great potential out there to make a 9-10” display in the size that the Axiom 7 currently fits and I would give them my money I’m a heart beat for two of them if they ever come to fruition.

[Quebramar]

Axiom 12 and radar Quantum for 2 years. Since the 20y AP started to act unreliable last year, I changed to EV so they speak together bidirectionally (old was nmea0183 which restricted the dialogue).
Radar visualisation is really superb (had C70 before, a bit like comparing iPad to IBM XT…).
Comments on wet screen are valid, though mine is under dodger so no issue for me, but if on pedestal or exposed, real buttons are worth the $$. Menu logic is really different and requires some gymnastic but once clear, it’s ok. Naming WPs and routes is really easier with screen keyboard compared to C70 rotating button.
Since wheel is far from the screen I went for 12“ which provides better possibility to see AIS targets in my busy area (English Channel), a real plus in terms of safety.
One thing I would like to be able to do which is not possible is to be able to call AIS targets right from the screen. Should not be too difficult as they are on n2k and MMSI is available.

[RaymondR]

Unfortunately I used OpenCPN on a computer connected to my autopilot via NMEA 0183 for years before I purchased my first Raymarine MFD and I don't think I will ever grow accustomed to using the clunky Lighthouse software even if I was to live another lifetime.

That being said, I have two 9" Axiums mounted at the wheel and a dopler radar and, as a single hander, find the functions they provided fantastic.

[Coach Shoe]

I have two 12" Axiom Pro with full wind, depth, auto pilot, Quantum radar & AIS. I find the new software updates that include built-in boat polars / performance / navigation data to be useful. Easy to use after you become familiar. No complaints here.