Re: Garmin versus other brands??
Frostman,<br /><br />Its spelled F u r u n o.<br /><br />Garmin makes very good products. Garmin also provides about the best service in the marine electronics industry. It is probably faster to send a unit back to Garmin in Kansas than it is to have it repaired locally for just about everyone and there is a great advantage to sending it back to the manufacturer. That is that if its really a serious problem with a recent unit Garmin will probably just replace it. You don't often see that from local repair facilities. Garmin's main strength is in their GPS units, where they are probably your best choice. They also make fish finders which are quite nice, but not the best.<br /><br />Standard Horizon makes very good products as well. They make a nice chart plotter and great radios. Why would you want to buy a nice chart plotter from Standard when for the same price you could buy a great fish finder from Garmin - that is the question you might want to ask yourself. Where Standard really shines is with their lineup of VHF radios. Their only rival is ICOM for radios and the choice between the two is really just a matter of personal preference.<br /><br />ICOM makes radios. Some people think they make the best radios. They may be right. Odd as it may sound, because most guys have never seen any of this stuff, but ICOM also sold (notice I said sold, not made) chartplotters and radars. Do not buy a chartplotter or radar that ICOM made. Service from ICOM is about the most non-personal of all of them. You go to their website and print a form that is used to describe whatever your problem is. You pack that up with the radio and ship it back to Washington. Two weeks later it comes back to you fixed. The radio will come back with a tag on it that was their repair number. It will aslo come back with a printout detailing the results from a full system check, wich includes its actual power output. They track everything that was ever done to your radio and they track its performance. They fix anything they find wrong, even if you didn't notice it. Their service is great, but if you expect or want someone to talk to you about your radio you won't find them at ICOM. Just send it in and they will fix it, but they won't talk to you about it.<br /><br />Ray Marine makes it all but for the most part only their radars are really top of the line. They, in their predecessor companys, have a long history of making sub-standard depth finders and even worse radios. They also make GPS units, all of which are substandard compared to the equivelent by Garmin. If you need a small boat Radar they will probably give you the best bang for your buck though. Oh, their service is so-so at best. Typically they will fix anything on the first go around, but if the unit fails again you are pretty much on your own. Oh, I almost forgot, their auto pilots fail with alarming frequency.<br /><br />Furuno makes eveything. Furuno makes far and away the best fish finders, no one else even comes close. Furuno also makes GPS units and not a one of them is worth having in comparison to its sister in the Garmin lineup. Furuno makes very good radars, really poor radios (with the exception of their latest VHF model (can't remember the model number) which is actually made by ICOM anyway. Furuno also makes an auto pilot, but I've never been on a boat that had one, I've never installed one, and of course I've never owned one. Furuno's service is fast and efficient. They have service centers around the country but I don't think that is at all important. If you are far enough away that you're going to have to ship it to fix it then it really doesn't matter where you are shipping it to. <br /><br />Lowrance makes fish finders. Lots of folks like them. I have no idea why. I might as well mention Humminbird in the same breath as Lowrance, and give them the same comment, I have no idea at all why anyone buys their products.<br /><br />There are other makers of course. Eagle is Lowrance in another skin. Simrad is out there making what are easily the world's best auto pilots and a whole catalog of high end commercial products. No one owns this Simrad stuff unless the happen to have a ship, but it sure is nice to play with at the boat shows. Simrad has a repair facility in south Florida (Dania) and they will be more than happy to talk to you about your unit or their products in general if you call them down there.<br /><br />So that's the equipment.<br /><br />If I were to rate the servce departments in terms of speed and the likelyhood that they will fix whatever the problem is I'd put Garmin at the top of the list. In order the rest of them would fall out like this:<br /><br />Garmin<br />Furuno<br />Standard Horizon<br />ICOM<br />Simrad<br />Raytheon (Ray Marine)<br /><br />I don't know much of anything about Lowrance service because I won't buy or install their products. <br /><br />This is just my limited experience with the makers though. You should talk to a lot of different folks before deciding what you want to use. Try to get a look at whatever it is you are planning to buy when its on a boat, not in a store and never take any advice from a new owner. Also, don't take my remarks about Lowrance too seriously. Lots of guys like their stuff.<br /><br />Thom
<br />Thanks for your help. 
