Raymarine 425 / garmin 126

looking to buy a gps for my rib. Had my ind made up to buy a garmin 126/8 for approx £170 but then saw a Raymarine 425 mono chartplotter gps for £199. Which should i go for? Can i use the raymarine without the extra navtronics charts as a gps? what about the built in world map?

Hi parm, I've used both these units, and have the Raymarine 425 on my RIB.
It's a no-brainer! ;)

The Garmin 126 only displays Lat&Long, SOG (speed over the ground), COG (course over the ground), CTS (course to steer) and heading in text mode, as well as GPS compass display in graphics mode. The old unit I used was quite difficult to read - I don't know if newer units are more easy to view.

The Raymarine 425 can display all of the above in graphics mode (ie extra-large characters) and has the base map (although that's not very useful). If you spend a little more, you can fit a Navionics Classic chart - each of my large chart chips cost nearly £200, but I think that the small chart chips are about £100. Check this out with a supplier though (like JGtech or Sea Chest Nautical bookshop), as stocks are disappearing.

Bear in mind that you would need to fit the separate antenna for the Raymarine unit as it's not integral to the unit like the Garmin 126. The Garmin 126 is also much easier to input waypoints - this is really a chore on the Raymarine unit.

Have a look at Navionics site here: http://www.navionics.com/Charts.asp?ContinentID=4&RegionID=13&ChartSizeID=1 IIRC, I purchased my chart chips from them direct.

thanks for the reply. Is it that difficult to enter waypoints on the raymarine? and the antenna - what size? the only place i could fit it easily would be the grab rail round the windscreen

It's not difficult to enter the waypoints, just tedious as you have to enter the location on the chart first, then edit the point. You can't just create a new waypoint numerically like you can with the Garmin and most others.

I'll check out the antenna size tomorrow. You may need an extra (optional) part to mount it on the rail.

BTW the base-map is worthless - checked that out today.

i have been doing a little looking around at chartplotters and have decided to go for a chartplotter/gps rather than a gps alone now and just to confuse me more i have now 4 in my price range

raynarine raychart 425 £ 199
garmin gps map 172 with internal antenna £ 241
navman tracker 5110i £ 248
magwellan fx 324 £ 299

all mono and the magellan a tad more expensive

i would welcome anyones comments, good or bad, on these four