Raymarine VHF

[Mbryant]

Hi,
Looking to fit the boat out with all the electronic kit and came across the Raymarine 54E VHF radio, I’ve always been under the impression Raymarine make the top notch kit (not 100% sure why) but I was just wondering how it compares to other radio around the same price bracket, e.g. Strandard Horizon and icom?
Also im uming and aring over fitting a CD player - main worry is spending a lot of dosh and only hearing the music at tick over speed. How much would i have to spend to be able to hear the music at 15knots?

Cheers

Matt

[towersje]

I'm afraid I'm not a raymarine fan, simply for it's construction in comparison to other makes. One of the centres I worked at used a raymarine as it's base station (in fact, it could well have been a 54E!) and it was dead within a season. Bought a pair last season for our ski boats, one of them still goes (ish) but the other is knackered too. Having said that, it looks like it's been superceded by the 55E - which I haven't used!

I personally would go with something along the lines of the Icom M421 - having put one of these on one of my old work's ribs. Well built (surving even commercial centre rigours!), fairly small, lots of features, can't go wrong

Obviously, yours won't be getting the same abuse as that recieved at a commercial centre. The raymarines are about the same prices as Icoms, you've just got to hunt around for deals. The Raymarine's coming in at £169 from chandlery.biz, and the Icom from Sail GB at £169.95 (both first google results ). Go into a marine electronics shop and have a look at them both before you commit though.

/end ramblings


I'm sure someone more qualified can answer your audio questions!

[Ribomaniatic]

Hi Matt,
But Icom, we've recently had our VHF replaced with a Raymarine and its had a lot of trouble, with saltwater in the screen and the handset breaking. Icom from experience of their handheld VHFs are reliable and very well made.

As for CD players, the speakers you are looking at should be 6-7" and Fusion are near the standard of Sony but a lot cheaper.

At Yachtmail in Lymington we sell the FM/AM Radio/CD Player unit for £99.99, by Fusion, and its a fully shock proof and waterproof piece of kit, and we have plenty in stock. On the speaker front we only have the 5" and 6.5" Seasound (budget speakers) in stock, and the Fusion 6" may take a few weeks to come in, but they'll be in the region on £60-70 when we get them in, so all in £159.99 for a radio and 2 speakers.

As for hearing it at 15 knots, yes you will, but then so will the rest of the Solent...

Hope this helps,

Josh

[codprawn]

My Raymarine 54e is fine - and it's been exposed to about 10yrs worth of rain during the last 3 yrs!!!

[bogib]

Cheesee is fitted with Standard Horizon VHF, then we have Autocom intercom between the Gecko helmets plus also connected to Standard Vertex HX 370 (so we have up to 3 VHF radios)

Bogi

[towersje]

Originally Posted by codprawn

My Raymarine 54e is fine - and it's been exposed to about 10yrs worth of rain during the last 3 yrs!!!

Hah! That's a lot of rain - howdya manage that? To be fair, one of our ancient icoms (the base model of the previous range of fixed VHFs) now needs a pair of pliers to turn it on after someone whipped the knob!

I will say I've heard some good things about Standard kit. Anyone fancy demoing me some kit to convert me?

[iandl]

Originally Posted by towersje

Hah! That's a lot of rain - howdya manage that? To be fair, one i will say I've heard some good things about Standard kit. Anyone fancy demoing me some kit to convert me?

blue v at port Edgar have standard kit setup in their shop

I also have the SH CP300 plotter that your welcome to view



I

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by towersje

Hah! That's a lot of rain - howdya manage that? To be fair, one of our ancient icoms (the base model of the previous range of fixed VHFs) now needs a pair of pliers to turn it on after someone whipped the knob!

I will say I've heard some good things about Standard kit. Anyone fancy demoing me some kit to convert me?

Well basically my boat is 3 years old - we get over 3x the normal yearly rainfall compared to 2000 - so 3x 3.3 almost equals 10!!!

[towersje]

Originally Posted by iandl

blue v at port Edgar have standard kit setup in their shop

I also have the SH CP300 plotter that your welcome to view



I

Tempted to drop in, new handheld needed soon! The HX750 looks good, get it with the fistmic too (which looks scarily like an icom one) - old habits die hard!

Thanks for offering a viewing on the plotter, may take you up on that at some point!

[alystra]

I'm still trying with Raymarine - mainly because the hole in the console was cut to fit one. The first one was great, until the volume control started to get bad contacts so unless I reduced the squelch I couldn't tell whether the speaker was working. Got a new one on guarantee. That worked ok but wouldn't read the position from the GPS (Garmin 126). Fitted a Garmin 550 plotter, radio still won't read position.

Rang Raymarine and explained. I'd done all the right things connecting and setting up. 'You must just be unlucky', he said.

It's back with the local chandlers now. They'll be fed up of giving me free ones. I'll persevere with the next one, but if there's anything wrong with that I'll switch to Icom. To be fair, David at the chandlery said I was the only one having any trouble with the 54E. They've got one last chance.

[Mbryant]

Thats interesting - we are looking to link it with a Garmin 550s, to be honest though even if they guarantee a new one or to fix it you can be sure you'll be fitting the new radio on the one nice summers day (we finally get) when you'd rather be out on it, seems as if I-com is a safer bet.

[alystra]

Originally Posted by Mbryant

Thats interesting - we are looking to link it with a Garmin 550s, to be honest though even if they guarantee a new one or to fix it you can be sure you'll be fitting the new radio on the one nice summers day (we finally get) when you'd rather be out on it, seems as if I-com is a safer bet.

As a radio, I like the Raymarine, and the first one worked perfectly until something happened to the volume control. I think there's a quality control problem, or there was at the time. We'll see.

[Jon Brooks]

First thing to check............is the Garmin's output still set to "garmin" and not NMEA. All Garmin kit comes out of the factory set to "garmin". If it is not changed to NMEA it will not talk to the radio or any other device needing a NMEA feed.

If I remember right the Ray 54 is a badged product and not a gen Raymarine bit of kit.

Icom and SH come with a 3 year warranty the Raymarine only has 1 year.
Without a doubt the Icom M411 or SH GX-1500 are much better bits of kit for the money. Also the SH comes with the flush mount kit in the box. Its another £14 + vat for the Icom. The SH can also take a second station mic, neither the Icom or Raymarine can. Also the SH is the only one to have 2 way NMEA. So if it gets an incoming DSC distress or position request it will output that info to a chart plotter. The Garmin can display that info.

Cheers

[Mbryant]

Originally Posted by Jon Brooks

Icom and SH come with a 3 year warranty the Raymarine only has 1 year.

Doesn't fill me with Raymarine faith if they dont trust their products im not sure I would. Interesting point about the SH DSC display, seems SH make good kit but the icom seems far more popular around schools which makes me more attracted to them

[towersje]

To be honest, I think it comes down to familiarity.

I know a lot of schools that think new radio - then look through the Icom brochure picking out the most appropriate product from said brochure. Hence why most use either M90 or M71 hand helds, or the Icom fixed units. It's not to be commended though - you've got to choose the best kit for the job at the best price, and it aint always what's familiar!

/end ramblings

[Jon Brooks]

Also Icom have been around a long time so the name is well known.
Now if SH called their kit Yaesu (part of the same company) people would know that they have been around just as long.

The other thing is that both companies build all their own kit in their own factories and don't have them made for them or rebadge. I guess that is why they offer 3 years warranty and most other don't.

The display on the GX-1500 is bigger and better than that of the M411. I also find the Raymarine display a bit washed out and not as clear as either of the others.

Cheers

[alystra]

Originally Posted by Jon Brooks

Also Icom have been around a long time so the name is well known.
Now if SH called their kit Yaesu (part of the same company) people would know that they have been around just as long.

The other thing is that both companies build all their own kit in their own factories and don't have them made for them or rebadge. I guess that is why they offer 3 years warranty and most other don't.

The display on the GX-1500 is bigger and better than that of the M411. I also find the Raymarine display a bit washed out and not as clear as either of the others.

Cheers

You're beginning to convince me Jon. I like the idea of the SH marking the distress pos. on the plotter. I'm still committed to the Raymarine for the moment, but if the next one doesn't work it's curtains for them as they're obviously not of merchantable quality. Sad.

Re. your previous comment, both GPS 126 and 550 plotter are set to NMEA - the GPS was sending its pos to the first radio I had. It wouldn't speak to the second one even though there had been no adjustment. I thought the GPS may have developed a fault, so that gave me the push to buy the plotter. Great piece of kit, but the radio wouldn't listen to that either. It did receive and transmit though and the volume control worked too. It seems one can't have everything.

[Jon Brooks]

well over the years I have it is more likely to be theGPS but if it worked fine and all you have done is conect it to a new radio then that leaves either a dodgy conection or the radio is a fault.

I have two vhf's and two plotters, all SH kit, they are all wired to display any incomming distress calls on the plotters and it works well. I have also used it when cruising to pin point other boats in the group. Also have a class b AIS system on the boat, this info is also displayed on the plotters.

[Chris]

Having had an Icom im my last rib and now the GX-1500 I would deffinately stick with the SH on my next rib, much more tactile and better V4M.