Electronics reviews

Can anyone point me to some good sources for reviews of marine electronics,
specifically GPS plotters, fish/depth finders, and radar? I will be
equipping a 28' sportsfishing boat and want to gather some info in this area
before listening to the dealer's pitches. Thanks

 

The West Marine catalog has info on the features and what to look for. The
manufacturers web sites list the specifications.
After an hour or so of review, you should have an idea of how much money
you're willing to spend and what you want.
Within each price range, they're all pretty much the same.
Like cars, a lot of people favor the first brand they had experience with.
Garmin was always more user friendly, but I think many will tell you that
Magellan's have caught up.

 

Just pick up any boat magazine. They all have "good" reviews on everything
for a boat, especially their advertisers' products....everything is just
wonderful in a boat magazine.....

Now, if you're looking for an HONEST review, I don't think Consumer's
Report ever does marine electronics....

Nobody is going to tell you the Raymarine 2KW radars suck because the dome
gets all wet inside and the damned thing is made of cheap pot metal and
corrodes like hell when Raymarine is buying six full-page color ads,
including the inside back cover. For that information, you need to read
rec.boats.cruising and rec.boats.electronics and hear it from the screwed
customers....(c;

Boat magazine reviews suck even worse than the worst product they give
glowing reports about! Everything in there is just a sales brochure to
move the advertisers' crap!

 

I've noticed that magazine reviews never have anything bad to say. They may
pick a nit or two in an attempt to seem objective, but I just don't trust
them. Also a product may work fine when new but be subject to problems down
the road like the one you describe.

 

The only way it will ever be objective is if there is some non-marine-
business-connected organization that works for its readers, not its
advertisers.....just like Consumer's Union does for its subscribers with
its own testing labs and experts and NO ADS. Otherwise, you end up with
the mutual admiration society that is marine magazines....

Brunswick makes amazingly wonderful boats because they buy wonderfully
profitable advertising in every publication. Then you run into some little
bump of a blog like David Pascoe's Fiberglass questions:
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/Fiberglass_Boats.htm
Funny, I never saw any pictures like this on the Sea Ray ads or in Sea
Ray's magazine I can't stop them from sending me.

What boating needs is some really serious WEBLOGS to bypass the
manufacturer/dealer influence and expose the nonsense in the business.

 

I agree that the influence of the advertising $ keeps the major mags from
being really objective. Blogs and newsgroups are good but they suffer from
the problem of the irate owner who screwed something up from his own
incompetence, blames the manufacturer, and then goes on a crusade. Sigh.
There is no single good way to get information about boats, electronics,
etc. Life just isn;t that simple.

 

Thanks for the input. I sort of have my eyes on the NavNet 1823C which is a
combo unit. I think I'd prefer one large screen to 2 or 3 smaller ones.

 

Practical Sailor should be mentioned here. It is solely subscriber
supported, with no ads (like Consumer Reports in that respect). It
isn't large enough to have specialist experts in everythiing, but it
describes what it has tried, and explains what it likes and doesn't
like and why.



Rodney Myrvaagnes J 36 Gjo/a


Kansas--working to become a science-free zone

 

I have my own non commercial web site based on UK small fishing boats and
equipment.

Web page http://fishing_boats.tripod.com/

It may not be the slickest and fancy web site but I rely on the users of the
boat/equipment to send me honest reports.

If anyone wishes to add their thoughts I would happily add them, it does
however need input from others.
Do not worry about how to present a report, I can edit/arrange before it is
uploaded.

Hope this helps

Dave