Raymarine Warranty Outside Of USA

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Ducati

.
Nov 19, 2008
380
Boatless Boatless Annapolis
Do Raymarine offer warranty support for their products if you are outside of the USA? Say we visit Canada and need their help, will they be there for you?

Thanks
 
Dec 19, 2006
5,832
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
Why not

As long as you can call on the phone tech support should be able to help and if parts need servicing you will need to mail it for repair.
I don't see why being in canada would be a problem,maybe a sailor in canada can jump in about support for raymarine.
Nick
 
May 16, 2007
1,509
Boatless ! 26 Ottawa, Ontario
I live in Canada, I had a Raymarine instrument that died under warranty. I called Raymarine USA (I had purchased it while the boat was in Florida) and was told to return it to my local dealer in Canada for repair. The dealer knew there would be a problem and advised me to call the Raymarine representative in Canada, when I did they told me they would not honour the warranty for a product not purchased in Canada through their dealers. I advised Raymarine of their policy and was advised it to send to the USA service center, they replaced it quickly with a refurbished unit at no charge and with an apology for the poor service and attitude from the importer/distributor in Toronto. Since then I have purchased all Raymarine products in the USA and will continue to do so.
Bob
 
Nov 28, 2009
495
Catalina 30 St. Croix
The best and fastest with no headaches is to go on line, register your instruments. Then get a work order # and package and send the instrument to the USA address on the website. If it is under warranty, it will be honored. If the instrument needs repairs or replacement, that too will be done. The web site even has the cost of the repairs for your instrument. I have used Raymarine/Autohelm/Raytheon, since the early 80's and have been very satisfied with their service.
 
Jan 3, 2009
821
Marine Trader 34 Where Ever I am
The best course of action IMO is to buy almost any other product than Raymarine and your dealings with having it serviced will be greatly reduced. Chuck
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Hey Chuck, why the negative comment, so far I have had very good luck Raymarine.
 
Jan 3, 2009
821
Marine Trader 34 Where Ever I am
As a certified Raymarine tech I install more of this equipment in one season then most folks encounter over their lifetime of boating. Ask most current Raymarine owners what they like and the discussion quickly turns to exchange and service departments. If the first thing about any equipment maker you hear is about service instead of dependability you need to look elsewhere. The failure rate of Raymarine equipment right out of the box, in the first month, six months and first year is higher than any other equipment I install and service and I have been doing this for over 35 years. Occasionally someone gets a good piece of equipment and they love Raymarine. This is the exception rather than the rule. People will tell you they have Raymarine that is 10 or 20 years old and still working. Unfortunately that 10 or 20 year old equipment is nowhere near what you buy from that company today. Have you wondered why the leading supplier of boating equipment is in the final stages of collapse. It is because the quality of the product has not kept up with the excellent marketing the company has maintained. Boaters get smart after a while, it does take a while sometimes, and stop buying when a manufacturer stops caring about quality control. In addition Raymarine had insisted on their proprietary Seatalk when everyone else is moving into N2K leaving Raymarine in a not too desired class by itself. Their equipment is not as intuitive and user friendly for the average boater as many other manufacturers so why not spend your boating dollars with companies that do care about the reputation of what they sell. Chuck
 
Dec 19, 2006
5,832
Hunter 36 Punta Gorda
No Problems

I have had raymarine on a few boats and had no more problems than other boaters with electronics and find tech support or warranty to be very good and will keep buying raymarine products.
When up in NY the sailboat next to me got hit by lighing and the repair guy raved about how good raymarine products were so good and highly recommended them for new replacement on his boat,hey I am no expert I just listen when the pros talk what they like and prefer.
Nick
 
Jan 3, 2009
821
Marine Trader 34 Where Ever I am
Don't get me wrong, I do love Raymarine as do most tech I come in contact with. As long as they stay in business and continue on their current course we as technician will always have work replacing them and pulling them out, sending them in for repair and re-installing them. Kind of like mechanics that love the best of the worst engine manufacturers.
 

Ducati

.
Nov 19, 2008
380
Boatless Boatless Annapolis
Pick Another Brand

The best course of action IMO is to buy almost any other product than Raymarine and your dealings with having it serviced will be greatly reduced. Chuck
Hi Chuckbear.

If I want a linear autohelm + chartplotter then what would you suggest other than Raymarine?

Thanks
 
Jan 3, 2009
821
Marine Trader 34 Where Ever I am
I would suggests you look at Furuno first, again my opinion and the Simrad systems are very reliable and easy to install. Chuck
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Hey Chuck, Lets be specific here if you know.
Are these inherent electrical engineering design problems, such as (improper timing margins for the full opperating temp. environment, power supply components improperly rated, etc...), mechanical design problems (such as circuit boards cracking, shorting out, etc..., or asymbly quality control problems, causing the majority of the failures you have had exposier to?
 
Feb 6, 1998
11,760
Canadian Sailcraft 36T Casco Bay, ME
Hey Chuck, Lets be specific here if you know.
Are these inherent electrical engineering design problems, such as (improper timing margins for the full opperating temp. environment, power supply components improperly rated, etc...), mechanical design problems (such as circuit boards cracking, shorting out, etc..., or asymbly quality control problems, causing the majority of the failures you have had exposier to?
On my C-80, in under two seasons use, I had two Sea-Talk buss failures which required a PC board replacement, a de-laminated screen, a defective rudder position sensor and a defective Raystar 125 GPS antenna. This was all on a brand new 2005 vessel. Raymarine was great about fixing it, as I drove it there and waited while they repaired it, but none of this stuff ever should have failed. I have no problem with them standing behind it, they were great, but I certainly did not buy a Raymarine system for my current boat..

None of the companies are perfect, and Garmin has certainly slipped some in customer support too, but I have to agree with Chuck that Furuno is perhaps the most reliable, even though I don't currently own it. Raymarine makes a nice "package" but with both Furuno and Garmin getting into instruments, wind, depth, speed etc., and autopilots, they no longer have the "system" edge they once had especially if they stay committed to Sea-Talk and don't adopt NEMA 2k...

I do hope they survive as my AP and instruments are Ray, just not my plotter / radar..
 
Oct 25, 2005
735
Catalina 30 Banderas Bay, Mexico
Don't get me wrong, I do love Raymarine as do most tech I come in contact with. As long as they stay in business and continue on their current course we as technician will always have work replacing them and pulling them out, sending them in for repair and re-installing them. Kind of like mechanics that love the best of the worst engine manufacturers.
I've heard some of this too. I have a less than 12 month old E120 that seems to have barfed the video inputs. I lost 1 out of three before the end of last season, and this season all the video is dead. I don't want to be without the plotter for very long, so I'm going to wait until I have a 3-4 week window that I don't need the boat to send it in for service.

FYI: RNS works under Windows 7 and the old version of the E series firmware that I have on my E80. The E120 has the latest firmware and does not work with RNS. I'm going to downgrade the E120. The E80 on my sailboat being 100% reliable was the main reason I have a full Raymarine install on my power boat.
 
Jan 3, 2009
821
Marine Trader 34 Where Ever I am
Hey Chuck, Lets be specific here if you know.
Are these inherent electrical engineering design problems, such as (improper timing margins for the full opperating temp. environment, power supply components improperly rated, etc...), mechanical design problems (such as circuit boards cracking, shorting out, etc..., or asymbly quality control problems, causing the majority of the failures you have had exposier to?
Take your pick, I think you have already received a few examples and believe me there are many dissatisfied folks that don't visit this board but I talk with them every day. If you like Raymarine, great, stay with them. But if ask for my feed back I have to be honest. I have installed or removed for repair or replacement at least 100 or more units in the last year. I have been a certified tech for Raymarine for over five years. I have installed Datamarine and Raytheon systems, great systems by the way, for years so I do know a bit of what I speak. Garmin or even Furuno should probably be avoided in the first year of issue of any new equipment but after the bugs are worked out, and they will, it is some of the best. Garmins service issues are hit and miss and IMO a result of the large increase in the marketshare due to new products and the large number of customers moving from Raymarine to Garmin. It get the feeling that you don't agree and of course that is what discussion is all about. But these are my thoughts and recommendations based on my experience. Like any advise you get on the internet it is worth what you paid for it. Chuck
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Chuck,
First please accept my apologies if some how I have offended you.

It has nothing to do with whether I agree or disagree, but rather that when opins. are expressed that there are facts to backup them up. So far the only specifics about the failures on this thread have been supplied by Maine.

The following is the an example of the type of information I'm looking for:
"The P.C. boards that are causing the C80 Sea Talk failures are fairly wide spread covering the first year they were available because they had a batch of bad receiver chips that were shorting out the input on the bus", or something to that effect. I'm not saying you should know this reason specifically, but, do you have this level of information as to the specific products to steer clear of and why? This type of detailed information would be helpful for us all.

I realize no one until now on this thread has asked you about a specific product, so I will list mine, and maybe you can tell me what I might be expecting in the future.

ST60+ wind, ST60 depth, ST60 speed, S1 Auto Wheel Pilot, C90W.

Thank you for you valuable input.
 
Jan 3, 2009
821
Marine Trader 34 Where Ever I am
First let me say that neither myself or any other tech I know will pull one of these units apart to identify the specific part of the failure. We don't get paid for this, it is totally unnecessary for our realm of responsibility and a total waste or our time since we do not have the equipment to bench test part by part. In addition, I really don't care which piece of the puzzle does not fit nor do the customers that hire me to do there installations. About the only individuals that MIGHT be able to answer that are the Raymarine techs that do the repairs when you send your unit back and believe me they don't talk much. my experience and observations, which I comment on here and other forums, is based on my experiences to a large extent on installation of new equipment, recalls for new equipment failures not installation related, and equipment failures of equipment we have not installed. The percentage of Raymarine equipment that fails right out of the box is surprising, but as an installation tech, other than curiosity, I really don't care why it came from the factory and does not work. My experience has been that this is indeed a rarety with Garmin and Simrad and even more so with Furuno. I do install Lowrance and several others and do not encounter the failure rate that I do with Raymarine. And I beleive that members here and at other sites are more interested in that information rather than, was it the circuit board, etc. As to the equipment you have, the displays them selves are the main source of failure although every so often a transducer will fail. With the S1 and most other Raymarine autopilots, the course computer is the weak point and I have replaced three or four computers on a single autopilot. The C90W like all Raymarine displays is very sensitive to voltage, more so than most other units. Once the voltage drops slightly below its desired threshold it begins to do a lot of strange things. The displays are not very user friendly and you must wade through a string of menu items to get where you finally want to be. In addition, the Seatalk is prone to failure at several points and can put your entire system out just when you need it most. Hope this helps. Chuck
 
Dec 25, 2008
1,580
catalina 310 Elk River
Thank you Chuck for your input.

I benched tested my C90W and fluctuated the voltage during test. I found it was operable down ~10.5v then it would turn off. I took it up to 14.75 with no problems.

Any idea what fails on the course computer? What are the usual symptoms?
 
Jan 3, 2009
821
Marine Trader 34 Where Ever I am
I am surprised that the display took voltage that low to fail, it usually is quite higher than that but this is a newer unit. The course computers typically will cause the entire Seatalk to fail that is connected to it or steer the boat erratically and cause sudden course corrections. It will also stop sending or receiving data from the control head. Raymarine does not repair these nor do they give you any indication as to what failed. They simply replace them even though they have you send them back for "repair".
 
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