Raymarine C70 Update

Feb 19, 2017
18
Cape Dory 27 New England
Hello,
I have the Raymarine C70 (original) on my new-to-me 343.

The chart plotter and radar work, but the actual 'charts' it displays are very basic / not useful (merely shore contours, no depths or landmarks, etc). Not sufficient for navigation.

I have heard you can update the software of the Raymarine C70 and / or buy a card from a company like Navionics to upgrade the charting software. Anyone done this?

Thanks,

Ted
 

leo310

.
Dec 15, 2006
635
Catalina 310 44 Campbell River BC
You may want to junk the C70 and get a better unit as the newer chart plotters have better displays than the C70 but the down fall is you'll have to convert seatalk to seatalk ng.
 
Jun 21, 2004
2,532
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
Ted,
My 343 originally had a RC435 plotter. I changed it to a new old stock C80, about five years ago.
I upgraded the chartplotter software and upgraded to a new navionics map about three years ago. The software upgrade was necessary to load the new maps.
As Bob mentioned, you may be able to purchase an old map of your area on Ebay and just use the old map without the software upgrade. At least you will have a raster type chart that will show details. Think that it is a Navionics Gold compact flash card map that is compatible with the C70/C80 series, on units that have not been upgraded to firmware V5.16.
When I updated the Raymarine software, I was able to download it from Raymarine onto a 128 MB compact flash card and load it into the C80. You cant use a high capacity card, however, the 128 will work. I was then able to install and use the new updated map. The cost was approximately $90 for the map with free updates for a year.
 
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Jun 21, 2004
2,532
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
I have heard you can update the software of the Raymarine C70 and / or buy a card from a company like Navionics to upgrade the chart
Here is the procedure for updating the Raymarine chart plotter software and acquisition of a new navionics map.
First order of business is to update the C80 to the latest firmware (V5.16). The software update was available free of charge from Raymarine support website, three years ago. Download the update and unzip, then transfer the files to a San disk compact flash card, not to exceed 256MB capacity. The cards were available on EBay. Place the update card in the C80 and load the file updates after the plotter is powered up and running. Raymarine had more detailed instructions on how to perform the update on their support website. There are also You Tube videos on updating the C70/80 firmware.
After the raymarine software update is completed on the C80, update the Navionics chart. I purchased the Navionics Plus update chart package from Landfall Navigation. The card and card reader cover US & Canadian waters. Open the chart on your computer and highlight the regions that you wish to purchase. You can open up to 512MB of chart data AFTER the software update to version V5.16 is installed. After configuring the new chart onto the compact flash card from your computer, the card can then be loaded into the chartplotter for use. Hope this helps and hope that the update is still available from Raymarine. Again, another option is to Buy an old Navionics Gold chart of your area on Ebay.
 
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Jan 22, 2008
8,050
Beneteau 323 Annapolis MD
+1 to Big Easy. My B323 , I installed a C80. I downloaded updates from Raymarine, but my slip neighbor went to West to borrow their update card. The salesman said there WERE NO UPDATEs. Buddy told me that, and I just said "okay" as I had installed whatever the newer generic was.
 
Jun 21, 2004
2,532
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
Ron,
I updated the C80 software about three years ago. At that time, the latest update was V5.16. I haven't checked if any further updates are available. I kind of doubt it as the C series are well past the service life. Still happy with mine.
 
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ToddS

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Sep 11, 2017
248
Beneteau 373 Cape Cod
Happy enough with my C80... if it aint broke, don't fix it... Bought navionics charts just over a year ago (when I bought the boat, which came from a different "region" than where I sail)... loaded new maps, and software update via CF card... without the charts, your plotter is pretty close to useless. I don't mind the old plotter, and while a brand new plotter would surely be better, the old one works fine, and doesn't interfere with my enjoyment of the boat. With the price of marine electronics, I figure I might as well milk every season I can get out of what I've got... when it dies though (15 years old now) I will understand that it is well past its expected lifespan. Just replaced the GPS (receiver/antenna) for it (Raystar 120 upgraded to digital yacht gps150) so now it's reading nmea input instead of seatalk gps... the old Raystar finally quit, but replacement wasn't too costly. Only been out once so far this season, but works perfectly for me.