Autopilot

[Liam]

No problems

I have a Raymarine wheel pilot. Have had it for 7 years and use it 95% of the time. I mostly single hand my boat. With almost 10,000 miles of use it has worked without any issues at all.
No matter what the product is, some percentage will have issues (even if it is a Mecedes).
I am not sure that there is an autopilot made that will give better service than Raymarine.

 

[derfus]

Thanks All for the quick replies. Didn't want to spend the big bucks but I think I'll just have to bite the bullet and go with a Simrad below deck unit. Like the man said " If you want nice clean oats you have to pay the price, Once they go through the horse they are much cheaper.

 

[Jackdaw]

Chuckbear,

It strains logic that the conditions you describe (100% failure rate) in your posts are anywhere near typical. It suggests either some personal or professional bias, and/or a systematic fault in the manner of your installs.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Even a little bit of common sense dictates that no company, particularly in this economy, would stay in business with a 100% failure rate. Clearly, perception is often more important than reality. If one were to look at the equivalent of Consumer Report reviews of autopilots, i.e., Practical Sailor, their opinion is that quality and cost ate directly proportional and the Ray pilots are not the cheapest.

 

[Steve Dion]

There is nothing wrong with the Raymarine below deck units.

Just remember when you are looking at opinons, most people don't complain about something that works. You will always have a louder crowd when it comes to failures. Raymarine also propbably makes more autopilots for sailboats than all the others together.

After saying that, I would be looking for a Simrad/Navico WP300 if you can find a good used one. They were selling for less than $700 just prior to being discontinued.

 

[Free Spirit]

Navpilot 500

On my previous vessel I used the Navpilot 500, the manufacture was Furuno. It was a bit expensive, but it never failed me. It has heading controls, net controls, one touch screen. i never had to yell at it!
The company does have some more reasonable prices for smaller units, but I never had issues with mine.:dance:
whats really nice is its precision, all bells and whistles included.

Free Spirit