Does anyone have an opinion on the Raymarine A65 chartplotter? Does this model come with an internal antenna?
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before you buy anything raymarine act as if you already had, try to cotact raymarine with a problem, and then make up your own mind; the customer service is nonexistent.
A65
Hi Tom - The A65 uses the same 6.5" screen as the C70. It only comes with an external RS12 GPS antenna (not internal) and a Navionics Silver card which contains charts of the entire continental US coastline - note no coverage for Hawaii or Alaska (you could exchange your Silver card for a Gold with specific coverage for $199 less $75 rebate). It's a nice unit that you can get with or without the digital fishfinder module (although that comes pre-packaged with a transom mount transducer which may or may not work with you boat; you might need to get a separate in-hull or thru-hull transdicer for another $100). It's basically a self contained unit that comes with GPS and charting but doesn't have radar or AIS cababilities. All in all it has a bright crisp screen and is easy to use; compare with comprable Garmin units, as that's what this product was designed to compete against. As for Raymarine customer service, it's all about the dealer, in my opinion. Best, Trevor
Hi Tom - The A65 uses the same 6.5" screen as the C70. It only comes with an external RS12 GPS antenna (not internal) and a Navionics Silver card which contains charts of the entire continental US coastline - note no coverage for Hawaii or Alaska (you could exchange your Silver card for a Gold with specific coverage for $199 less $75 rebate). It's a nice unit that you can get with or without the digital fishfinder module (although that comes pre-packaged with a transom mount transducer which may or may not work with you boat; you might need to get a separate in-hull or thru-hull transdicer for another $100). It's basically a self contained unit that comes with GPS and charting but doesn't have radar or AIS cababilities. All in all it has a bright crisp screen and is easy to use; compare with comprable Garmin units, as that's what this product was designed to compete against. As for Raymarine customer service, it's all about the dealer, in my opinion. Best, Trevor
Raymarine service
My experience with Raymarine service was good. After two e-mails they called me (LD to Canada, their dime) to help sort out a question I had.
My experience with Raymarine service was good. After two e-mails they called me (LD to Canada, their dime) to help sort out a question I had.
ok, because someone says he had good service, don't check out the service on your own before you spend big bucks. makes sense, no?
Raymarine service recommendations
If you did try calling once and didn't get quality service, what does one isolated incident really prove? We've also had excellent service and response. Not to say there are always exceptions to every rule but, human nature being what it is, it's often a function of how you interact with them.
If you did try calling once and didn't get quality service, what does one isolated incident really prove? We've also had excellent service and response. Not to say there are always exceptions to every rule but, human nature being what it is, it's often a function of how you interact with them.
if you must know, my st400o+ mkii went completely nuts and blew out my whole electrical system while sailing. the good news is that raymarine sent me a cheque to cover everything, but will not since communicate what went wrong, how to prevent a reoccurence in the future or any other question i have about the unit. on the other hand, garmin in support of my 3010C questions and software updates has been delightful; so have garhauer, seaward, duthcman, datamarine, catalina, and almost everybody else i have dealt with, so i'm not a crank who can't get along with people. go ahead and buy raymarine when the market has so many excellent alternatives, just don't say you weren't warned. by the way, beechcraft is owned by raytheon but the factory avionics of choice are garmin. think about that.
Raymarine
I too have had excellent experience with Raymarine, but watch out for Garmin. They have a reputation of upgrading their equipment, and making the old stuff obsolete. I was surprised to find that they had discontinued their G charts for something "better". Those of us with Garmin Chartplotters that use those G charts are now out of luck. I've been to two different Marine Electronics stores, and talked to other boaters that tell me that this is very typical of Garmin. I'll be discontinuing my use of any Garmin equipment because of this.
I too have had excellent experience with Raymarine, but watch out for Garmin. They have a reputation of upgrading their equipment, and making the old stuff obsolete. I was surprised to find that they had discontinued their G charts for something "better". Those of us with Garmin Chartplotters that use those G charts are now out of luck. I've been to two different Marine Electronics stores, and talked to other boaters that tell me that this is very typical of Garmin. I'll be discontinuing my use of any Garmin equipment because of this.
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