X-5 Smartpilot wheel Raymarine

[Terry in Naples]

My computer box on my wheel pilot went on the fritz after 44 hours of use and the manager at West Marine told me it may be difficult to get repaired and that Raymarine was now sold to Flir (something like that) and that repairs were painfully slow and no more new product would be made with the technology that Raymarine used. He said once stock was gone that would be it and the new company was going to use technology similar to the Ipad and I phone and that the new devices would be manageable with these apple and android products. He said it was a big leap forward. So if true, be careful how much you spend on closeout Rymarine products as it appears the "fat lady is about to sing"
Anyone know more on thi8s?

 

[Benny17441]

Done Deal

Yes, it is a done deal. Do not waste any time and contact Raymarine about a repair or replacement. I would doubt very much that FLIR would pay all that money for the goodwill of the Raymarine name just to let it go down the drain among its customers.

 

[rhythmsurfer]

Makes sense. I just wonder if I am going to place my Ipad on the pedestal if it will hold up to the marine enviroment. In these times who knows. I use my phone as a knot meter and compass. I am afraid to dump 3 grand in a new set up and then run in to the problems you described above.

 

[hutch5151]

You need to talk directly to Raymarine.(800-539-5539, or 603-324-7900) They have a great troubleshooting staff, a two or (if entered on internet) three year warranty on their parts and also a set price repair of out of warranty parts. I just had an out of warranty linear drive ( 13 years old) repaired and received great service. I was enroute from the Bahama's, told them I was a vessel underway and they expidited my repair. I couldn't be happier. I don't know what West Marine Store you went to, but it is obvious that the manager is ill informed.

 

[Bad Obsession]

When I installed my S1 on my boat I was so mad at Raymarine. I had to send my computer to them according to tech support. I got the computer back and the unit still didn't work. I called Tech support back and they advised me that I needed to switch two wires. I did this and it worked. The tech support person on the phone laughed at what the first tech told me and told me that I had bad advice and laughed. These tech support people spoke broken English and they were hard to understand at time.

Now that the unit is working I have put close to 1000 hours on it in the time I have had it. I have been happy with it but I still feel there is room for improvement because it requires some tinkering with settings, which is a pain to do.

I would like to see an integrated system in the future that combines all the instruments on one display (wind, water speed, depth, radar, weather, GPS, and autohelm), that is touch screen to control, and has a repeater at the nav station. It would also hook the VHF radio through the system so it could share GPS location in case of an emergency. Then you could have the system with a blue tooth setup so you could use your Iphone or Droid as a remote.

Add a smarter computer to this so that it learns your boat and the conditions based on input so you don't have to tinker with the settings.

Still, no matter what you add to the computer system and how good it is, it will never replace the need to know the old systems of navigation, steering, and charting because computer systems will always have the chance to fail!

 

[fox islander]

Just bough an X5...impeccable timing.

 

[rpwillia]

Range of Opinions Here

Terry, As you can see there are a few opinions out there. If you want to keep the old unit, you can likely get it repaired by Raymarine, by paying the repair fee (sounds like the unit is out of warranty). The new Raymarines are a bit nicer, but when you compare the S1 to the X5 the difference is really in the accessories (S1 came with Rudder Position Sensor; X5 dropped that and included the gyro sensor or something like that).

To date none of the manufacturers have everything real integrated unless you want to spend a lot of money. I did see in one of the sailing magazines a few month ago that 2012 was supposed to be the year of the electronics where with NMEA 2000 everything was supposed to work magically together.

Garmin and Simrad also makes Autopilots, but it seems that Raymarine has the lions share of the market.

 

[Terry in Naples]

Raymarine X5 wheel auto pilot

I sent the unit in through the local West Marine store. I tried to call Raymarine at the number in the manual but after about 15 minutes on hold gave up. I am hoping that since I purchased the unit there and I know the manager well he will get my system up and running. I will post a final outcome when is reinstalled. Terry

 

[Terry in Naples]

I did hear back from ray marine by phone. The computer was ok so they requested that I send in the motor off the drive ring. When I took it out ( unscrewed) it smelled badly of burnt wiring. Assume that was the problem. Sent in about 2weeks-ago. No reply yet. No charge for looking at the computer. I just called and left message with Raymarine requesting status.

 

[Brad Woodward]

My Raymarine X5 experience was not too bad. I love it but it is taking some time to get it tuned correctly. When I first installed it the motor didn't work. Long story short the two power pins in the motor were pushed into the motor so far the plug couldn't make contact. I was accused by the local West Marine store of doing that. I didn't the unit came with the power cable plugged into the motor. My guess was that it was a return they gave me. Any way West Marine (I got their extended warranty) replaced it free and I was on my way, or at least until I hooked it up. The motor was running backwards. I triple checked the wiring and it was connected as the manual showed. Switched the motor wires at the computer and I was now turning the boat to port when I told it to turn that way. I suspect the original wiring harness I got was wired backward and that is why someone tried to plug the motor in backwards to get it to work but since the plug and socket is keyed so you can't plug it in backwards they off set the plug and since the power connectors didn't line up they ended up pushing in the pins instead. Can't blame the other guy that tried to make it work it was a problem with the Raymarine equipment. Hey they have to hire imperfect people to work for them so we will get some mistakes. Difference for me is that they fix em. I have called tech support on a network wiring issue and got through in a few minutes. My Smart Pilot works well but like I said earlier still fine tuning. I have a Garmin chart plotter and when I put in a route and hit Track on the auto pilot I go the route and then start following the route or at least in that general direction.

 

[hutch5151]

Terry - I'm glad that you are talking directly with Raymarine. I appreciate your follow-up on this forum. Hopefully your wheel drive motor is under warranty, if so I'm sure you will be happy with raymarine service. If you are in a hurry, you can call them back and they will expidite the order for and additional $50.00 charge. Thanks again for the follow-up

 

[Terry in Naples]

I talked to ray marine again today. They told me they had shipped me a new motor, no charge as I had only 44 hours on it. So they upgraded the computer software since I had sent it in and replaced the motor. I do not have it yet but I am more than pleased and feel they treated me well.