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I was surfing the different makers of plotter/sounders, and I'm stuck between the Garmin 545s and the raymarine A50. I was wondering if anyone else compared the 2 and which they picked. the specs seem very close, same screen size/res. i do like the side by side screens that the ray marine has, and switching bewteen screens with hotkeys. also it has some sort of audio capabilities. before I found out about this unit, I was certain about the Garmin 545s. now I'm not so sure. it seems to be that with the garmin you have to go back to the main menu alot, to get to different screens. anyone have any thoughts?

bump.

OK Dutch here we go
Generally speaking Ray's cost more from what I am seeing and even then, Ray doesnt GIVE you the preloaded charts Garmin did for me , and I got for free Mariner 3d blue chart which is IMHO nothing more than a toy for when your anchored and bored.
My buttons work fine and yes you do have to back trace Garmin as with all units in some form . I have found I am not skipping around the quandary of possible options when I am under way. I do see Ray mounts their screen Horz. Garmin Vert. I .... find the Vert split screen very usable as is the horizontal and the reverse should be true for Rays . Meaning for you to have the same relative screen I have with the Vert split you would split Horiz.
I got my Garmin 545s ( sonar capable ) delivered to house fully loaded with Coastal waters for less than $800 and another $60 was spent for the transponder. Honestly I need to go out and see what I have for the Great Lakes especially lake Michigan... My Garmin has a much smaller screen than my Lowrance had and being a Vert screen it fits within the foot print of the Pedestal. That may or maynot be an issue for you .

I'm pretty happy with my 545 as well. I did consider the Raymarine, but the horizontal design would not have fit well on my helm. I'm impressed with how visible the 545's screen is, even in the middle of the day. And I like how it adjusts the brightness automatically depending on ambient light levels. My only real complaint is that it only has a few buttons... so in some cases it takes quite a few button pushes to get to where you want to be (the Raymarine unit looks like it has several dedicated buttons). And, I also think the whole recent Garmin lineup is kinda ugly.

--Michael

Dutch,

I have owned several Garmin units in the past and have always been pleased with their performance and ease of operation, very intuitive. I currently own a Raymarine A60 and if the price was close between the two units I would take the Garmin. Even though the A60 has a bunch more buttons I seen to have to go thru a series button pushes to get between the screens I am interested in. Also very annoying is the way the menu works, you have to use the right arrow to select anything, I keep highlighting the option I want and hit enter and it takes me back to were I started from, counter intuitive and annoying.

Mark

I'm looking to do the gulf islands this summer (from landlocked Calgary) and was looking at the Garmin 545s but not sure if I need to purchase the Bluechart g2 Vision card or if the Preloaded offshore BlueChart® maps for the U.S. and the Bahamas covers the Gulf Islands
Can anyone that has a unit let me know.
Thanks

at the west marine by my house, ( a little too close, if you know what I mean) they have both models powered up and on display mode. I think what I'll do is to tinker with both of them a bit, every time I go in there. I won't be buying a plotter for maybe a month or so. that will realistically give me at least 10 times to get familiar with both of them. as far as the raymarine being a bit wide, it does stick out a bit outside of the pedestal I suppose, but not near as far as the wheel does, so that's not a concern as much as one might think. the difference between the 2 is not really worth mentioning in my opinion. functionality is of course the biggest concern. the raymarine looks very easy to use advanced functions on, and I'm sure we all know how easy garmin is to use for functions. the only issue I have with the garmin is having to always go back to the main menu. the screens have the same res. and comparing plotter features is easy. with the gold navionics, it compares closely to garmins in house g2 vision. one major consideration is that the gold navionics will cost less for traveling because they cover a much larger area per chip, versus the garmin. though both can easy be resold on ebay. it looks like it might come down to accessories. as far as I can tell so far, with the garmin, to add the xm weather you just need to add an external antenna. with the raymarine you need to add a SR50 Sirius Receiver for sirius weather. on the other had the ray marine comes standard with HD digital fish finder, for digital on the garmin you need to add the GDS 22. If you do that though, you get to depths of nearly a mile. If is was fishing that deep, I think we'd need a bigger boat. So it looks like to be equal as far as it goes, a little give, and a little take. then i found out about 2 things. the raymarine can activate and control raymarine autopilots, which is cool. also, they have engine monitoring. I'm not positive on the functionality of the etec 60, but my local dealer says it's possible to hook it up. the ray marine can have between 1-4 screens set up, so you could, i imagine, have up the auto pilot, sonar, plotter and engine screens, and at the touch of a button, have any of those, take up the full screen. so far, the garmin has shown little to compete with this, but since it's a major purchase, that can have a great effect on our sailing experience, i want to fully explore both options. and will try to keep my mind open as possible until the Day i pull out my wallet.

I was just interested in the thread and did a quick Internet search... my first hit...

http://www.starmarinedepot.com/Garmin+545s+GPSMAP.html

Garmin 545s with all US charts and dual frequency sonar transducer $809 - $200 rebate = $609.

Raymarine A50D $867 + $70 for US charts - $50 rebate = $887.

Maybe, I'm comparing apples and oranges... but $280 is a lot of difference if you're saying the features are close.

Inquistitor,

Look at this closely. The 200 rebate is only if you buy the S2 card for 289 or more. Also the price you quoted may not be correct.

Newell

Newell
You are correct....darn it.
I was ready to jump all over this, but the rebate only applies to the card purchase and it the same almost everywhere. In Calgary the card is $489 so the $200 rebate just brings it back to a reasonable price.

they arent exactly equal as far as i can tell. the features are simular, until you consider that the raymarine can control the raymarine auto pilots, and has engine monitoring, which can free up space on the pedstal. as well as controling sirius music, if you add the receiver, which i plan to. that means not having to cut another hole in the boat to mount a player, nevermind buying one. as well as having access to radar weather, and all that sirius weather offers. now, the garmin supports xm weather, but not xm radio as far as i can tell. that means another 500 or so. and if you add an autopilot later, that means cluttering up the small pedestal, or buying a nav pod, another 300 or so. the only upside that im seeing to gamin so far, is its a little bit cheaper up front, and its a bit more narrow. the raymarine is only 7.9 inches wide, so not a biggie though. if you decide to ever add sattelite radio/weather, or an autopilot, then raymarine looks to be the way to go. also looking at the g2 vison cars vs the platinum navionics, yet again, raymarine comes out on top, because the charts cover more area, with the same features. if we decide to go the more minimalist route, and have a simple plotter/sounder, then the garmin is the way to go. simple to use, nice screen, and wont stick out at all over the egde of the pedestal. does anyone here have a A50, or a50d?

Dutch,
The Raymarine Autopilot will talk/listen to any GPS that outputs the right NEMA phrases, no direct experience with Garmin/autopilot combination but I would think that it should work. Another factor, not sure about the A50 but the A60 that I have takes 5 different cables attached to the back of it for it to work. It is not a problem but it does make a messy installation and a lot of wires running around. The Garmin looks a lot cleaner with the single cable. Another factor is that although Raymarine service/warranty has treated me well, I have sent 2 pieces back to them and been on the phone with them at least a half dozen times and still have some issues that are not totally resolved. I have owned 2 Garmin GPS units spanning 13 years and don't think I ever called their service dept.
Mark