Furuno choice for new Tomcat

S

squidslayer

New member
My new 2007 Tomcat 255 is arriving this Dec replacing my C-dory 22 angler..
My 1990 Angler had Furuno Radar..Chartplotter/Sounder when I brought it in 2005 After 15years the Furuno's were still working like new when I sold it.
For my new 07 Tomcat it will be ALL FURUNO electronics even the VHF and auto pliot.
I was REALLY tempted by the Raymarine E-80 E120 with all the bells and whistles &3D .....................
but it really boiled down to this ..RELIABILITY
when I went to the "hull truth"electronics forum http://www.thehulltruth.com/forums/forum-view.asp?fid=8
and saw all the threads titled... "RayMarine Problems""Raymarine strikes again"...with very few Furuno issues..thats all it took....FURUNO ALL THE WAY....it may cost more but when you are spending $125000.00 for a boat..WHY SKIMP?? Why do you think you cannot buy Furuno at "Westmarine or Cabelas?? Because it is of Commerial Quality

The last Tomcat 255 sold at my Dealer.."Outboard Motor Shop" Oakland Ca. was out fitted with all Raymarine E-80 units "two" front and rear...and guess what ??Problems....the unit blacks out..off and on ..the shop is still working on it...I looked in the Hull truth forum..and there it was "Raymarine Problem".."screen blacks out"
My list for my new TomCat is as follows:

Furuno Navet Vx2 1834CBB 4kW 24" Dome BlacK Box Radar/cmap Chartplotter
Big Bay DIBM-10.4 10.4" XGA (1024x768) Indoor/outdoor High Bright Powder Coated Opti-Max and dimmingf control
Furuno Navnet BBWGPS Blackbox GPS Receiver
Furuno Navnet BBFFI External Sounder Module
Furuno Transom Mount Multisensor with 10 pin
Furuno Navnet 520 Hydraulic Autopilot system
Furuno FM3000 VHF Radio water proof Scanner
Shakesphere HD Mast
Pioneer DEH-P6800 CD Reciever Organic EL Display ipod ready Sirius Ready
Navionics Gold Chart us west

Due to the limited space on top of the Dash of the Tomcat I opted for the Big Bay...recomended by the dealer" ...Flat screen display 10" or 12" mounted on a adjustible pole mount on top of the dash The Furuno buttons and mouse ball
for the unit mounted on the front of the dash for Easy access.

Again my reasioning for Furuno is...
Lexus "Japan"
or
Jaguar " UK"
which is most relieable??

But...... to each his own!!

Dick
Orinda, Ca
 
Congratulations on the new Tom Cat--and your choice of excellent electroncis. I agree that Furuno is an excellent system--and by going with all Furuno gear that you will have minimal interfacing problems. I almost purchased a one year old boat which had exactly the same Furuno set up that you are buying. It is truely an excellent set up. However one has to distinguish the Furuno recreational boat products from the truely big ship products. I suspect the lack of Furuno products on the West Marine shelves today (they were sold in West Marine and Boat US in the past) and are still sold at Boater's World, and most of the on line sellers is profit margin and demand.

Most likely there are less problems with Furuno than with some of the other manufactures. THT is an excellent forum--and certainly problems are aired--and often resolved on the forum. However there are also some un-informed posts. You hear about the problems there. I personally have avoided RayMarine because of some past history--but if you look at the number of units that RayMarine sells, and the many happy customers that they have--one cannot condem this product. I don't know the numbers, but I'll bet in recreational boats that RayMarine outsells Furuno at least 3 to 1.

I do have Furuno radar--and have for many years. There are a couple of issues with the one plotter does all:
The amount of screen for each function is relitatively small on a 10" screen. I am not personally sold on overlay of Radar--but it has some definate advantages.

All of the navigation eggs are in one basket. I subscibe to the group that has separate chart plotters/Radar/depth finder--although some may be combined. If you lose one unit, you still have other modalities of navigation available. We have a 7" chart plotter/depth finder, a 6.5 " chart plotter, a 7" Radar two VHF radios--one interfaced with each chart plotter. With both the Furuno and the Raymarine (E) you can buy a second screen module and either use it for the functions or have a backup for the system. Even with Furuno, in today's world, I probably would have some back up--just in case.....I am sure that most people have at least one hand held GPS and paper charts of their boating areas.

The other issue--which may or may not be important-- is that Furuno is not going with NMEA 2000. Lowrance, Simrad, RayMarine, and a host of others are incorporating the NMEA 2000 buss system. Many engine guages, flow meters, etc are now available on NMEA 2000. There are a lot of products in the pipeline.

I suspect that within the next year or so, AIS will be available in NMEA 2000 plug and play (Furuno may come along with their version with NavNet). My feeling is that AIS is one of the biggest advances in collision avoidance we have seen since affordiable radar was available for recreational boats.

We all pays our money--and make our choices--I think that in todays world it is hard to go wrong. Electronics are far better than even 10 years ago.

What engines did you choose--and why?

Why Navionics Gold, vs C map (which allows the Max charts)?.

Again, congratulations on an excellent boat and electronics.
Let us know how the boat works out!
 
I got the twin 150 4 Stroke Hondas.. Counter Rotating
Because..
5 year full Warranty
Honda Financed the WHOLE boat W/elctr for 6% @120mo
I like the idea of having two Honda Accord engines in back!!

I have not decided on the maps yet....tell me ...which is best??

I do use a Garmin 276c with bluechart as a back up
But as I had mentioned the "Furuno factor" they should not fail!!!!
When I asked the Raymarine/Furuno dealer "Star Electronics" which system to get they steered me to the E-80 E-120 Raymarine units...when I asked them which were MOST reliable with the LEAST amount of warrenty work required they said...."Furuno"

'Thanks for the reply and great info!!
will post again


Dick
 
The Furuno chart plotter is the only one I am aware of which can be configured to use either C maps or Navionics. You mentioned Navionics Gold, so I assume that you are using the Navionics charts. You might want to wait on ordering the charts--since Navionics is comming out with even wider coverage than in the XL3--it will be an XL 9 series--For the East coast it appears that one chip will cover the Eastern Seaboard from Maine to Florida, including the Bahamas. The West Coast will cover Acapulco to Vancouver Island including Hawaii(which the XL3 does currently) but will add all of Alaska. BC will be a separate chart--probably because of the high royality fees.

I have chart plotters using both Navionics and C map--for some areas C map is better, others Navionics is better. For example C map incorporated the Lewis Explorer charts in the Bahamas--and have an excellent set of accurate charts for that area. I have used Navionics on the West Coast and they are fine.
 
Bob,

It looks like you have a Standard Horizons chartplotter. Can you tell me why you selected it and how it has worked? What maps do you use with this unit?

I have a friend that is looking at the Standard Horizon plotter that has the built in VHF - chart plotter plus second radio.

Thanks,
Steve
 
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