Garmin 741sx or Raymarine e7d

[SPembleton]

I sail only in the Great Lakes, and mostly daysail.  I hope to do some overnight trips next summer. I want to buy a Chartplotter. I will eventually add a wind sensor and an AIS transponder. I am looking at the Garmin 741sx and the Raymarine e7d.  Any thoughts?  Does the association have equipment reviews anywhere?  I searched, but did not find any.

[Stu Jackson]

  Does the association have equipment reviews anywhere? 

Thanks for searching, but we could have saved you the time, 'cuz, no, we don't do equipment reviews other than perhaps the basic things like battery chargers.  Why?  'Cuz the technology keeps changing much more rapidly than battery charger technology, and much of the choices have to do with personal preferences:  think touch screen or buttons, size of display, chart format, AIS input, separately wired or integral, etc.  In addition, you can get two skippers who have bought the two items you mentioned, both think their choice is the "best!"  There is no "best" in boating, it's all choices and compromises.

If you want that kind of review, try www.panbo.com or Google.

Happy Hunting. 

[travlinon]

I have ( and installed myself) the Raymarine e7d chart plotter and know nothing about the Garmin 741sx to advise which is the best way to go. However I will outline the process I went through which may be an alternative way to go.
When I purchased my boat the only instruments on it were depth, wind and speed logs ie no chart plotter or auto pilot. My first step for navigation was to get the app Navionics which I found was excellent to use and with the ipad gave a brilliant display and made route planning extremely simple. I mounted it to the Edson bar work using clips mounted on a board - worked brilliantly. After a few months and sailing on my own a lot I realised that an auto pilot was the next item to add and decided on the Raymarine P70R which I installed myself and coupled up to the ST60 wind, depth speed logs. I then decided a chart plotter was required and chose the Raymarine e7d due to comparability with autopilot and the fact that  Navionics could sync my routes directly to the chart plotter not to mention the cost was favourable. I also mounted this the same as the ipad which is great for security and enables me to use it on my (dare I say - power boat
In summary:-
The Navionics app i find is almost all that I really need and still find it easier to use and has a much larger screen then the chart plotter. It was perfect for preparing routes at home and then transferring them wirelessly when on the yacht to the e7d. In saying this Navionics has updated the app that now prevents this but is working on a future update to reinstate this feature.
The original e7d's had a problem with the touch screen and had a factory recall - everything is working ok now and with the software updates is vastly improved compared to when I first got it.
Installation was not very straight forward - I found it hard to believe in this day and age that it wasn't a simple plug and play - unfortunately (or fortunately depending on what your other instruments are) Raymarine has allowed for the course computer to be connected to just about any source thrown at it - which means that everything is hard wired into it not just a simple plug. Raymarine have an excellent technical site which answers all your queries making self installation not too difficult.
Raymarine also provide apps which allow the chart plotter to be viewed and operated on the ipad and iPhone from anywhere on the boat.
Overall I am very happy with the e7d with the addition of having backup navigation with the ipad and iPhone and if I can find them those paper charts 

Ken

[SPembleton]

Ken, thanks for your comments.  I have been using a nav app on my android tablet, butbhave trouble seeing it in the sun.  I am planning to buy the chartplotter over the winter and install myself in the spring. Just starting my research now.

[mainesail]

I have installed a fair number of both.

Garmin is 741 issues = 0
Raymarine e7D issues = 9 (separate units) defective screen = 5, software frozen = 3, no boot = 1

[SPembleton]

Thank you mainsail!  Good to know.