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I am considering replaceing several stand-alone electronics with the Garmin 3210C and the GMR21 radar module. Also, trying to incorporate my existing transducer into the system. I would appreciate any feedback any of the faithful may have on this system.
Harry

While I have not seen the Garmin radar in action, I have been told by a couple of retailers at boat shows that they are not that great.

That being said, I think their plotters are outstanding. I have a 182c and a Raymarine C70 (with the Navioncis gold chart chip) that I use for radar and as a backup plotter. I like the look and feel of the bluecharts much more than I like the navionics gold. Also, the Garmin is much more intuitive to use than the Raymarine.

Regards,

Doug L.

Harry - I have the Garmin 2010C (older model of what you are looking at)with the sounder module and it is superior in view and use-ability to anything else I saw. I'm not real impressed with the Garmin radar stuff, seems like an afterthought with limited range stuff. I kept my Raytheon 41X 48 mile radar since it's a hoss with that 4 foot open array. The Garmin 3000 series will do the satellite weather with a $700 add on and a $50 a month subscription, and in my view if you fish way offshore, that is a must to see the weather coming a looooooog way off.

UV

I have the 3006 and like it alot. I too have seen the glossy literature on the radar unit. Looks very tempting for forecasting one's weather but also having a good radar for close running is a must for me and I think the weather radar is just that, a weather radar, not too good for traveling up the Mississippi in a fog, dodging crew boats and ocean going ships, not to mention the "sports" in the water.
But Harry, I think it would be a good idea to go ahead and buy the system, subscribe , then report back to us all!

Andre' - we are talking apples & limes. He's talking about the regular radar add on, with an on board scanner and I was talking about the satellite receiver that gets the NOAA radar. My point was that the Garmin on board radar seems sorta weak vs. a stand-alone or some of the others, like Raymarine or Northstar that offer big, up to 6 KW, open array systems that will display on the same screen. Last I looked Garmin only had a 4 KW dome unit.

Comprende, senor?

UV

never mind

The weather add-on for the Garmin is an XM satelite radio module that will overlay weather information on the chart, including real time surface temps, wind directions, etc. Not to be confused with regular radar.

Harry...

I recently installed a new Garmin 2310C chartplotter.. and like it a lot. I have not heard anything positive about Raymarinme's lines, and Northstar while good is rather pricey. I got the 10" screen because I was planning on later adding a Garmin radar, but after reading the comments above I am not so sure now. My logic was that if I was going to use a split radar/chartplotter screen I wanted a fairly large display, and the 16" screen might be great for a commercial boat but was too much money for me.

The screen does fine in sunlight (I have Bert 33 FBC so it is mounted on the flybridge), and the operation is very user friendly. A really nice feature this year is that Garmin now includes all the US charts (including Alaska and Hawaii), and operation is seamless. When you travel off one chart and onto another the unit automatically does the shift for you.. if you don't look carefully you won't see the transition. I don't know what it will cost in a couple of years when I have to upgrade the charts.. probably megabucks!

One feature with radar is that you can overlay the radar output on top of the chart being displayed instead of split screening, but I have been told this sometimes makes for a very "busy" screen.

I have always steered away from multi function units.. feeling if you lost one function you might lose everything, but to save some $$ was looking at a Garmin radar. Base3d on this logic I bought a good Furuno fishfinder/depthsounder. I have been told that Garmin started out as a GPS based company, and Furuno started out as a radar based company, so their products reflect their roots.. Furuno chartplotters and Garmin radars are supposedly not always the best available.

FYI: West's price for the 2310C was about $2,495 as I recall.. I bought the unit from "CyberMarine".. for about $2,200.. and due to a special offer two day shipping was free.. plus no sales tax in my home state of NC.

If you need specifics I would be happy to answer any questions.. feel free to email me at "IRGuy@aol.com".

FWIW I went with the RayMarine E series and love it so far.

--JK

IRGuy,

I put the E120 on Alchemy this spring and think this is the most amazing unit I have ever seen. I have many friends (including on this board) who have the Garmin units. Most electronics guys won't touch them up here in the NE area (that I know that is). I have read a fair amount of shortcomings with the integrity of the hardware when it comes to water. The software and ease of use is crazy simple on the Garmin units and I would never use another handheld. That part I love.

The XM weather is a killer application. It is amazing. The Sirius version that comes with the Raymarine is also incredible. All the crap I pay money for on land is available live real time on the water. Very cool. I will be buying the Sirius stuff very soon. I can't think it is any cooler.

The raymarine is a really versatile system with real experience backing it up. The radar has a strong history, as do other systems. Hell they invented WAAS GPS. It is the best system if you want to customize capability for your liking. Ethernet for the E-series makes it super fast. Nice.

XM is cool. I like Raymarine.

Hope that helps!

Dug

I've got the Garmin 3010c on my boat, along with the XM weather and the Garmin 4KW radar. I wanted to save helm space (and some $) by buying all Garmin stuff to work on one display.

I was at first dissapointed with the radar because it did not paint a very clear picture. It would see things and show them to you, but the radar screen painted a blurry picture. I thought that was just the way it is, but about two months ago Garmin released a big software upgrade, took 10 minutes to load. After the upgrade all the radar problems went away, works great.

Now for the XM weather thing. All I can say is that about that is it's awesome when it works, but mine only works 50% of the time or less. I wrote in and Garmin said they know they have some faulty units out, so send it in...haven't found the time to dig it out and do that yet. I think I got their first gereration radar and xm weather units. They just came out with an open radar array too: http://www.garmin.com/products/gmr406/ If I knew that was coming out I would have waited for it, wasn't available last year when I bought.

So they do have their problems with their new units, but their customer support is excellent.

Some advice: if you get the XM weather, spend the little extra for the receiver that has the XM radio too. They say it is $10 extra a month, but they give the radio away with the weather ($30 a month gets it all). Also you need to get their card reader and a spare card, so you can update the unit's software when Garmin issues software patches. This is a must because they're constantly updating their software, maybe every two months.

Guys,
Thanks for your responses on this system. Space constrints would make the system a home-run if the radar was decent. The radar is the only piece of electronics that does not have a back-up system on board. Reliability and quality of picture is critical.
Harry

Fumblefingers..

My Garmin chartplotter is a 3210C, not a 2310C.

Good info from you Sean.. now I am back considering Garmin radar! Thanks.

I think the Radar works just fine now that they updated the software. I even like the radar-overlaid chart function, which does take some getting used to. When you turn it on, the radar paints as light orange blobs on top of the chart, and you can still see the chart clearly through them. See an orange blob behind you that isn't overlaid on an object on the chart? Turn around, and there's a speedboat sneaking up from behind. If the gain is up high enough I can see my own wake on the radar. But the closed array isn't too good at spotting birds over say a mile, I'd be holding out for the open array if I didn't already have what I've got.

Now if I could only get the weather service to work full time I'd be really happy with the system. I'll report back on the results after I send the XM unit to Garmin for repair.

The multifunction displays are awesome but the interface to the user can sometimes be overwhelming. More things you add the more intricate the instruction manual. Lets face it most of us go direct.

In the aviation world many of us are turning to the G 396 which has a small screen but also comes with WX Weather. That means you have a back up plus weather. Plus you can use it at home when you take it off the boat (or put it in the plane)

In aviation we have found that WX weather is the most critical safety aspect we now have. Even more than WAAS. There is simply no comparision to weather radar on your boat compared to Doppler from a Satelite.

So if you are thinking backup and WX weather look at this unit. It has it all and on a B 31 or 28 it is in fact an ideal size.

I like the concept of these flat panels with a box down below. But in the end Garmin will simply come out with a new and better mousetrap that will make your $5000 expenditure be worthless in about four years.

I went to the full garmin setup this spring..3010, 4kw radar and the new sounder and can say it works great.. The radar is impressive and I have owned both furuno and raytheon in the past..The plotter is flat out the best I have ever seen.. John