[C320-list] Kudos to Simrad, shame on Raymarine

[Jon Vez]

Lew,

Since I just happened to have a reason to contact Raymarine this week, I'll
add my two cents...Last week I noticed my ST60 anemometer turning more
slowly than others and in very light wind at the dock not turning at all. I
contacted RM and asked if there was something I could do short of returning
the unit for repair--they responded that the ST60 is now 'retired' but they
would look at it, and yes it had to be returned. I had to return the unit a
year after I bought the boat (new) for the same reason so I feared this
would be the case. Although I have found them competent and fine to work
with, I agree that that their product life cycle is very frustrating given
they have such a large amount of product out there!

Regards,

Jon Vez
Solstice #582

-----Original Message-----
From: c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-list-bounces at lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf Of
sailorlew at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 7:58 PM
To: C320-List at Catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] Kudos to Simrad, shame on Raymarine


?Last week I helped a friend bring his Tartan 37 from Amityville, NY(south
shore of LI) to Huntington, NY(north shore of LI). The trip which is
aproximately 80 miles long consisted of exiting Jone Inlet into the Atlantic
Ocean, running west along the shore to New York Harbor, up the East River
through Hell Gate(hit 12 knots riding the current) into Long Island sound
going east to Huntington Harbor. The trip was quite enjoyable but this note
is really not about the trip. When he bought the boat 5 years ago it came
with a Navico autopilot that sometimes worked, & sometimes didn't work. This
winter he sent the unit back to Simrad who had bought Navico, to see if it
could be reapaired. Even though Simrad no longer manufactures any
autopilots, they refurbished the unit for what I consider a very reasonable
$200. Over the 12 hour trip it worked flawlessly, at one point needing a
course correction in order to not hit a buoy that we had set course for 2
hours earlier. Consider this c
 ustomer service compared to Raymarine who still makes autopilots that are
similar to the 4000 that many of us have but are unable to have them
repaired because Raymarine no longer supports this unit. Their suggestion,
buy a new one. Shame on them.
Lew