Raymarine A65

[skargo]

I am looking for a GPS for my new purchase, and came across this. Seems to be an incredible price on this unit. Does anyone have experience with it?

http://www.bestboatingdeals.com/pro...65-gpschartplotter-w-rs12-sensor-silver-chart

 

[calmwaters13]

Re: Raymarine A65

I was looking into the same, but thought you should know that this is only for navigation and chart plotting and that you would need to purchase a new chip for inland lakes and rivers. Also note that to make this a dually functional chartplotter and fishfinder you will need to purchase a digital module sounder for about $350, and the transducer for $70. So in all you are going to spend atleast $400 more dollars than what is advertised... Not worth it in my opinion...

 

[dingbat]

Re: Raymarine A65

By far the best $300 GPS unit on the market. Ray makes one of the best sounders in the business so at $800 its still a bargin.

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

I already have a depth finder, so I was hoping this would do the trick.

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

The UPS man just brought me my new A65. I got it from here for $314 shipped.
http://www.wmjmarine.com/raya65chart.html

I am thinking of getting the DSM25 Digital Sounder Module add on and make it an all in one unit. The vintage heathkit that came with my boat doesn't seem to be working. Plus this unit is large, and I would really take up a lot of real estate with separate units.

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

Looks like it went UP $50!

I am still debating on whether to use the existing, ancient heathkit that came with my boat if I can figure out why it's not working, ad the DSM25 and transducer from Raymarine, or use a reasonably priced stand alone depth/fish finder.

Any thoughts from my wise Iboat brethren?

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

Been feeling under the weather, but went out today and mounted the GPS receiver and the display unit, holy heck that thing is big! Not much room on my old Nova for it. I ended up mounting it on the top of the cabin door, the part that folds up and back. The unit will work in either position, I couldn't figure out anywhere else to put it.

Here's a pic of the cockpit, not much room for big, modern electronics.

Here is where I mounted it, sorry for no new pic, my camera is at our shop,
I mounted it on the front panel(1 of 3) on an angle, making sure it doesn't interfere with it folding up and back.

I ran my wiring, but am not sure where I want to hook the power wire up to. Maybe I need to ad a fuse block?
I started feeling bad so will mess with it some more tomorrow.

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

OK, added a blue sea fuse block, and the A65, and a Humminbird 610 depth gauge(for now). I was very meticulous with my wiring, I bought the heat shrink ring terminals, and added my own heat shrink tubing and brush on electrical tape.
I fired the A65 up in the driveway and it got fixed on the sats immediately, surprising as my automobile unit takes a minute or too.

I was going to test everything out on the water tomorrow, but the weather might not cooperate.

 

[pny212]

Re: Raymarine A65

I just bout an A65 and haven't hooked it up yet, let me know how you like it
as it looks far superior to anything else in its class, (under $600.00) as I am a little scared of how big it is on my center console is going to be very crowded

good luck,

Paul

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

Thanks Paul. Can you flush mount it somewhere? I was overwhelmed at the size myself.

 

[pny212]

Re: Raymarine A65

No I just have a small center console on a 19 footer, but I think it will work out as I will post a pick when I put it together

Just got her together today as I got the DSM25 fish finder option for it so I have alot more room on the console

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

Pics of mine installed. I have run the wires properly now. Seems like a weird place, but it should work.

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

After using it a few times I am really starting to like it. One thing I didn't like is I got 2 install manuals, and no operators manual.No biggy, RM has it on their site.
I plotted a course yesterday, and saved it. You can save 500 routes, which is cool. The GPS seems pretty accurate, despite what people have said. One disappointment is no GPS speed display, like on a car unit. I do have a DSM25 and P58 transducer coming this week, and it looks like the P58 has a paddle wheel for speed, in addition to depth and temp.

 

[pny212]

Re: Raymarine A65

I just used mine for the first time last weekend and seemed to work flawlessly as I kept my Lowrance on board to see how different the tracking would be and they lined up almost exact and that was locked to the new wass sats, the fish finder worked fantastic as we were in 80'-95' ft of water off Port Canaveral
I love the split screen and easy to use options as I never read the manuals, push buttons until she does what you want, I always say,

my only concern is how much juice she may drink when bottom fishing for a while as I only have one battery so I just bought a big jump starter to take with as that's much cheaper than adding the second battery and cable and switches, you never want to get stuck looking for a jump 20 miles off shore
also the dsm25 and p58 speed was really accurate as it was within .5 of a mile on a 46 mile run as I thought it would be way off like the speedo in the dash that isn't even close, for what I paid for it there is no complaints only praise

 

[pny212]

Re: Raymarine A65

had to update my console a little as the Raymarine was looking like a 2k set of rims on a 500 car as you have seen this I'm sure

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

I'm installing my DSM25 and transducer today, but have been 100% happy with the chartplotter/gps thus far.

 

[pny212]

Re: Raymarine A65

I did a little test in the driveway and let the a65 with dsm25 run for a little over 3 hours on simulate to see how much it would run the battery down and I only went from 12.6 down to 12.2 and my motor fired right up as I think I can run the battery down to about 11 volts and she will still fire up, just some good info to have instead of being offshore with a dead battery, I love that the a65 has the volt meter option on the screen and a low volt alarm, this has been the best thing I have bought for my boat yet

 

[dingbat]

Re: Raymarine A65

I did a little test in the driveway and let the a65 with dsm25 run for a little over 3 hours on simulate to see how much it would run the battery down and I only went from 12.6 down to 12.2

Your power consumption seems awful low. You might want to check and see if you're unit is actually powering the transducer while in simulation mode.

 

[skargo]

Re: Raymarine A65

Is the voltage accurate on the A65? I was using mine today and got 12.2 on my starting battery and 12.4 on my "house" battery.

BTW pny212, I just bought and installed that same VHF radio, we have similar tastes in electronics and budgets I see

 

[pny212]

Re: Raymarine A65

I was getting the same voltage ratings on mine (actually a little lower) so I put my meter on the bat and they were different so I ran new 12g wires on it and they are almost the same now, the wires I had in my console weren't giving it the juice it wanted,

I guess we are looking for the same bang for the buck stuff

good luck

Paul