haymarine s1000 feedback?????????????

[gradyfish265]

My buddy has an S1000 on his 29 Welcraft for a seaosn now, no problems with twin F250's. I talked with Raymarine and was told it would work but tests the limit of the pump, and will likely burn it out over time, if your running twins over 150hp, it is not recommended and I know Raymarine will not warranty it if it was used to steer a ram bigger then the unit is designed for. I have a Grady 265 Express with F225's and was going to use the S1000, but am optiong to go with the S1G, the gyro and compass are worth the extra money. The S1000 is great when its calm, but if your in 3-4's, you will be running it manually or tossing around, it is jerky and overcorrects itself a bit, especially in a beam sea. Also, for slow trolling, the S1000 will not update quick enough unless you have a new top of the line GPS, so it will go into standby, the S and X core packs have their own compass and use that to update instead and will not go into standby, you could basically hold a spot with it. IMHO, unless you only boat in flat calm which isn't realistic, or have a boat with a single or smaller twins, the S1000 is not the best option, it might work, but whenever you push something to its limit you know what happens down the road. I'd rather spend the money up front an do it right.

[Mackey]

All very good points.
The 27 Phoenix is actually inboard, twin 260 Mercs, so the ram will be pushing/pulling rudders, not outboard engines. The boats parameter are well inside of Raymarine stated limits, the ram is smaller, the boat's weight and length are under as well. I have a new GPS that should keep it on track. In rough conditions, I am always on the helm. I mainly use the auto pilot for trolling (6-7kts) and running in calm conditions so it should do what I want it to do. Since the next step up in models would be almost 2K, I'm willing to give it a chance.

[gradyfish265]

The S1G pack is on sale, just paid 1519 for it at boat show price, it has built in gyro and is a much more accurate unit then the S1000 and can keep a course at slow speeds. Makes a huge difference when you hook tuna and need to slow down but keep going once the fight is on, can't do that with the S1000 it will go into standy by at under 5mph. The S1000 is a great price for an autopilot, but you get what you pay for, for simpler uses it isn't a bad deal at all. I believe the show price was mid 800's If I am correct. Without the gyro, the Scorepack and ST6002 drops about $300 bringing it to about $1200. The sport pilot S corepacks are discontinued so dealers are selling them for lower prices, the new X series will be almost $800 more, mostly for a new control unit, and some updated software that does the same thing as the S corepacks. If your looking for an affordable autopilot, the S corepack packages are the best deal right now and will never be more affordable for those looking to add an autopilot to their boat. The next jump up in quality will put you over $2400 so were talking a good chunk of change.

[Mackey]

The S1G pack is on sale, just paid 1519 for it at boat show price, it has built in gyro and is a much more accurate unit then the S1000 and can keep a course at slow speeds. Makes a huge difference when you hook tuna and need to slow down but keep going once the fight is on, can't do that with the S1000 it will go into standy by at under 5mph. The S1000 is a great price for an autopilot, but you get what you pay for, for simpler uses it isn't a bad deal at all. I believe the show price was mid 800's If I am correct. Without the gyro, the Scorepack and ST6002 drops about $300 bringing it to about $1200. The sport pilot S corepacks are discontinued so dealers are selling them for lower prices, the new X series will be almost $800 more, mostly for a new control unit, and some updated software that does the same thing as the S corepacks. If your looking for an affordable autopilot, the S corepack packages are the best deal right now and will never be more affordable for those looking to add an autopilot to their boat. The next jump up in quality will put you over $2400 so were talking a good chunk of change.

Thanks gradyfish265,
I put these concerns to Raymarine this afternoon, here is their reply to my question.

I wrote; One last concern about the S1000. I have been reading that the S1000 will switch into Standby mode if the boat is going too slow, say under 5mph. A lot of my trolling is under 5mph and if this is true, the S1000 would not work for me. If this is not the case, then what are some of the reasons that maybe causing this experience with other users of the S1000. This information will be very important to me so I do not hit the same pitfalls that others have run into. I will be using a new Standard Horizon CPV350 GPS Chart Plotter with the S1000.

Raymarine replied; No, this was very old software. This pilot can now, and as been able to for over two years now, troll down to 1 knot (1.3 mph) after goingh at least 3 knoted for 30 seconds.

This pilot needs to see:

S1000 NMEA sentence required.

First, this NMEA data has to be NMEA 0183 version 1.5 or higher and set to 4800 baud rate.

The S1000 needs COG data every second, so the VTG and RMC sentences are required for normal AUTO mode.

For tracking to Waypoints and Routes, APB, BWC/R, RMB, XTE are needed..

For Fishing Patterns, it needs Lat Long so the GGA, GLL, RMC sentences are required..

Connections:

GPS NMEA OUT DATA + to S1000 Orange
GPS NMEA OUT – or common to S1000 Blue
GPS NMEA IN is not used at all.

[gradyfish265]

Then why do 5 guys who installed the S1000 all have issues with it working under 5mph, did Raymarine once again dump products with old software on guys instead of updating it? I was even told at a boat show by Raymarine staff that there are known issues with slow speeds especially under 4-5mph. The brand itself may be claiming differently and there may be updates, but I'm just going by what I have heard/seen from first hand expereience with them as well as from their reps who actually use the units, not from a guy in an office who is told to answer questions a certain way. An S1000 does not counter act waves, or wind and will vary about 3 degrees, especially when going slow. If your really trying to stay on a certain course or contour line trolling, it isnt a good option. We used it last season trolling stripers at 4mph and it kept kicking in and out of standyby on my buddies boat and when it did hold course it veered off a bit. It works better when at cruise speeds with calm to moderate sea's. Just don;t want to see you with a unit that you will regret down the road, the S core pack without ridder reference is not a big price jump and is a unit with more precision and has no issues tracking at low speeds. I hope Raymarine is correct, but I've seen the opposite from my friends boats from what Raymarine claims it will do. I had planned to put the S1000 unit on my boat until a few buddies said hey run with me so you can see it in use, after that I changed my mind very quickly and began to look around again.

[Mackey]

It is very possible that your buddies do have the old version of the software, considering that we are just into 2009 and that the Raymarine tech states "over two years now" and that these units sit in warehouses and dealers' shelves a year or more easily. I do not have an axe to grind here and I do appreciate the heads up on this product. But I am not expecting too much from the unit. When we slow troll for stripers usually we are in a group of 100+ boats packed in a 1/4 mile square so being on automatic is like using cruise control in downtown traffic. I mainly use autopilot to run out 2 hours and run back in moderate seas and trolling in the 6kt/7.5mph range. The boat the S1000 is going into will not go less than 3kts without dropping one of the engines out of gear. On really big fish, if there is no crew to back down on the fish, I usually put the boat in a lazy turn to port or board and ease around on the fish. Works pretty good, most of the time.

Again I do not have an axe to grind in this, thought I would post Raymarine respond so others having problems with their S1000 may gain some insight into what is going wrong with their unit.

The S1000 is scheduled to be installed on this coming Wednesday and I will update this thread with the results. Its going to be a very happy report or a very cheap only used once S1000 for sale.

[yknot fishing]

I have on on my 28 ft pursuit with twin 200's and it works fine

[Mackey]

It is very possible that your buddies do have the old version of the software, considering that we are just into 2009 and that the Raymarine tech states "over two years now" and that these units sit in warehouses and dealers' shelves a year or more easily. I do not have an axe to grind here and I do appreciate the heads up on this product. But I am not expecting too much from the unit. When we slow troll for stripers usually we are in a group of 100+ boats packed in a 1/4 mile square so being on automatic is like using cruise control in downtown traffic. I mainly use autopilot to run out 2 hours and run back in moderate seas and trolling in the 6kt/7.5mph range. The boat the S1000 is going into will not go less than 3kts without dropping one of the engines out of gear. On really big fish, if there is no crew to back down on the fish, I usually put the boat in a lazy turn to port or board and ease around on the fish. Works pretty good, most of the time.

Again I do not have an axe to grind in this, thought I would post Raymarine respond so others having problems with their S1000 may gain some insight into what is going wrong with their unit.

The S1000 is scheduled to be installed on this coming Wednesday and I will update this thread with the results. Its going to be a very happy report or a very cheap only used once S1000 for sale.

Well it took a while to get out on the water to sea trial the S1000 but it does everything it as advised to do. I am happy with the unit.