Northstar furuno

[lazyfatass247]

I need to add a new gps to my boat. my old northstar is getting tried. What is better furuno or northstar. I have a raymarine. im thinking a back up is a good.

[clt_capt]

I looked pretty hard at both Northstar and Furuno when I was outfitting my boat.

I came to the conclusion that the Furuno 1640 was a little easier to operate than the Northstar 951 and was a heck of a lot cheaper. I also was (mistakenly) under the belief that the Furuno TD conversion was better.

The one big thing was the ability to upload/download waypoints to a PC - the Furuno is a LOT easier

[captadamnj]

Personally, I'm an ardent Furuno fan, seemingly never have problems with the units and have always found their tech support to be great with regards to installation/interface questions and general maintenance on units (battery replacements, software upgrades, etc.)

That being said, better is a relative term. Furuno, Northstar and Raymarine all have their selling points. I would rate them based on the following -

1) Installation/Interfacing - Will it fit where I want it to go and can it be interfaced the way I want with my other electronics? Obviously, if it doesn't fit, then it's not even worth considering. If you need to have the unit professionally installed, you need to find someone locally to do it. Also, based on where the unit goes (enclosed helm, open center console, etc.) may require you to narrow your choices to particular units.

2) Ease of Use - Go to a dealer/show and play with the units. It doesn't matter how many great features a unit has, if you have a hard time utilizing the features or you don't need them, there's no point in paying for them.

3) Price - What's in your budget, and which unit gives you THE MOST FEATURES YOU WILL USE for the best price.

In summary, I don't think it's fair to look for the BEST UNIT, get the BEST UNIT FOR YOU.