Check out fishing blogs online and you’ll probably read that Raymarine is owned by Raytheon, a big U.S. Defense Department contractor. That’s not true. In 2001, Raymarine bought Raytheon’s recreational marine division, not the other way around. Raytheon still exists, but a small part of it went to Raymarine.
FLIR, a worldwide company that manufactures and sells thermal imaging products, bought Raymarine in 2010.
Raymarine is a worldwide marine electronics firm with corporate offices in Fareham, England. When you’re seeking a fishfinder to tie in with GPS and radar, Raymarine is among the best of the best. Think of a Raymarine fishfinder as a piece of electronic gear that belongs on an ocean-going yacht. You probably wouldn’t put it into a small sports fishing dingy.
The best Raymarine fishfinder is made with the idea that you might get into some rough seas when you’re going after monster fish. Even though it comes with the convenience of a touchscreen, you also receive a keypad. So, when the water is rough, you can confidently operate your electronic equipment.
You can obtain a screen for a Raymarine fishfinder with size. Of course, they have seven-inch, or 18-centimeter; nine-inch, or 23-centimeter; and 12.1-inch, or 30.7-centimeter screens, like other fishfinder manufacturers create. But few make the Raymarine 15.4-inch, or 39-centimeter screen. A special screen coating stops a graying out of the screen when you wear polarized sunglasses.
Sonar is available with Raymarine units in digital or Compressed High Intensity Pulse (CHIRP) technology. As with most of Raymarine’s products, you don’t always get a complete package. That means extra expense is necessary to buy a transducer. The good news is you receive modern technology with your transaction. Your Raymarine fishfinder shows off amazing bottom structure detail. It includes automatic adjustments, giving you readings to depths as far as 3,000 feet, or 914 meters.
Like several fishfinders of today, Wi-fi connectivity allows you to stream data from your fishfinder to “smart” phones or tablets.
It means that you can look at radar, sonar or charts and control your display remotely on your smart phone. Chores, such as plotting routes and waypoints, can be performed on your tablet, via this Raymarine fishfinder, from anywhere on your boat. Download a special application through iTunes and any Apple device serves as a remote to your Raymarine fishfinder. A 48-channel GPS receiver is built into this electronic device. Buy a wireless remote designed for this fishfinder and you can even control music at the helm from a smart phone which is stored in a dry, safe location onboard your vessel.
By connecting through a Sirius subscription, you can watch a NexRad radar display on your Raymarine fishfinder. Additional information can be viewed through this, such as sea surface temperatures, storm cells and wave height. With technology supplied by FLIR, Raymarine’s parent company, you can add thermal imaging cameras that reveal images in the nighttime, which are sensitive enough to show a person in the water up to 1,500 feet, or about 460 meters, away.
Raymarine uses space age technology to make your fishfinder a fancy marine navigational tool. Navigation functions are placed into the main screen, which are simple to understand and use. Dual-core processors back the graphics of Raymarine electronics, enabling a visual performance that’s second-to-none.
Raymarine fishfinders come with or without pre-installed maps. You have the choice of several regional cartography software, as well as Navionics international edition that includes charts of Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Oceania and Southern Asia. Mapping software upgrades are available, handing you more in-depth charts of specific regions of the world.