New Raymarine gear has been designed with the user's needs in mind

I fitted Raymarine electronics to my 37ft Van de Stadt when I built her in Western Australia, and while most of the time they provided what I needed, there were several bugs that used to annoy me - like the display switching from knots to km/h without warning, the wind instrument working intermittently and the XTE appearing without warning and refusing to go away.

Most of the problems were fixed by a very helpful techie when I got to Sydney, but the impression remained that Raymarine was mid-price, mid-quality sort of gear.

From what I saw at a release of new Raymarine models at Darling Harbour last night, all that has changed. The purchase of the company by thermal imaging experts FLIR has obviously provided the capital, the customer focus and the R&D capability to allow Raymarine to challenge the top end of the market.

Raymarine released the e7 hybridtouch display, the i70 range of instruments, the p70 autopilot, AIS650 and 350, the new Tacktick wireless instruments and a really neat new toy - the TH24 and TH32 hand-held thermal night vision cameras last night. They will be available in September at prices that will be very competitive.

A full review of the whole range will appear in the next issue of Australian Sailing + Yachting, but I thought I'd list the key features here, so that those who are in the market for new instruments can put Raymnarine on their "to look at" list.

e7 Display

As the headline states, my first thought last night when seeing the range for the first time was, "These people have talked to their customers."

There are some new features that improve dramatically on earlier models. For example, almost all sailors wear polarised lenses - if you don't, you should - but until now the screens were almost impossible to see with your sunnies on. Not any more. An advanced coating virtually eliminates "black out" from up to 160deg angle vertically or horizontally.

The new touch-screen will be brilliant for anyone used to an iPhone or iPad, because scrolling can be done with the swipe of a finger. But cogniscent of the fact that yachts leap around the ocean in big seas, there is also a rotary knob.

Speaking of iPads, built-in Wi-Fi immediately transforms your iPad or iPhone into a repeater. So navigators can take the chartplotter and all the instrument feeds up onto the rail or down below. For short-handers, imagine being able to lie in your bunk and check the AIS, chartplotter, depth and log read-outs to make sure the yacht's in no danger. Oh and if you have a thermal imaging camera fitted, you can check around for any other vessels and even point it at the sails to make sure everything is set correctly.

The Lighthouse user interface allows you to customise the chartplotter screen to show your favourite displays. Icons are simply touched to bring them up on the screen. The e7 is also extremely fast, having a dual core main processor and a third dedicated graphics processor.

i70 Displays

The new displays have also been produced after talking with customers. They are completely viewable in full sunlight and offer a range of night and day colour palettes so you get the brightness you want. The display digits are a huge 43mm high, so old people like me, with failing eyesight, don't have to reach for the reading glasses. The compass has been redesigned to give a more user-friendly display. And the autopliot offers push-button or rotary knob control.

Tacktick for Racing

Raymarine recently bought Tacktick, the leader in wireless yacht racing instrumentation. The range includes entry-level systems which are usually compatible with existing Airmair transducers. The TO60 microcompass gives clear, stable figures for port and starboard tacks. When tacking, the readings are always the same meaning you never have to remember numbers.

However, the T113 multifunctional wireless remote control is likely to be one of the most popular items. It can be worn around your neck on a lanyard or mounted on a rail, and gives you access to wind trends, speed trends, VMG to wind and waypoint, SOG and COG, and performance graphing, all without leaving the rail.

Thermal Cameras

FLIR is a leading supplier of night vision technology to the US military, and this experience has been put to good use for the marine division. The light and beautifully-designed hand-hand TH series cameras would be a valuable addition to the cruiser or racer's armoury.

In a man-overboard scenario at night, the camera could literally be a lifesaver, and would also be extremely useful when making a landfall for the first time, highlighting buildings, bridges and other vessels.

As I said, if you're in the market for new instruments, it is certainly worth checking out Raymarine. Their stated objective is to go from being a "middle dweller" on the price and performance graph to "filling the corners" - offering top-of-the-range and entry-level products as well.

From what we saw last night, they are well on the way to achieving that objective.

- Roger McMillan