Choosing Marine Electronics
NHdude
I'm a marketing consulting doing some work for a manufacturer of marine
electronics gear. I am doing a survey on what experienced boaters consider
the most important factors in selecting such equipment.
If you would care to offer your opinion, your response would be most
appreciated!
Some possible factors in selecting gear might include the following. Which
are most important to you?(feel free to offer any others you feel are
important)
Reliability
Dealer recommendation
Price
Reputation of manufacturer
Recommendation of other boaters
Dealer service
Features
Compatibility with equipment already installed
Articles in boating publications
Personal experience with other products from same manufacturer
Advertising
Other_______________________
Thanks for your comments!
NOTE: You will certainly NOT be solicited as a result of reponding to this
survey. No individual responses or identities of any respondent will be
divulged to anyone. Thanks again.
Jim Patrick
can't get it fixed or replaced then you are in trouble.
Jim http://www.aaaab.com
NHdude wrote in message <6p2nhl$g...@news-central.tiac.net>...
Jeff Thompson
important is reliability. You're not near anyone to get it fixed, so it better
not break. From my web page on equipment (
http://home.earthlink.net/~jkthompson/cruise/equipment.htm ) - One of the
biggest problems with cruising is the preparation - especially the boat prep.
Most weekend sailors and 2-weeks-a-year vacation cruisers rarely put boat items
to enough use to really stress them, wear them out, push them to the limits the
way full-time, year after year usage will - consequently most marine gear is
built to what I call "marina" quality, rather than "marine" quality.
In one sense, this makes "cents" for sailors because few weekend sailors would
be willing to pay $500 + for a toilet, or $4,000 + for an autopilot - these are
the prices for quality, long life, low maintenance products. Unfortunately,
items are rarely labeled "marina or weekend" use and many such products are
oversold by the manufacturers and dealers.
In another sense, it makes "cents" for the manufacturers and dealers because
weekend and coastal cruisers can easily get access to spare parts and repair
facilities - more sales for the manufacturers. Unfortunately, long-term,
offshore cruisers don't have this access, and to make matters even more
difficult, lots of manufacturers and service facilities seem to have a harder
time offering a decent level of service to cruisers in Fiji or Peru or whenever.
This applies to West Marine as well. The further away we got, the harder it
seemed to be for West to get the order right. Even so, they might be the best of
a sad group.
Warranties are another issue to watch out for - some large well-known companies
warranties are only good in the county in which the product was purchased. We
bought a Sony CD audio disk player before we left - when we went to get it
repaired in NZ some 6 months later, we found out we had to return it to the US
for warranty repairs. The same thing with our 12 volt watermaker from Recovery -
now PUR. Friends had a similar problem with an ICOM radio. A similar problem
happened with our Profurl headsail furling unit in Australia (see below).
Gene Gruender
respond. Reliablilty, reliability, then, more reliability. Dealer response is
a distant 2nd in my book.
Gene Gruender
Rainbow Chaser
http://www.geocities.com/thetropics/cabana/7414
Mike/ToySoldier
service is what is most desirable. This is assuming that you have
selected an electronic component that suits your needs and budget.
There are radars, and then there are other radars,likewise with GPS,
radios, and whatever. I use Furuno, Northstar, Datamarine and Icom on
my boat, and I've had excellent service from everything but the furuno
radar which seems to need a new magnetron every three seasons here in
the northeast. However, the furuno radar is so good, I'd buy it
again, and assume that this problem is just one of those weird
instances.
Boaters, by nature... are usually looking for the best price on any
new electronics (IMHO). So price is important. Previous (good)
experiences with a piece of equipment will often drive a buyer to sign
on again with that manufacturer. It could even be on a friend's boat.
One thing I'd like to see electronics manufacturers do is provide
better instructional manuals especially with regard to installation
and testing... you shouldn't have to be an EE to make it work or find
out why it's not working. If you are away from home port cruising and
you have a component quit, the trouble-shooting section should be
detailed enough to give the user every opportunity to determine the
general cause of the breakdown and maybe offer some remedies to
jury-rig the fix until you get into port. Very often the
trouble-shooting section is one or two pages in a 150 page manual.
On Tue, 21 Jul 1998 19:48:02 -0500, "Jim Patrick"
<jkpa...@sprintmail.com> wrote:
--
Mike/TOY SOLDIER
"Nothing Could Be Finer Than A Boat From Carolina"