[JMGCINCY2023]

We bought a 2000 3500 Express with Cummins and factory hardtop.  We brought it down from Michigan, always fresh water and just impeccably cared for.  It has a Raymarine c120 Radar system but we have figured out that without an inland waterways Navionics card, it is pretty much useless.  No luck finding a card for a unit this old.  What would be a good upgrade, Garmin or Raymarine.  Say, a medium budget as we will only be on the rivers.

Thanks, Mike

[ReelMagic]

I'd go with Garmin. Great GPS/Radar. Great customer support and updates for charts as well as S/W.... Moved from Northstar GPS/Chartplotter & Furuno chartplotter/Radar to Garmin 7612 & Garmin 8616XSV/Fantom Open Array Radar and am more than pleased with it's performance.. Did a lot of homework before making the decision but from an overall point of view Garmin was the answer... Furuno Radar may be slightly better but cannot integrate with some older electronics such as my SIMRAD autopilot.. Some of the considerations included customer support, Radar performance, and ease to integrate all with other existing electronics including my autopilot and VHF.... Configured with a NMEA 183, NMEA 2000 & Garmin Network sharing data across these networks.

[JMGCINCY2023]

Thank you for the response. We like Garmin as well and have it on our Sea Nymph fishing boat. I did the install but doing a whole refit on our Tiara is out of my comfort zone. We want to upgrade the radar, plotter, VHF AIS, depth sounder etc. My challenge now will be to find a qualified dealer / installer around Cincinnati, OH.

Mike