Raytheon Fishfinders

[jeff]

You seem to hear a lot about lowrance, pinpoint and bottomline fishfinders. Any news on raytheom? good ? bad?

thanks

[1steelrod]

Had a Raytheon L365 on my 20' Cobia CC. It performed well as far as bottom reading, baitfish and fish. The dual frequencies were nice. It was a little quirky with the power on function. Sometimes it was hard to get it on. Probably should have sent it in for repair but didn't want the down time. I loved the real glass display lens. The thing I didn't like was the transducer (transom mt triducer) would not stay down in sea over 3' or at speeds over 50mph. If you are looking for one they are selling factory refurbs on e-bay for about 175.00 I sold the finder with the boat.

[REW]

I also had a Raytheon for a while.
I had the same problem with the transducer. After getting upset with it several times - I simply put lock washers on both sides of the mounting bracket and locked it down tight. No more kick up - but at least it didn't kick up when I didn't want it.

The unit was fine - and the detail great - but the reason that I finally got rid of it was the very slow scroll speed. I kept looking at the right side of the screen, to see what should be under the boat.

The Pinpoint that I replaced it with - has a very high speed scroll speed, and I am very pleased with the unit.

The slow scroll speed, with the only problem with the Raytheon - the dual beam was a great feature as well.

Take care
REW

[MIke2]

Was the scroll speed adjustable? I am looking ath the L750.

MIke2

[JMC]

Have a L470. The scroll speed is adjustable, I have had no problems with the Tducer kicking up (they also have a thruhull Tducer available). I've been pleased with the unit (3yrs) does everything I want & more, no problems. It also has a excellent setup menu.

JMC

[Scott Fairbairn]

The scroll speed is adjustable, and actually the fast scroll speed on the 750 is much quicker than it was two/three years ago. I've noticed a big difference (I think they made a software change that helped)

Good luck,

Scott Fairbairn #99

[Boatnut]

I've got a raytheon L365 mounted on the back of my boat. It's not a bad unit but i've had a devil of a time with the connections staying connected to the unit. have had back to factory twice. finally got the power supply to stay put but it's duct tape for the transducer connection. poor design if ya ask me to rely on "friction fit" only.
I've got a lowrance lms350 on the dash and i guess it's spoiled me.
my 2 cents.

[Beach]

I also have a L365 and also had problems with connections. Sent the unit back for repair and they put a deeper socket on the back of the unit. Works great, so far. Other than that, I haven't had any problems. Good luck. :7

[Thom]

Well, I don't know about the applicability of the 750 to your type of fishing but they are not well thought of among off shore salt water types, like myself. In fact they are generally considered in about the same class as Lowrance stuff, which is to say they are never seriously considered for use at all. They suffer high failure rates, but aren't all that bad when they work. In general all the reports I've seen from users of the things have been disappointing at best and I don't recall anyone who has had one that didn't get rid of it pretty quickly in favor of something that was worth the money (Furuno). So, if I were you I'd take a pass on the 750, and pick up something likethe 600L or even the 582L if you want to spend the additional money. In any event I'd definitly pass on the Raytheon fish finders, no matter what the model.

Thom

[Boatnut]

jeff,
for what its worth...west marine has a refurbished raytheon L365 listed on ebay.http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1804962794

[Salty water]

Last I checked walleyes (this is after all WC) don't spend a lot of time in saltwater. Thom, if you are trying to find them in the ocean your electronics will never work, no matter what unit you like best. LOL

[Col. Potter]

I have all Raytheon electronics on my boat. The graphs are great and the Raychart 420 is okay, but is not as user-friendly as some others I've worked with. I had all three screens fog up and sent the units to Raytheon. The Tech-Service Dept called me right away to explain the situation and to tell me that they were fixing the units under warranty. I didn't send any reciepts with the units because I lost them in a move. The turn around on those units will be about a week and Raytheon is replacing the scratched screen on my L365 for a small fee.

Although I'm upset that these units failed, I am very happy that Raytheon is taking care of them under warranty. I think their response time was great and thier Techs are very courteous and helpful. This is important because, eventually, you will have an issue with an electronic component if you use them as much as many people on this board use thier's. I will look at Raytheon when I buy electronics again. Good luck.