Review on Garmin Compact Reactor Hydraulic Autopilot by Patrick Carlson

Garmin is now a NEW product from Microsoft for the Marine... Keep software and hardware up to date so in just a few years the products you previously bought will become obsolete. They release products that haven't been tested properly, and then when they realize they've made a mistake, they change the product and the name and hopefully get it right a second or third time...especially their reactor autopilots, which came out not long ago. . They thought installing an aviation compass would be a GREAT idea for a marine autopilot and it took me 3 years to get it right. THEN they discontinue the original Reactor series and rename it the Reactor 40, NOW WITH a marine compass. If it was a car there would be a recall and they should have replaced all those DANGEROUS aviation based compass devices for free! Garmin, I was told that my new 2 year old unit was already outdated and that the new g3 technology wouldn't work with it and that I should buy a newer updated version of the chart plotter...which I did 2 years ago for a DIFFERENT one Device to replace It was ONLY 2 years old at the time because it was obsolete and could not use the NEW HD Vision VUS042R card that I paid 400 dollars for, which by the way was released with serious problems and then after the purchase of Discontinued Navionics. Too bad because it was and still is the best Vision map ever made for the Great Lakes until they screwed it up too. The new LakeVu series doesn't even support large lakes with all the features that inland lakes have, such as: B. dynamic depth leveling. LakeVu maps are useless for coastal waters, which are essentially the Great Lakes. So since Garmin makes the maps and the devices to use them, again they have their own monopoly here, just like Microsoft. Raymarine and others rely on C-map for the most part, and you'll see updates, but none that make chartplotters obsolete! And their autopilots have been around for years and are still relevant. And if Garmin decides your device is discontinued and outdated, they don't even support it anymore with updates, as they told me straight out with my first chartplotter. I also bought a Garmin Dash Cam 35 for Christmas and just a week later it crashed. I called and they said they didn't even know how to buy this series as it was discontinued years ago. However, they took good care of me and I ended up getting a DC 45. After 10 days an update was applied and there was a bug in it which caused them to do ANOTHER RMA. I tried to tell them it was an update but? Well I got a replacement, tried it and everything was fine, but as soon as I applied the update, same problem. They wanted to return the device for a refund but I refused and after some trial and error I found an issue with the update and informed them straight away. That was over 3 weeks ago and there is still no new update to fix the problem. Now, you may be wondering, have my close boating friends and I continued to buy Garmins? After you buy their chartplotter, then the wind device that connects to it, and then spend $4,000 on their new autopilot innovation, you kind of get stuck with Garmin, don't you? Between my $8-10,000 that I spent and another $4,000 that my friends spent, based on my recommendations at the time, what real choice do we have than to continue using outdated devices and with their now subpar ones products to live? So if you have no intention of buying Garmin products yet, AVOID! Use C-map and any other device that works with it! These are now the BEST charts available with the departure of Navionics (and Garmin REALLY screwed it up and Active Captain!). And don't get me started on the Garmin Express! Unless you're a computer pro, in most cases this system is very difficult for the average customer to use, especially if you're trying to use the 'wrong' instructions that are out there. And of course when I get a new boat, this time there are NO Garmin devices on board! I will spend my thousands with someone who cares about their customers and their wallet!