Raymarine/Garmin, now it's off?
... written for Panbo by Ben Ellison and posted on May 23, 2008
Geez, I was just getting used to the idea that Garmin really would buy Raymarine—lots of industry people seemed to think it would happen—but apparently now it’s off. Or maybe this is one of those Yahoo/Microsoft dances? I have absolutely no idea. But I am going to Portsmouth, England, in two weeks to join a British Marine Federation press tour (with quite the international cast of scribes, I just noticed), and I’m hoping that I can visit Raymarine’s R&D center before the tour. I’d be content just to see the operation, but who knows what I might find out?
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Back before the MBO from Raytheon, Garmin was one of the interested parties in Raytheon Marine. Raytheon sold the division to the MBO which created Raymarine for $110m. Back then, Garmin's product line did not include Radar, Autopilots & instruments. Their fishfinders were new and had not penetrated the inland market. Today Garmin has all of that and more than Raymarine with thier new touch screen displays. To absorb Raymarine now for close to $400m as it was reported is absurd. There is nothing at Raymarine that improves Garmin's product line or distribution beyond what they already have.