New Nav equipment
You will find that the choices you will hear about is what we all chose.
I saw some have chosen Ray and say great service, maybe the 3rd or 4th time Ray has been purchased, in the last several yrs, will be the ticket.
When you think about the other brands, Lowrance & Simrad, to state a few, you need to think with the numbers that they sell, where do they find the money for R&D?
Ultimately, you want to pick a company that will supply support, would be nice if you aren't on Musiak hold for hours, has enough sales to support an R&D Department and can continue to make acquisitions that will broaden its long-term offerings. I think, IF you investigate the choices, you will find that the 1 company that is going to be around tomorrow and has the sales to perpetuate its growth and product enhancements is Garmin.
Garmin is not cheap, but then, we all really know you never get something for nothing, so the idea of, keeping the price down AND not sacrificing on quality is not going to happen.
Often, Garmin will offer purchase specials of Chartplotter (MFD) & radar (or other parts) are often available at a savings.
Since you are leaning Ray, I won't take a lot of my time to try and convince you of your short sighted purchasing, BUT think. NAV products are probably the most important safety items you can put on a boat. Is that worth spending some money?
In closing, here (
https://panbo.com/teledyne-buying-flir-what-does-it-mean-for-raymarine/) is an article from Panbo about Raymarine.
Do your own due diligence, pick a company with staying power.
Good luck.