Should I upgrade Raymarine Lighthouse 3 to 4?

[nwh10]

On our 2005 Albin 35CB, we have a Raymarine Axiom Pro 12 RVX running Lighthouse 3.16.84, which is the final version of Lighthouse 3. The electronics system is quite simple: Navionics charts, GPS, depth sounder, autopilot. Radar is on a separate old C80. Is it worthwhile upgrading to Lighthouse 4? I'm not interested in slowing the system down. We don't integrate information from engine, fuel, AIS, wind, batteries, Sirius or other systems...either our equipment doesn't have the capability or we don't have the equipment at all. Navigation needs are very basic. I don't want to upgrade only to find out that the system has slowed down and the new features are just fluff.

 

[Comodave]

While the current system may meet your needs the problem is if you have an issue with the system Raymarine will tell you to upgrade the software to the current version.

 

[nwh10]

While the current system may meet your needs the problem is if you have an issue with the system Raymarine will tell you to upgrade the software to the current version.

I know....been there, done that with previous units. They told me to do that on the ES128 that we replaced. I read forum posts about how the unit would slow down terribly, and I didn't do the upgrade. It wouldn't have fixed the problem(s) anyway. Raymarine advises upgrading much too readily and unnecessarily. I don't mind doing it if there's something to be gained, though, but not if the system gets flaky or slow.

 

[SteveK]

I have version 4 and no issues. don't know what was improved

 

[DDW]

I've upgraded several MFDs from LH3 to LH 4. I didn't notice any slowdown. Initially, LH4 lacked some of the features but that has long been overcome.

 

[Mambo42]

I would say: 'if it functions fine............don't touch it'.
I upgraded to the latest version and the whole system continuously freezes up. Especially problematic when you want to get into a complicated port or anchorage at night. No depth information, just a frozen screen. Have reinstalled everything now 2 times, still freezing up.
Am getting the idea that the later versions are simply getting to heavy for the computing power of the earliest versions of Axiom, they cannot keep up.

 

[nwh10]

SteveK, and DDW, which MFD do you have?
Mambo42, yes, processing power is the reason for my question. Which MFD are you having trouble with?

I'm surprised that a Google search has turned up almost nothing on this question other than when LH4 was first released, and its problems then are well-known and are even covered on the Raymarine enhancement log.

 

[DDW]

The three I have upgraded are and Axiom 12", another Axiom 12", and an AxiomXL 16". Two boats (my sailboat and my trawler). None of these are cutting edge in memory or processing power, being some of the earliest ones released. The only issue I had was that the Axiom 12" which is a slave to the Axiom XL on the sailboat has too little memory to upgrade if from the XL over the network. You have to plug the upgrade card right into it or it gets an upgrade failed "out of memory error". I also don't have a bunch of third party apps on them, possibly that could make a difference.

 

[SteveK]

Axiom 9 with version 4.3.42 update.

 

[nwh10]

DDW, do you like the features & functionality of LH4 more than LH3? Did it become easier to use?

 

[DDW]

DDW, do you like the features & functionality of LH4 more than LH3? Did it become easier to use?

Initially, no, as it lacked many of the features already in in LH3. As I recall (and this was some time ago, perhaps 2019?) I had to upgrade because I replaced the radome with the Quantum, and it is not supported on LH3. But over the intervening years, LH4 has caught and passed LH3 in features. So I do not regret the move at this point. I have gone through nearly every revision of LH2, LH3, and LH4. At each major change you find things you like better and things you don't like as well, but there really wasn't that much difference between LH3 and LH4. The UI is about the same. I think the underlying OS is different (LH4 runs on Android).

 

[Mambo42]

Mambo42, yes, processing power is the reason for my question. Which MFD are you having trouble with?

I have 2 x Axiom 12, quantum 2 doppler radar, autopilot, depth meter, RS150, AR200, Cam 300, i.o.w. a lot of equipment, but unfortunately the Axiom keeps freezing up when e.g. I need to switch off the radar, disconnect the AP, zoom in on the charts when there is a lot of detail. That may take up to a minute and if you are then still too quick with your next command, it will freeze up again.
I spoke with Raymarine about it, they asked me to do a factory reset and then re-install the whole upgrade again. Have not really been in and out ports since I have a technical problem, so will have to wait to see if the problem has been fixed. But can say it is quite annoying to have that happen while you need the Axiom to function most.

 

[BDofMSP]

Mambo42, I'm having the same issue. I haven't contacted support yet, so I'm glad to hear what I'm in for.

BD

 

[nwh10]

Mambo42 and BDofMSP, your freezing problems give me pause. Factory reset - I hate that on any device because even when I export and restore all possible settings, not everything gets restored. I've just been through this on the ES128 that the Axiom Pro is replacing. It was difficult to find all the places to put the settings back to what I wanted (LH2). What I dislike the most is that factory reset has become nearly the first recommendation of tech support--for Google, Microsoft, Raymarine, etc.--not the last.

DDW, good to know that LH4 has gotten where it needs to be and that LH3 features have been restored along with good new features. (That takes care of another peeve of mine in software development: never remove features! Especially without informing the users.)

I'm concluding that these units are a lot like Windows computers in that they are sometimes most stable with the operating system that was factory-installed. Sometimes the upgrade just doesn't go as well as it's supposed to, and it's almost impossible to correct.

Thanks for all the input.

 

[BDofMSP]

Unfortunately I'm away from the boat until Thursday, but I submitted my ticket anyway. We'll see what they say.
BD

 

[Mambo42]

Mambo42 and BDofMSP, your freezing problems give me pause. Factory reset - I hate that on any device because even when I export and restore all possible settings, not everything gets restored.

I'm concluding that these units are a lot like Windows computers in that they are sometimes most stable with the operating system that was factory-installed. Sometimes the upgrade just doesn't go as well as it's supposed to, and it's almost impossible to correct.

Thanks for all the input.

I took an empty micro SD card and then exported everything to that card. Took the card out and checked the contents via my laptop, saw that everything had been exported.
After that I pressed the factory reset, then took another micro SD card with the complete software (so for all Raymarine products, is a little over 5 Gb) and put that into the Axiom. I did find out however that you cannot run the update for 2 Axioms via the master. I tried that, just did not want to work at all, kept giving me failure notices.
So in the end had to press factory reset again, then did the update first on one Axiom, then another time on the second Axiom. Only then did I not get any failure notices.
And indeed, after that you have to completely reprogram the whole thing for all the settings you had in the past. Once that was finished I reinstalled all the data that I had exported first. It seems to have been gone fine, I have the routes and waypoints that I last entered, so am happy with that.
Now I will have to find out if the freezing is over or not. However, I am stuck with a broken fuel pump, will take another 2 weeks before that problem is finished and then I will be on my way again. If the freezing does not finish I will put the whole Raymarine system up for sale and find something that works better. In any case I do keep my old Simrad NSS12 active as well when I run the Axioms, that thing never freezes up and on top of that I have my Samsung tablet with Navionics, which also does not freeze up. But it is ridiculous that I have to do it like that, this freezing of your navigation system should not be possible to happen.
Feel like I am back in the 90's when you had computers that froze up all the time because of the video card not being able to handle all the commands.

 

[BDofMSP]

FYI that I got a reply from Raymarine and they asked me to do the same. I did the cache clear and factory reset yesterday (and also found another update available to the autopilot). I too have not had a chance to go out yet, and likely won't until Saturday now.

The routes and waypoints are restored very easily. Other screen settings (everything, including Sirius favorites, hours and miles traveled, screen overlays, etc) are wiped out in the process. They suggest taking screen shots of hours and miles for your records, or keeping them in a log book...

I'll update with results when I get them.
BD

 

[BDofMSP]

Just to close the loop, we cruised for about 5 hours on Sunday and had no issues. I closed my ticket. The amount of setup I had to do to get back to normal was very annoying but I'm glad that it's working again.
BD