If you own a modern Sea Ray boat, you’re likely going to have electronics running most of your systems onboard. Those systems are run on software, and software will always need to be updated.
These new Sea Ray systems can be a pain to update. On a SDX-290, for example, it can take an hour to update everything when the boat goes into the water for the summer. I’ll walk you through a guide of how to update the systems as there are no decent instructions delivered with the boat on how to do this.
First, you will need to connect your Simrad GO12 XSR system to WiFi internet. This is your dashboard display. You can use a hotspot off your cellular phone, buy a hotspot, or connect to a nearby house or marina WiFi. get a notice when an update to your system is available. It will look like this:
Well of course you want to download an update – right? I mean that is the point. Well… not so fast. If this is your first time doing an update, and you touch the “Download” button, your next experience will be disappointment.
Notice on the right side (sorry for the cutoff in the image), where it will tell you that you need to insert an SD card in order to do an update. You’ll look at the helm and all the options, and then ask “Where do I insert an SD card?”
The answer is the micro SD card is behind the screen. But be forewarned, you actually need a “micro SD card”, not just a “SD card”. The image below shows a micro SD card at the bottom and the relative size of an SD card can be seen above it. You must use a micro SD card.
You need to go into the cubby below the helm and open the service panel to access the rear of the Simrad display. This is not easy to find, but up in the middle of the screen, there is a rubber flap overtop of a micro SD card slot. You cannot see it easily, but it’s up there.
If you look up where I’ve circled in red, you will find the rubber flap. Pull it aside and the micro SD card slot will be underneath. Now you will just have to do some gymnastics in order to actually get the micro SD card inserted.
Once you’ve inserted an SD card, you’re well on your way. You now just need to go back to your system software screen, and select “Support…”
Now you will select “Check for Updates” on the submenu that pops up.
This will now take you back to the Updates screen. You can now click on the button to download the GO12 XSE software update. As the software is downloading you will see an indicator in the top left of the screen.
And once the update finishes downloading you will get a notification that you need to restart the Simrad system in order to apply the update.
Now I will warn you, this system does not update quickly. This will take a while, so you may want to bring your cleaning supplies and just clean the boat while you’re waiting. First it will validate the update file you downloaded.
Next it will install the update file.
With the latest update v20 as of this writing, you will next see the system reboot and the first screen will invite you to download the Simrad app from the iOS or Android app stores and connect your system to you mobile phone. In order to do this, you will need to turn on the wifi hotspot and it will prompt you to do so.
The v20 update is a BIG update. A lot has been improved and I hope you enjoy your updated Simrad system. However, you’re not done just yet. You still have a nice Garmin Fusion stereo system that also gets its own updates. That’s separate from the Simrad system. BTW, there is also a VesselView update system that I won’t have time to cover in this post today.
For the Garmin Fusion update, you have an easier path forward. You can download the update files from the Garmin website. Unlike Simrad, Garmin actually is helpful on how to update the system, including providing a video walkthrough.
One note here is that I found a Google search was easier for finding the actual software update. You can also update the Fusion system through a direct WiFi connection, however, depending on the version of your current Garmin system, this sometimes does not work. The other option is to use a USB key, download the update via your laptop/PC, then use the USB key to update the Fusion system through the USB port on your helm.
I hope this helps you in updating your Garmin Fusion system, and paired with the latest GO12 XSE software update, the Sea Ray SDX 290 works a whole lot better than shipped from the factory.
