Raymarine Radar - Digital or HD ?

[Rik-lu]

Hi,
I'm about to buy a radarantenna to connect to my e-series plotter.

Has anyone seen the difference between Digital an HD-color antennas in real live ?
The Hd is about 50% more expencive than the digital one.



RD418D 4KW Digital http://www.raymarine.com/ProductDetail.aspx?SITE=1&SECTION=2&PAGE=1894&PROD UCT=4267

or

RD418HD HD Color Radome Scanner http://www.raymarine.com/ProductDetail.aspx?SITE=1&SECTION=2&PAGE=1946&PROD UCT=4333

[jstevens]

A month or so ago Panbo (Ben Ellison) produced a webinar on the Seven Seas U (Seven Seas U) that covered this subject. Usually the recording of these webinars are available for 90 days or so after the original broadcast. Check the website and see if it is still available. There is a charge for the webinar.

John

[Greggegner]

RD418D 4KW Digital http://www.raymarine.com/ProductDeta...4&PRODUCT=4267


I have the RD418D coupled with a C90W and am very satisfied with them. The dome is mount on a Scanstrut back unit. The dome is behind the stay. This will be third year with the setup. I have used it 5 or 6 times in serious fog and liked the results. Smaller boats are difficult to see unless you turn up the gain. The unit guided us around sever thunderstorms last year and reduced the time in the storms by 50%. I won't have a boat without radar integrated into my chart plotter.

[Cavalier]

Rik,

From what i've seen from the two of them, the HD offers much more detail in close quarters (i.e. coming into estuaries or ports) in deep fog: there is some benefit for distiguishing rain patterns too. However, IMHO for the majority of coastal work i doubt you'd feel the 50% extra outlay in the performance differential - although i'm sure that someone will step in and correct me.

Greg's post tells you all you need to know about the lower-cost SD version. That said, i'm sure everyone would buy the HD if they were the same price!

Phil

[Rik-lu]

Originally Posted by jstevens

A month or so ago Panbo (Ben Ellison) produced a webinar on the Seven Seas U
John

sorry , couldn't find anything

[jstevens]

Rik,
Your are correct. The webinar does not appear to be available on the SevenSeasU website. I just checked and the link I was given when I registered is still active. So it is still on the server. If you are interested send an email to Tom Theisen ( administrator@sevenseasu.com), and he might be able to make it available.

John