Simrad Radar & Plotters

[bobconnie]

Id say 90% of the Comm. Fishing vessels I ran and deliverd over the years have had Furuno electronics aboard there must be a good reason for this LOL maybe good stuff with good backup when repairs are needed ! most fishemen I know don't change what works to offten, to get something new but really unproven! just my 2 cents !! Bob and Connie

[delmarrey]

Here is another recent thread on the 3/4G's.>>> http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ool-66445.html

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

As to close-in performance, I have never seen a conventional radar that could see even 200' much less 50' away, because of the Main Bang which blots everythign out. And that means that you often can't see channel markers in a thick fog, if you're in the channel, and if you can see them, they are unrecognizable blobs. Whereas with the broadband radar you can even make out the shape.

On our first date my future wife and I took her boat out early on a pitch-dark morning in pea soup fog. Couldn't see the bow from the pilothouse. She had a Furuno 1715 though and I was able to wweave my way through the harbor following the channel makers on the radar, all of them less than 50' away at some point. Just needed to fiddle with the buttons a bit.

I won't say I married my wife for her radar, but it didn't hurt.

[herkam]

Sailing at night above the arctic circle during the summer is a big bonus, the sun is always on! Detecting ice with the radar when you have waves is tricky, you will not see small ones (size of a car and smaller) since it such a small part of the ice above water. And that part of the ice is probably well rounded so no reflection.
I think BP5 used a thermal camera during their latest Jules Werne trip to detect ice.

/hakan

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

On our first date my future wife and I took her boat out early on a pitch-dark morning in pea soup fog. Couldn't see the bow from the pilothouse. She had a Furuno 1715 though and I was able to wweave my way through the harbor following the channel makers on the radar, all of them less than 50' away at some point. Just needed to fiddle with the buttons a bit.

I won't say I married my wife for her radar, but it didn't hurt.

Exactly, it is not a problem to see targets 50' away. On older set you might need to reduce gain manually a bit. With the radar in my mizzen mast, I can see targets 20' off my bow.

ciao!
Nick.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by herkam

Sailing at night above the arctic circle during the summer is a big bonus, the sun is always on! Detecting ice with the radar when you have waves is tricky, you will not see small ones (size of a car and smaller) since it such a small part of the ice above water. And that part of the ice is probably well rounded so no reflection.
I think BP5 used a thermal camera during their latest Jules Werne trip to detect ice.

/hakan

Duh! Yes, you're right, of course! My imagination is stuck in dark winter England.

[SailFastTri]

Just one more data point from someone who switched from a 10 year-old Raymarine 4kw to Broadband (pre- 3G or 4G).

Pros: Much higher resolution close-in, near-instant on, much lower power draw, no central "bang" blotch, less problem with ghost images from strong returns.

Cons: Limited range, less sensitive to rain (that's both a pro and con).

BTW as a coastal sailor I'm much more concerned with what's happening within 4 miles and rarely zoomed beyond 10 miles even when I had the ability. Long range is a concern that's largely addressed by AIS for me.

[SailFastTri]

One more thing: You should make your decision based on what's available now, not what might make today's technology obsolete tomorrow. Technological change is a given at any point in time.

The longer view is whether it will keep working for you and whether the vendor will be around to support it. Also, whether one component follows interface standards that are likely to be around in event you want to upgrade it down the road without swapping out the whole system.

I think (Navico) Simrad is a safe choice in that regard, with Ethernet radar interface and NMEA 2000 support.

[herkam]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Duh! Yes, you're right, of course! My imagination is stuck in dark winter England.

I'm stuck in Sweden, even more darkness

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

Just one more data point from someone who switched from a 10 year-old Raymarine 4kw to Broadband (pre- 3G or 4G).

Pros: Much higher resolution close-in, near-instant on, much lower power draw, no central "bang" blotch, less problem with ghost images from strong returns.

Cons: Limited range, less sensitive to rain (that's both a pro and con).

BTW as a coastal sailor I'm much more concerned with what's happening within 4 miles and rarely zoomed beyond 10 miles even when I had the ability. Long range is a concern that's largely addressed by AIS for me.

To add a point; no radiation exposure.

[Nicholson58]

We did the NSE-8 at the Nav Station with Lawrance broadband. We have one of the first (early units). I added a conventional small LED monitor on a RAM mount at the helm as a repeater. Its 54 bucks so if it fails - new one. We chose this package to minimize power use and to be able to see near objects. Its good out to about 15 miles. The images show at the marina. You see every empty slip, piling and boat in the channel. There is a restaurant to the west behind us and you see all of the boats parked at the wall.

The overlay is good. You see overlay on the left and raw radar on the right using platinum charts. I understand the resolutin and range are both imporved on the 4G.

They were not up on sailboat installation. The makers and their geeks are all power boat guys. I had a very difficult time explaining that we need to be able to remove the mast from time-to-time. If you run the wire in the mast, that requires cutting of the cabel and landing the wires on terminals. They did not offer any way to cable with a plug at deck level so I had to ad-lib.

[Roy M]

I have a Raymarine E120 with 4kw radar. I have been installing a lot of Simrad 3G and 4G systems these last few months. I am switching over to the Simrad system, especially for the power consumption factor. I love the new Broadband depthsounder and the Structure Scan sonar (photographic effects of the side and bottom) which offer more depth range and detail than what I have now. I also have the Interphase SE200C forward scanning sonar, which might be handy for an Icelandic adventure. Check out YouTube for actual videos of the use of these units. It might help to assist in your selection.

Furuno is a good product. The problem is that is not the best value for some of us without independent incomes. And it sucks more electrons out of the battery if you are under sail without the engine or genset ticking away. I, for one, am making the change to Simrad.

[Nicholson58]

When we bought our NSE-8 my research said they were the only guys out there with a marine product that used LED backlight. All others used LCD-flourescent. For the screen size, the Simrad uses less power. You might also have a laptop or tablet for navigation but won't be marinized.

[Dockhead]

OK, guys, thanks for all that input -- I'm sold.

The low power consumption of the 4G radar is yet another good reason to have it for night sailing, and the practical range of 12 miles or so is plenty for me. My present 4kW Pathfinder 24" dome doesn't do any better than that anyway. The high level of detail close in is just a bonus.

I have now read the NSE manuals from cover to cover, and have read all of the reviews and discussions I could find. The capabilities are light years ahead of my existing system and I really like the interface.

I'm actually more or less satisfied with the capabilities of my existing navigation system, which already seems decadent to this old-school dividers and plotter guy -- I'm making the upgrade because of just two reasons: (1) unsatisfactory radar performance, which is probably the result of a worn-out magnetron; and (2) no AIS. But -- I think I could get used to it

I've also read up on the B&G Zeus MFD's which are just the Simrad NSE with some sailing functions added. I don't think I strictly need such functions -- I can do laylines in my head -- but why not, since it costs almost the same as the Simrad.

So I think I'm going for a pair of B&G Zeus MFDs and a B&G 4G radar. In order not to bust the budget this year I think I'm going to leave my autopilot and wind instruments alone for the time being. I'm also going to self-install. It seems that the B&G system will be happy with NMEA0183 data from my wind instruments, log and sounder (?). I will add a new heading gyro stabilized heading sensor which outputs NMEA2000 and 0183 simultaneously, so MARPA will work on the plotters. And an AIS transponder. Then, next year, God willing, I will change out the autopilot for one of those fantastic Simrad ones (I think they are rebranded Robinson, if I'm not mistaken), and change out the wind instruments.

Anybody thinks that's a plan?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

They were not up on sailboat installation. The makers and their geeks are all power boat guys. I had a very difficult time explaining that we need to be able to remove the mast from time-to-time. If you run the wire in the mast, that requires cutting of the cabel and landing the wires on terminals. They did not offer any way to cable with a plug at deck level so I had to ad-lib.

And what was your ad-lib solution?