What Radar to Get ?

[Jimbo2010]

I'm going to the Annapolis show on Friday, not looking to spend a ton.

I called a few reps up today from Ray and Lowrance Faruno and Garmin, Sitex makes a nice 12" dome I think they can tie in several plotters. JSC don't see too much.
All they talk about is the new digital HD wideband etc, they all say analog are not going to made anymore.

I want to mount the dome 2K or 4K on a transom pole 9-10' off the water.

I see many domes at 1,000-1200, but the plotters are 600-1600.

Just going to do coastal cruising Long Island sound to Maine

Any suggestions are welcome.


Yes I searched

[Mambo]

I saw a garmin 4208 with G18 radome on ebay as a package for 2300 (no charts on the 4208). Sounded like a decent deal. The 4208 is networkable which is nice.

Another possibility is the lowrance hds7 or hds8. The lowrances work with the broadband radars as well. I find it difficult to figure out teh various lowrance configurations though (they have maybe 10 different hds-8 units).

What are you looking to spend?

[SailFastTri]

The bigger the dome the better the detail. Don't worry about range -- when you're coastal you need to focus on things that are potential collision targets. That means you'll mostly be set to 1/2-4 miles range... further than that you only need to worry about large ships (the cabin cruiser on autopilot had better look out for you or you're toast, you can't move fast enough to avoid them). At 1/2 mile you should be able to pick up flagged lobster buoys in calm conditions, even with a 12-inch 2kw dome. MARPA is good for tracking moving objects. AIS is good to add on in vicinity of large ships.

[Jimbo2010]

Budget $1,000 on the dome and $600 on the plotter???

I saw a Sitex for 900 and 350 but can't tell if it's the analog.

[Hudson Force]

I have no technical background information comparing different radars, but I was struck by my observation that the great majority of the radars seen on the Maine lobster boats are Furunos. Now, I never followed the axiom that suggested the best restaurants were where all the truckdrivers stopped, but it makes you wonder.

[zopi]

One point of info...I have never seen a Navy ship which did not have a Furuno...no exp. with other brands, good, or bad, But I love the furunos.

[sck5]

I have a garmin 4210 with the garmin radar and it is awesome. If you do get a Garmin be sure to get one with the preloaded charts. It is much cheaper that way.

If you are going to the boat show then do what I did and go play with all the demo units. I was very impressed with Garmin and it works as well on my boat as it did in the boat show

[bene505]

If everyting els eon your boat is Raymarine, can you buy another vendor's radar and have it hook-in appropriately?

(Also coastal, mostly Long Island Sound to Nantucket.)

Regards,
Brad

[sck5]

I am not sure but i would think so. I have garmin plotter and radar but a raymarine autopilot and they all talk together just fine. Was kind of involved figuring out how to do it (complicated enough that I would have to relearn it all if/when it breaks) but it can be done.

[jackiepitts]

We recently purchased a new radar/display and found this cruising world article helpful
With Radar, the More Power, the Better - Cruising World
In the end we based our decision on affordability, performance and also the fact that a stand alone system made more sense to us so we went with the 4KW Icom.
Best,
Jackie

[jackiepitts]

FYI we spent slightly over $1,600 for the entire Icom system (4KW)....a real bargain for a stand alone radar when compared to the other radars on the market.
Jackie

[speciald@ocens.]

To add your Raymarine instruments to your display you may need a Seatalk to NMEA black box. Ask at the show.

[Tom Spohn]

4kw Furuno

[Cotemar]

Jimbo2010,

Look at the Garmin GPSMAP 740 Color Preloaded Marine 7 inch Radar GPS Chartplotter.

1) It has a built in GPS antenna.
2) Very easy to use, even without a manual.
3) Easy to install, DYI project
4) Touch screen
5) low price.

Mark

[cfarrar]

It's not so much the increased power that gives you better performance; it's the antenna size, though of course these are generally packaged together.