I have the Furuno first watch radar which I installed myself. This was not difficult as it is just a matter of installing the power cable. Albeit a thick one. Having a wooden mast helped as I was able to use cable clips which I dipped in sikaflex.
I have had the radar 2 years now and used it only a few times to supplement visual watch keeping on my
Gibraltar to
Caribbean crossing and recently again to the ABC Islands.
The pros are easy installation, low cost and ease of use.
I don't have any other experience of radar but I wonder if this device is as powerful as the non WiFi versions.
I've never seen any return over 8 miles including land. The shorter range returns appear good however.
When I left
Las Palmas in the canary Islands at night, my watch included a radar check which exposed a container ship transiting our area whilst not transmitting on
ais which surprised me.
The return was very clear so I popped up and made visual contact as well.
There is a guard alarm on the app now and it works.
Ipad uses more power than usual so needs to be on charge if you only have one device.
Hopefully this system uses less power but others will no doubt comment on that.
You can overlay the radar on ipad
charts like time zero which I bought but never use because I prefer
Navionics.
In order to overlay the radar and
ais, you have to feed the ais through the radar as well which means that the radar has to be on standby at least to receive the ais. I use a multiplexer from a feed off my standard horizon ais
radio which is definitely a product I'd recommend.
I now have a dedicated ais transponder as well so the above issue could be circumvented by hooking a WiFi on that as well I should think.
Cons, No Android app and both ipad minis I purchased failed just outside of warranty.
Also recently, the one ipad mini I now have seems to have problems with seeing the WiFi connection transmitted by the radome. Whilst my android devices can see it.
Radar overlay issue above.
Device vulnerability. I don't like apple products much in light of the poor
reliability issues I have experienced.
Conclusion:
I think if you a a high user of radar, I'd opt for a full installation with a data cable and dedicated display.
Otherwise the Furuno WiFi solution is good value for
money. The
introduction of and android app is however long overdue and leads me to wonder if they'll ever bother.
I've no idea how many have been
sold.
I'm a sucker for gadgets. 🤐