Digital Radar Pros and Cons?

[Aparrotwind]

We have the Garmin HD Radar and love it! Rain and Sea clutter features work very well.

[Bash]

Yachting Magazine - Radar Roundup

[David M]

Originally Posted by Bash

Yachting Magazine - Radar Roundup

Not mentioned in the article but a very important point is that the wider your radar antenna, the better the resolution. This is a fact of physics that cannot be overcome regardless of what radar manufacturers do electronically. Their definition of a "high resolution" small yacht radar is not the kind of resolution you would find on a ships radar. Also not mentioned in the magazine article is that the number of screen pixels is also a major factor for resolution.

Also, you have to take some of these magazine articles with a grain of salt. The publishers are not going to be inclined to mention any negatives because the electronics manufacturers are also their advertisers. I find more unbiased opinions about this kind of stuff by doing web searches on web sites that are not dependent on keeping their advertisers happy. If you want to learn of the negatives, you really do need to dig around places other than the glossy paged yachtie magazines.

[Northeaster]

David M (or others) - Can you elaborate a bit more, on how much difference you feel there would be, between an 18" and 24" dome.
I would be getting a Raymarine dome, as I have a C80 plotter. It (unlike the widescreen C series) does not support their new digital or HD domes. Only the 2Kw 18" or 4Kw 24" analog domes.

Of course, the larger dome is 4KW, whereas the smaller is 2KW, so fee free to comment on power as well.

I would be using it for coastal cruising (normally within a few miles of shore) in a Fog prone area (Nova Scotia).

I am primarily concerned with identifying / avoiding others ships and rocks / islands, rather than weather forecasting.

I have never used radar before, so I appreciate input from thise with experience!

[Rick]

4kW radar power is preferred for coastal cruising in that a 2kW unit will not reliably trigger RACON bouys. When approaching variousl entrances that have RACON it is sooo nice to see exactly on the radar display the triggered Morse code dots and dashes radiating from the RACON.

Another advantage of 4kW units over the lower power ones is that they will more reliably display small targets that are small vessels that get shadowed intermittently by large swells on the ocean. Until you observe such a thing you cannot believe how, in bad visibility, a small vessel quite close will show on the radar when you just can't easily see them visually.

[Aparrotwind]

And don't forget that the height of your dome will greatly increase the range - not much sense having a 24" radar mounted 6' off the water.

[Highlander40]

I have an older Raymarine 4kw radome (back when it was Raytheon). A friend bought the 2kw at the same time and we compared. The difference in the lower power/size radome is- it looks kind of "chunky" like a low res photo. A Real low res photo. They both work but the bigger dome lets you understand what you are looking at better. Having cruised most of the Maine coast, it's a no-brainer. Bigger is way better. Up there we use it so much that you get your moneys worth the first season. Our unit is vintage 1999 so we are looking at the next up-grade to color. We have the raymarine E120 now and love it. when the economy allows it, a new radar is on the way.