Garmin Radar Opinions

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Simply put, Are you satisfied with it?

What I have now on my boat is a Garmin 546S and for radar, I have a Furuno type. At the moment, the Furuno is not working but I may just have to trace wires to see whats up with the power. It was working when I tested it several months ago.

What I want to do is to replace both units with a single GPS that supports radar. At the moment, I'm looking at the Garmin 4208 with the Garmin 18 or 18HD Radar. I like the idea of keeping the number of electronics to a minimum and consolidate the GPS and Radar to one unit.

For the radar dome itself, The furuno unit I have now sits on top of a 5' or 6' pole mounted on the stern rail and I'm thinking to reposition it by installing a mount for a new one on the mast.

Do you like the Garmin radar? Is there really much difference between the 18 and 18HD, or any HD compared to non-HD?

This is something I'm considering during a refit I plan to start in a few years. This year, I'm planning to use the boat, next year I'll be in sunny Afghanistan then when I return to start a refit upgrading, replacing and updating some things. This is part of my refit list.

Thanks

[stevewrye]

I think you will be fine with the 4208 and the 18 HD. I've checked with all those I know with that setup who are out cruising for real. Got 3 emails back and all were happy with the setup. We will go with 2ea 4208's the 18 HD and the Garmin 600 AIS on the new boat. I would rather have Furuno radar and its own screen and a screen for AIS but those days are gone or foolish to try and make work. I'm thinking it is best to stick to one brand of electronics as everything just hooks up so easily.

Just get a new pole at 8 ft, putting it on the mast just does not cut it anymore.

Good luck

[brianb00]

I have a garmin 18 " radar with one of their low end chart plotters. This replaced a low end JRC radar. The install in on a stern mount pole with 7' of altitude above the deck. I have no complaints. I do quite a bit of solo racing. The function I tend to use the most is timed transmission and guard rings with the alarm. I found in a recent 5000 mile of the Pacific High (SF-Hawaii-SF) that the unit was excellent for squall tracking as well as the usual ship traffic. Ships were easily visible at 16 miles range in medium sea state conditions. The alarm is very loud, and I found it readily woke me up when I needed to be alerted.

Brian
s/v Red Sky

[Cotemar]

I have a Garmin 5208 with the Garmin 18HD Radar and have been very happy with it.
My 1st mate even likes using it. She never liked the Raymarine, because it was just to complicated.

I have the Garmin Bluecharts on my iPad with identical charts and routes on it for my backup system and to view from the nav station for my guests.

[mrm]

Originally Posted by Rhapsody-NS27

[...]At the moment, I'm looking at the Garmin 4208 with the Garmin 18 or 18HD Radar.

Do you like the Garmin radar? Is there really much difference between the 18 and 18HD, or any HD compared to non-HD?

We use the 4208 + 4210 + GMR18.

Works OK. Have not had a chance to compare 18 to 18HD, so no opinion there.

There is a gotcha with 42xx plotters though. You can overlay radar on a chart and you can overlay AIS on a chart, but you can NOT overlay radar and AIS on a chart simultaneously.

Marius

[Mambo]

4208 + GMR18HD + 441 (at nav station tied to network). Very satisfied. 441 has limited functionality (no radar or AIS) but still very useful. Only other system I would consider would be the BBR radars from Lowrance / Simrad. I went with Garmin because of the explorer charts. The BBR is significantly better on power and has some preferable features but all in all a wash (IMO). As for GMR18 vs 18HD -- I wouldn't buy the outgoing non-HD technology.
luck
M