Garmin Radar Which one ?

[navysurfer]

Hello and thanks for the input, I have a Tayana 37, plan to sail from Florida to the South Pacific, single handed. My question is do I spend the extra for the 24xhd or will the the 18 hxd Garmin radar be ok ?. My MFD does not support the newer Phantom radars.

Or do I slave away and work extra to get the new Phantom radar and newer MFD, I will transmit and receive AIS as well.

I plan to mount the radar at the spreaders, most important is collision avoidance, and to see rain squalls approaching.

Any thought appreciated.

Cheers Pop"S

[Tornadosailing]

The difference between the 18 and 24 is the degrees of resolution. The bigger the radar antenna, the tighter the tolerances on what it can see. An 18 might blur an inlet opening into one solid mass, where the 24 would pick it up sooner. In my opinion, the difference between the 18 and 24 isn't enough to make me spend the extra money. It's literally a couple of degrees and on a sailboat, those couple of degrees won't matter because you're not approaching anything at any kind of speed. The real improvements in resolution come with the big 6 foot open array antennas.

I just bought the Fantom 18 unit. The main reason was power consumption. Power output on the Fantom is 40 watts, while the xHD radar is 4000 watts with the same 48 mile range. The Fantom also has doppler and "motion scope" to identify threats.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by Tornadosailing

The difference between the 18 and 24 is the degrees of resolution. The bigger the radar antenna, the tighter the tolerances on what it can see. An 18 might blur an inlet opening into one solid mass, where the 24 would pick it up sooner. In my opinion, the difference between the 18 and 24 isn't enough to make me spend the extra money. It's literally a couple of degrees and on a sailboat, those couple of degrees won't matter because you're not approaching anything at any kind of speed. The real improvements in resolution come with the big 6 foot open array antennas.

I just bought the Fantom 18 unit. The main reason was power consumption. Power output on the Fantom is 40 watts, while the xHD radar is 4000 watts with the same 48 mile range. The Fantom also has doppler and "motion scope" to identify threats.

Well stated. I just installed the 18” Fantom unit and the reasons stated above were the features which sold me. I replaced all my electronics in the fall so I won’t gain experience with them until spring.

[navysurfer]

Thank you, the Phantom sure sounds nice, I appreciate your help

Pop's

[DRbyrd]

We love our Phatom. The ease of Determining if a target is heading at you are away from you can not be understated! That unit and an AIS transponder will certainly add an needed margin of safety to a single handed!

[Emouchet]

Originally Posted by Tornadosailing

Power output on the Fantom is 40 watts, while the xHD radar is 4000 watts with the same 48 mile range. The Fantom also has doppler and "motion scope" to identify threats.

I am not sure where you read the 4000watts on the xHD.

I have a 18" xHD dome, and it drains 4 amps/12v so about 48w while scanning, and 3 amps while in standby.

[alansmith]

Yup, I was scratching the bare noggin when I red 4K Watts. Maybe in Navy cruise missle ships they draw that much power.

[NPCampbell]

Originally Posted by alansmith

Yup, I was scratching the bare noggin when I red 4K Watts. Maybe in Navy cruise missle ships they draw that much power.

You were partially correct, transmit power of the 18xHD is 4k watts. Overall power consumption is 48 watts max. Ignoring duty cycle, radar is emitted in very short pulses so 48 watts divided by a very short sub second pulse = 4k watts of transmit power.

[navysurfer]

Thanks everyone, with my luck I will save up for the phantom and new MFD install it and the next day read about the all new and improved Radar from Garmin only usable with a new MFD. soon to be released.

While sailing to Cuba from Key West last year the AIS receiver on the VHF was a joy, I think the new Phantom is worth the extra bucks especially for single handed cruising in heavy shipping traffic. The fact it is solid state should make for a long lasting unit.

I really do appreciate the input, again thank you.

Pop"s