Which radar will perform best with Opencpn?

[Hakan]

Phil..
I've 3G and it's perfectly good for coastal. Probably not so good for distant squalls.
Halo 20 would of course be the best if affordable.
To save and buy a used 4G would have been an option for me but not for $1000. They where sold new around here some year(s) ago for about $1300

[Tupaia]

I personally have found that our 3G Lowrance has more than satisfied our needs. There are some benefits to Halo the primary being smaller dome, dual range and because of the rotation speed, almost continuous mapping that may or not be of use to you. If I was sailing in crowded waters the English Channel for example this could useful but between Pacific island probably less so. Both the 3G/4G and Halo use pulse compression technology so are very good at seeing through clouds as a result they are not good at spotting squalls when compared to traditional radar tech.

[merrimac]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

I have been looking for secondhand 4G setups and after reading the forum I have been wondering - should I bother with secondhand 4G or just spend the extra and go Halo?

I was thinking of the Halo 20+. It has doppler (which might be nice) and other stuff. I can get one for $2700 AUS. 4G radars (secondhand) are going for about $1000. For that I get no warranty and an older radar which may or may not work (I can't test them). I have the money to buy either, I just don't like spending money on electronics, as they always get old.

4G electronics is now 12 year old design, last made 5 years ago, cannot be repaired. I would pay $500 but no more.

Also, on the wide ocean HALO is much better than 4G. You'll be able to see far away much better and also "weather" mode works many times better, important to avoid squalls. This besides the obvious things you read in the marketing stuff like Doppler.

[merrimac]

Originally Posted by Tupaia

Both the 3G/4G and Halo use pulse compression technology so are very good at seeing through clouds as a result they are not good at spotting squalls when compared to traditional radar tech.

Sorry, but this isn't correct. 3G/4G uses FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) which is a lot worse at looking at squalls. HALO is pulse compression which combines the ability of FMCW to look through weather if you want and the ability to see it of magnetron radars.

[merrimac]

Navico's name for FMCW was "Broadband". Bit silly but OK.

I upgraded from BR24 to 4G to HALO over time, and each time the difference was quite marked. Sure, the older tech works, sure, but the upgrade is quite worthwhile.

[catsketcher]

Thanks for the feedback. I am pretty sure any radar would be amazing at the moment but I will not sell the boat until I am infirm so I may as well get the latest and newest tech.

cheers

Phil

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by merrimac

Sorry, but this isn't correct. 3G/4G uses FMCW (Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave) which is a lot worse at looking at squalls. HALO is pulse compression which combines the ability of FMCW to look through weather if you want and the ability to see it of magnetron radars.

Yes. I stand corrected.

My 3G is not good at spotting squalls when compared with my original Raymarine magnetron radar it is far superior in every other respect.

I was not aware of the enhanced ability of Halo. I haven't investigated but is there a power penalty with Halo? Certainly the biggest benefit of moving from magnetron to "broadband" FMCW was the ability to leave it on and not be concerned about battery drain.

[SoonerSailor]

My Halo24 pulls about 1 amp operating, 0.25 A on standby.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by SoonerSailor

My Halo24 pulls about 1 amp operating, 0.25 A on standby.

Out of interest I just searched Simrad site for the specs

3G
Operating: 18W (Typ.) @ 13.8Vdc, Standby: 2W (Typ.) @ 13.8Vdc ~ 150mA

4G
Operating: 20W (Typ.) @ 13.8Vdc (21W in dual range mode) Standby: 2.9W (Typ.) @ 13.8Vdc ~ 170mA

Halo24
Power Consumption max 29W / Power Consumption typical 20W / No standby consumption is stated.
Assuming 13.8V this equates to (2.1A) / (1.5A)

Slight increase but not much difference really in the scale of things.