RADAR

[CAVOK]

We’ve used a B&G Halo + over the past 3 years in the Med.
Others will give their opinion on various setups but I’ve found it well worth it.
I think the Doppler tracking system works well.
The radar guards are invaluable, but we often get false alarms in rougher waters and boat heel.
It’s real value is detecting non AIS fishing boats, which is common here.
It’s amazing what it will track. Helicopters, aircraft on low final approaches, flocks of birds. In calm conditions it will pick up fishing buoys, wind surfers etc.
I wish there was more documentation on the manual controls. Anyone??

[Goodxcharly]

I have a New Garmin 18 and Chart plotter 9”.

Package price and brand is why I chose Garmin. Previous plotter was Raymarine.

Garmin seems to be the King of the hill when it comes to instruments and GPS. So that is why I went with Garmin.

[Nicholson58]

We have a 5G Broadband Simrad. At the time, I believe one maker was private labeling for everyone. My opinion, Broadband compatible with your plotter for overlay is what is needed. Long range a 8 knots is overkill unless it gives you weather radar out there.

[Cpt Mark]

A buddy of mine is going Furuno because that radar plays with everyone elses equip. I went with Band G because that's what was n the boat I was buying, autopilot was dead and I needed both things to go up the west cast in early winter. My B&G works fine. Customer service is non existent. I would never buy them again. If and when I replace the whole thing I will be looking for products that work with other product manufacturers.

[Senojev]

If it will integrate with your existing system or you have space for a separate screen, I would favor Furuno for two reasons apart from performance which matches or exceeds others, technical support which is outstanding and Furuno’s parts support. Commercial boats use Furuno for a reason.

[MEC]

I confirm what others have advised, that by far, Furuno offers the best value in marine radars and navigation systems.



Yacht radar is a principle safety system, and is typically unspared. Your radar has to function properly and reliably. Furuno engineering is world class. Furuno products are one of the few true N2K compliant systems. Furuno's product support is world-class, available anywhere your yacht is likely to be.


The proposed radar may return a target at 36 nm range with 29 watts power input; but only if the target is the size of an aircraft carrier laying broadside to your track.



Furuno has delivered large quantities of ship radar and navigation systems to US Gov. These gov. sales contracts include multi-year after sale service and support. This means that the private market receives a benefit, knowing their Furuno products will be supported far longer than other OEM products are supported that do not have gov. mandated service lifetime terms.



Any discussion about other OEM radar and navigation systems is a discussion about sub-tier equipment compared to Furuno.


PS I have no financial relationship with Furuno, except Furuno equipment is aboard my yacht.

[vk4hr]

Garmin GMR 24. Reliability, size and functions
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/555656

[cottonsail]

Simrad is part of the Navico group. B&G is also in that group. Bought a Triton 2 B&G instrument system. Absolutely the worst purchase I've ever made for my boat(s)! Many phone calls to tech support. Hold times were between 20 minutes (best) and 1 hr and 45 minutes (worst). Multiple parts were defective and replaced. The wind instrument went through 3 units before it would work and that required me to swap some parts from the second unit into the 3rd unit. NEW RULE for me. Call the tech support before I make any major purchases just to see how responsive they are.

[Tugwit]

No experience with Radar, but I can confirm that B&G/Navico technical support is abysmal. It was merely terrible before being acquired by Brunswick, now it's even worse, if that's possible.

[CarinaPDX]

The question asked was about radar but as others have said the real question is about the system, including radar, chartplotter, and instrument support. As far as the radar alone there is not a lot of difference between the high end radars, which are solid state with doppler. The chartplotters, which are the display for the radar and the charts, are different primarily in the charts that they support. This is crucial as most manufacturers have a history of changing chart formats in order to prematurely obsolete their chartplotters and require early replacement. Garmin is often mentioned in this regard. In the past Furuno and Raymarine have supported both C-Map and Navionics charts, either with different models or a single model that supports both. Garmin supports Garmin, so no choice there. Currently the chartplotter manufacturers are taking chart sales in-house, and even private labeling them, so the old C-map and Navionics rivalry is less direct. Still, it is worth a look at which charts are supported, and the history of support duration. My Furuno is 14 years old and the charts are still supported with new editions; I don't think any other vendor can match that.

In addition to the optional charts look for what is bundled with the chartplotter, which can make a significant difference in cost. Of particular note, Furuno includes free NOAA charts of U.S. waters (raster and vector), which they update every year for free. Also, be aware that NOAA (and much of the world) is phasing out raster charts so your will soon be using vector charts, like it or not.

Furuno chose to stick with the NMEA 2000 standard, including the recommended DeviceNet connectors. Raymarine made their own N2K connection system, which is decent quality but not DeviceNet. Simrad used cheap connectors and cables. I think most marine electronics companies are moving to DeviceNet, and that is preferable as it is then possible to choose transducers and other equipment from a multitude of vendors, without adapters. If you are happy mostly living within the RayMarine universe, with an occasional adapter cable for other vendors, then the RM cabling and connectors are a reasonable, quality choice. I can't say the same for the old Simnet cables and connectors.

I think customer service is an important consideration. It varies from excellent (Furuno) to nearly non-existent (B&G - one person). I was active on the Furuno support forum about a decade ago: Furuno employees were online daily. Furuno has a strong service network, worldwide, if something breaks (as one might expect from a supplier to commercial shipping). And they don't pull support just because they would like you to buy a newer product. The only downside is that repairs are not cheap. Also to be considered is that for years after I purchased the MFD I was getting firmware updates, which added additional features and access to newer peripherals.

Another thing to think about is customization. Download the user manual and read through it before buying. The Furuno manual is very large, in part because it explains the many options. The RM Axiom manual is short and easy to read, but doesn't have a lot of options documented. As it turns out there are a good selection of options that are documented in a different manual so look for that. My experience installing B&G is that there were features that I use on my Furuno that are not on the B&G - which is determined by contacting the single support person (I hope this has changed but doubt it).

Last but not least look at the user interface. There was a move away from knobs and buttons towards touch screens. I absolutely hate the idea of putting saltwater soaked fingers onto a display - it is hard enough to keep the salt smears off without touching it. More recently there has been a movement back to hardware interfaces, to "hybrid" displays with both touch screen and hardware controls. Personally I would want a system that can be controlled, underway at least, without touching the screen.

For me Furuno checks all of the boxes. It does cost more initially but the value is absolutely there to justify it. If I were going to be thriftier I would put the RayMarine radar/chartplotter at the center, but use a DeviceNet backbone and probably few RM peripherals. I would avoid B&G, and although Garmin is nice I would not want to be at their mercy on charts. YMMV.

Greg

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by CAVOK

We’ve used a B&G Halo + over the past 3 years in the Med.
Others will give their opinion on various setups but I’ve found it well worth it.
I think the Doppler tracking system works well.
The radar guards are invaluable, but we often get false alarms in rougher waters and boat heel.
It’s real value is detecting non AIS fishing boats, which is common here.
It’s amazing what it will track. Helicopters, aircraft on low final approaches, flocks of birds. In calm conditions it will pick up fishing buoys, wind surfers etc.
I wish there was more documentation on the manual controls. Anyone??

My Radar/ARPA/MARPA certification course was 11 weeks including 3 days of simulator time.You are not getting that from an owners manual and you are certainly not getting full value running the new radars on the auto settings, particularly coming into a tight, strange harbour at midnight in heavy rain and high winds.

Find a RADAR course and learn what you'll be missing.

The old Power Squadron now https://americasboatingclub.org/cour...ar-for-boaters has a course but it is hit'n'miss as it depends heavily on the individual quality of the volunteer instructor.

[Siberian Sea]

Without any doubt get a Furuno. I have one on my commercial fishing boat in Alaska (as do most every commercial boat in Alaska) and another on my sailboat. Yes, there are cheaper ones and they have cool bells and whistles to dazzle the user but...... you want this expensive peace of electronics to work when you need it most and you want it to last years. Im dead serious get a Furuno it’s the one that the others are measured against, you will thank me later.

[jerski]

Thanks, I'll be on the look out for a course.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Siberian Sea

Without any doubt get a Furuno. I have one on my commercial fishing boat in Alaska (as do most every commercial boat in Alaska) and another on my sailboat. Yes, there are cheaper ones and they have cool bells and whistles to dazzle the user but...... you want this expensive peace of electronics to work when you need it most and you want it to last years. Im dead serious get a Furuno it’s the one that the others are measured against, you will thank me later.

I loved the older Furunos where the FTC, STC, Tune and Gain were on knobs you could adjust without searching through 8 layers of menus.

[SailingHarmonie]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

I loved the older Furunos where the FTC, STC, Tune and Gain were on knobs you could adjust without searching through 8 layers of menus.

And they were not waterprooof, so they had to live down below,
And they sucked power out of your batteries by the kilowatt-hour.

Retiring our venerable old Furuno CRT radar was a very happy day on our boat.