New to me radar...raymarine rd418hd 18". Is this decent?

[Mg451]

Never had radar never used radar and I must confess I have not done my endless google research yet.. some one gave me their old radar raymarine color hd rd418hd. I have a tiny axiom 7 and seatalk network and all marine products. Is this a good radar? Will it pick up crab pots and bouys? I plan on mounting it on a pole aft of the cockpit ( stern corner)8ft high or so. Is this a safety issue with frying my brain or is that the old radars? Also my boats only 32 ft and my helm has a little axiom 7 kinda small and getting crowded. Any input if I should go fwd with adding this radar? I do use the boat for cruising offshore and coastal and inshore....

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Mg451

Never had radar never used radar and I must confess I have not done my endless google research yet.. some one gave me their old radar raymarine color hd rd418hd. I have a tiny axiom 7 and seatalk network and all marine products. Is this a good radar? Will it pick up crab pots and bouys? I plan on mounting it on a pole aft of the cockpit ( stern corner)8ft high or so. Is this a safety issue with frying my brain or is that the old radars? Also my boats only 32 ft and my helm has a little axiom 7 kinda small and getting crowded. Any input if I should go fwd with adding this radar? I do use the boat for cruising offshore and coastal and inshore....

We have that radar (RDH418D 18” 4KW) - it is one of their earlier digital radar. Ours is connected via a Raymarine network switch (HS5) as its cable doesn’t reach our Axiom+. Display as an overlay on your chart, or as a separate window - we have a 9” display and side by side windows are too small for decent use.

That radar works very well, but you’re not going to see crab pots nor plastic mooring buoys. Big metal navigation markers, sure.

Lots of people mount their radars at the stern. No worries about getting fried as long as it is well above your head and you’re not in the way of the beam within about 3m of the unit.

[Mg451]

So.i guess the price I got it at i.might as well use it. Can it see weather?

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Mg451

So.i guess the price I got it at i.might as well use it. Can it see weather?

Yes, if you mean rain clouds and dense fronts.

[Dooglas]

There is no small digital radar you are going to install at any price that is going to predict tomorrows weather or detect plastic crab pot floats among the clutter on the ocean surface. Among the things it will do is see smaller fishing boats and navigation bouys in the fog or dark, and detect larger vessels on a collision course. Sounds like the next thing is to learn to use it. This is a decent radar that came your way as an incredible deal. Not sure why your post is so negative.

[sail sfbay]

Is a Raymarine color hd rd418hd and good radar? Yes.

Will it pick up crab pots and bouys? Not sure about crab pots, however radar will show other boats, buoys and navigation markers, shorelines and landmasses, pilings and docks, and big things like areas of rain showers or tiny things like birds.

I plan on mounting it on a pole aft of the cockpit..........that works, my first sailboat already had a stern pole so that is where I mounted one. Pole mount is not a safety issue in my experience. However, poles are expensive so I find it cheaper to mount it to the mast.

I do use the boat for cruising offshore and coastal and inshore.......you find radar invaluable navigation tool in the rain, fog, high seas and at night or other limited visibility situations for collision and thunderstorm avoidance.

AXIOM 7 - acceptable radar display, albeit I prefer a larger navigation display that can show chartplotter and radar displayed on the same screen.

[frantzjoe]

Really like that radar. On my mast. Goes to my A7 display. Usually use it full screen. Typically monitor it on my iPad in the cockpit which connects almost auto through WiFi.
Use it constantly most times we are out.
Very useful in dense fog, crossing shipping lanes, seeing small boats, navigation markers.
Can’t see small mooring buoys, fish trap buoys and the like. Use my eyes for that. Obviously can see the boats on the moorings. Also keep eyes open for kayakers and SUP, etc

[jmschmidt]

The old monochrome radars were pretty dangerous. That's why it was on the check list to turn it off before approaching the gate so as not fry the ground crew. It's still on the check list but not so important with the new radars.

[Mg451]

Been relying on the ais overlay when in the shipping g lanes but not all of us transponder and seeing bouys etc seems like a usefull thing. Murphys law has me at night in fog usually in the shipping lane. Seems like I got a good unit for free! I'd like to get it on the mast. But ways seen radar on other boats and wondered if it sail slaps past it on a tack? I guess it'll go above the staysail..

[frantzjoe]

Our boat is a mid-cockpit cutter. When we use the staysail, due to its small size it doesn’t get hung up on the radar dome.
The jib isn’t a problem at all, The problem there is clearing the staysail since the gap is so narrow.

[Mg451]

So getting this all together a little confused as to the connections. I have an axiom on a seatalk ng network. I need the hs5. the radar goes to that using what cable? and from that goes into seaTalk ng network? Which will show up on my mfd ( axiom) ?

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by Mg451

So getting this all together a little confused as to the connections. I have an axiom on a seatalk ng network. I need the hs5. the radar goes to that using what cable? and from that goes into seaTalk ng network? Which will show up on my mfd ( axiom) ?

The HS5 takes regular Raynet connections (these are SeatalkHS, NOT Seatalk/SeatalkNG). The HS5 connects digital equipment such as radar, video camera, etc to a MFD. It does not connect with a SeatalkNG network. The HS5 is connected to the Axiom via its own Raynet cable. https://www.raymarine.com/view/index-id=3838.html

You likely already have a Raynet connector on the end of your radar cable as it was on ours (same radar as you).

Your Axiom has just one Raynet connection. So your radar could connect directly to your Axiom if you don’t need to connect any other equipment to your Axiom and the cable is long enough. If the radar cable is too short or you don’t want to buy an HS5, I’m not sure what options for extending the radar cable are possible.

[Mg451]

What's the difference between the hs5 and the rns5

[SailFastTri]

Originally Posted by Mg451

Been relying on the ais overlay when in the shipping g lanes but not all of us transponder and seeing bouys etc seems like a usefull thing. Murphys law has me at night in fog usually in the shipping lane. Seems like I got a good unit for free! I'd like to get it on the mast. But ways seen radar on other boats and wondered if it sail slaps past it on a tack? I guess it'll go above the staysail..

Don’t worry about the sail hanging up on the tack, unless it’s larger than a 120% Genoa.
Don’t place it too higher either. I’m not sure what the beam spread is, you can look that up, but ideally it should be at about lower spreader height so you can see close range objects without overshooting them. Also on a small boat the higher weight could (very) slightly affect center of effort.
Another consideration is that it should be mounted higher than a deck light, if you have one on the front of the mast. Otherwise it would block the light from shining on the foredeck.