Radar Selection for Yachts

[Island Time 1,240]

I've been meaning to write this post for a while. This year, at the annual Navico Dealers conference, one of the presentations was about solid state radars. That's not unusual, but was was pretty unique was the radar shootout. They had a boat set up with radars from Garmin, Raymarine, Furuno, and of course their own 4G Broadband.

 

We had a presentation inside, then got to go out in the boat and test the various units side by side, and see the different levels of abilities. Remember that the Navico Broadband units have now been around for 6 years, and to begin with all the other manufacturers were saying that their magnatron radars were just as good or better. Now they all have solid state options - that tells you something.

 

Of course, all the other manufacturers had the Navico radars to compare to in their R&D during their product development.

 

From the tests Navico have done, and what I saw myself, the Navico (Lowrance/Simrad/B&G) units are still head and shoulders above the other options. 2nd I'd rate the Furuno NXT. 

 

Here is an example of why;

 

Two images, same location, same day (sorry about the pic quality, copied from the presentation, and re-sized)

 

Furuno NXT;

 

Navico 4G

 

The main differences are in Range and bearing azimuths. In English that means target definition - whether two ships close appear as one etc etc. Have a look in the mooring field, and how much sharper the 4G unit is that the NXT.

 

If anyone would like to see the whole presentation (powerpoint) I have a copy, but its 10Mb , so too big for many email systems. 

 

I'd be happy to discuss or provide the pics from any of the others, but this post is long enough! 

 

If anyone wants a new radar, give me a PM, email or call...

 

Cheers

Matt

[wheels 543]

Wow, that is unbelievable.
So is this 4G unit the same unit available to plug into for the V7, or a separate unit completely ?

[Island Time 1,240]

Wheels, yes, same one. 3G or 4G will give you the same quality image, the 4G has dual range etc that is useful - especially on fast boats. Sorry though, only the Vulcan 9 does Radar - the 7 has no radar port

For anyone who wants a radar on a PC (for Opencpn or Expedition), or has a Navico MFD that supports radar, the 3G starts at $2300...