Best radar/plotter combination

[joybennett]

Help please folks
We are looking around for a radar system for our boat and considering a number of Wi-fi option which are appearing on the market. Does anyone have any experience of them and recommendations for us? We have stand alone instruments on our boat (plotting done via Navionics on iPads at present) so a plotter May be an option also.
Furuno make one system but there appear to be few reviews around. Raymarine also look like they do one but it needs their plotters to work.
Any help and advice would be appreciated.

 

[prv]

As far as I know, Furuno is the only one which provides viewing software for third party devices. Others might use wifi to ease installation, but only their plotters are able to display the data. Since you have to run a power cable to the radar anyway, it will generally be easy enough to run a network cable at the same time and I don't see much advantage to a wifi link. I fitted a Raymarine Quantum radar and Axiom plotter last spring and am very happy with it, but I needed backwards compatibility with an existing Raymarine autopilot so my investigation of other manufacturers was fairly cursory.

Pete

 

[joybennett]

Thanks Pete

I saw their product and have had Raymarine before without issue but having not experienced the modern kit, didn’t ‘now how it stacked up

 

[pvb]

I don't see wifi connectivity as necessarily a benefit. As prv has said, it's easy enough when installing to run a network cable. The Furuno 1st Watch works on iOS devices, but only with the Furuno app, and switching frequently between that and a Navionics plotting app wouldn't be my choice. Additionally, one of the big advantages of modern plotters is the ability to have a radar/chart overlay, which is a great aid to interpreting radar images. So I'd be tempted to look at the available radar/plotter combinations and consider which you find easiest to operate (some are much more user-friendly than others).

 

[prv]

Navico (sells near-identical equipment branded as Simrad and B&G, plus other models under the Lowrance brand) have what they call "broadband" radar, which works differently to traditional pulse radar. I understand Navico has patents on some technology crucial to applying it to leisure radars, so these are the only brands that have it. Broadly speaking the advantage is in better definition close-in, including literally to within feet of the boat, and in lower instantaneous power emission so that the radar is not dangerous to people (I've seen the term "huggable radome" used).

Navico's "broadband" radars were also the first to use solid-state transmitters instead of the traditional magnetron, with the advantage of instant power-up (no warmup time), lower overall power consumption, and lighter weight - these are also often cited as advantages of Navico "broadband", but in fact other manufacturers have also switched to solid-state now so this second set of advantages is available to all (including for example my Raymarine Quantum).

Pete

 

[ashtead]

We have had our Raymarine plotter for a couple of years and for first time opted for radar to connect. Have not really used in anger as happy to use AIS so far on channel crossings but it does pair with iPad . If you are interested in researching Raymarine set up further there is a course run by a well known radar expert at the Raymarine offices which I found helpful to learn having previously use Furuno for night watches in the Med. I imagine choice might be influenced on what other instruments you have though?

 

[jdc]

I don't think anyone of us can answer what's 'best' as nobody will ahve tested all in identical circumstances. We can only say what we've tried.

I suspect that there is little difference between brands in terms of capability so it's largely a matter of taste. For my part I installed a Raymarine A95 Plotter/Radar in place of the simple stand-alone 'analog' radar I had earlier and it's pretty good, and integrates well with an AIS transponder. I can also see the screen and if desired control it from an iPad or iPhone.

 

[Neeves]

Your choice and thus the best buy depends on your priorities.

We installed Navico because we wanted the 'advantages' of Broadband outlined above, primarily lower power usage, instant on, the close range performance (we can see our bowsprit and we are 38' loa). We bought the smallest screen but have access to a bigger screen by using wifi and iPad. Broadband is good for thunderstorm avoidance (as is any radar) but Broadband is poor for identifying low lying coast, unless its within about 10nm but will pick up large commercial vessels at 40nm. You can control all the functions of the plotter with the iPad - except the autopilot (which we do not have, we are still using our old Raymarine). Our old Raymarine and new Navico (ours is Simrad but today you should look at B&G because it has good sailing software) are 2 standalone systems - we wanted redundancy. We could use our iPad outside, with a waterproof case, but choose not to do so. The 7" plotter screen we find perfectly adequate at the helm.

Radar cables have the flexibility of a game fishing rod but that apart installation was easy and the equipment, depth, radar, plotter, wifi worked straight out of the box.

But go back a step - think what you might want to add in the future, say autopilot, as this might become a higher imperative than radar. It is easier and you will get better support if you buy everything from one supplier (but Broadband is only available from Navico). So if you like Garmin's forward looking sonar, or Raymarine's autopilot - these later additions to your system, and cost might be the criteria, might dictate which supplier you choose for your radar.

It depends on your priorities which is best.

Jonathan

 

[prv]

Radar cables have the flexibility of a game fishing rod

That's not universally true - my Raymarine Quantum radome uses two separate cables for power and ethernet and both are relatively thin and very flexible. If necessary you could use any cat5 ethernet cable for part or all of the data run, as long as there was sufficient physical protection for lighter and less robust cable, and space for an inline coupler back to the original cable for the ends since as far as I know field-installable Raynet connectors aren't available. Likewise the power cable could be substituted for any other cable that can carry the current and stand up to the conditions.

Pete

 

[Saguday]

Navico’s Broadband radar benefits are not unique, Raymarine’s Quantum is a solid-state chirp rader with the same power/startup/range advantages over conventional systems.

 

[Neeves]

That's not universally true - my Raymarine Quantum radome uses two separate cables for power and ethernet and both are relatively thin and very flexible. If necessary you could use any cat5 ethernet cable for part or all of the data run, as long as there was sufficient physical protection for lighter and less robust cable, and space for an inline coupler back to the original cable for the ends since as far as I know field-installable Raynet connectors aren't available. Likewise the power cable could be substituted for any other cable that can carry the current and stand up to the conditions.

Pete

Thanks Pete,

Very true, confess not upto speed on newer Radar - maybe I should have been more specific and said Navico's supplied cables have the flexibility of a game fishing rod. Most of the time its not really an issue until until you are half way up the mast and need the cable fed into the mast at the bottom - its definitely a 2 person task. It also means because the bends are more gentle you do need longer cables than you might have imagined, only slightly but worth bearing in mind.

Jonathan

 

[prv]

Very true, confess not upto speed on newer Radar - maybe I should have been more specific and said Navico's supplied cables have the flexibility of a game fishing rod.

Indeed - I was surprised last time you brought it up, so went and had a look at their range and found they do still combine everything into one specialist cable.

I encountered one in person a couple of years ago and don't remember it being excessively stiff, but I wasn't trying to install it in a mast at the time

Pete

 

[Neeves]

Pete, I am using a bit of licence, but it is difficult to feed into a reasonably sized, small hole, at the base of a mast (and get it out at the higher end). Most cabling will flex round fairly tight corners, not Navico Broadband cables. It would be difficult to splice 2 separate cables into their, Navico, dedicated plugs and maintain integrity - I'm sure possible but it would make it more difficult. I might exaggerate the inflexibility but I was surprised how much more cable was needed than measured. And - as long as you are patient it is possible to instal, retrofit, - it just takes time (or money) if you pay for installation - and other than the patience required does not demand much skill - as I mentioned it might be possible to train monkeys to do it.

Whilst on the subject - they also supplied a depth/temperature sensor on a neat thin flexible cable, to which was attached a plug, that plugs into the plotter, of a diameter about 4 times that of the cable. The cable is easy to thread - plugs demand enormous holes - daft! (but I am sure there is a reason).

But as I mention instal, plug and play - works straight out of the box. We had had ours now for some time and have not one issue with it (though I read that the competitors kit has the same attributes).

Jonathan