Radar MFD

C

cherod

N/A
Joined
2 Dec 2018
Messages
5,360
Visit site
hi ,, i am looking to fit a radar and chart plotter system ,, not buying new so looking to build from used an hope fully update along the way if better units become available . i have an offer of an Analog radome but not sure if this is compatable with newer digital an HD units , i do not want to limit future updates by installing outdated equipment ,,, currently looking at / like stuff like 2kw raymarine radome and C / E 140w raymarne mfd ,, any advice is welcome ,, ty R
 
The 'classic' C series MFD are compatible with raymarine analog radars only*, not sure about the E series but suspect it is the same.

Their newer offerings will only work with their digital radars.

* for a while the raymarine pathfinder/RD21 radars were going for silly money second hand as if owner's existing analog radars broke they were otherwise faced with having to buy a new MFD and radar
 
cherod said:
thank you for replys ,,,,,,,,,, (, what is an e7 ???? )
Click to expand...

It's an MFD and chartplotter. It will display radar images, overlay on to charts (although not that well on mine) and there's an automatic target tracking feature that might be in the e7 or it might be in the radar.
 
ah yes ,,, google tells me it is a raymarine elements ,,, i do know of them , looks like q good piece of kit and not bad new price but only 7 " screen ,, ( i would not expect any problem hooking a digital to that ) . i really want the larger screen , 120 or 140 w . i think i should really be looking for an " E " as the C is analog and not compatable with digital radome , am i correct ,,, alternatively i could go for a complete analog C type , apart from age and possible maintinence issues is there much diff to the digy system re performance , i believe the E screen is brighter and better ?? ( my knowledge of these things is somewhat limited ) ty all again . R
"
 
In principle, the radar and MFD manufacturer must match to use native support. If you use OpenCPN as your MFD, you then have the choice of a plugin that supports both Navico and Garmin (digital) radar heads, see Radar Plugin
 
cherod said:
ah yes ,,, google tells me it is a raymarine elements ,,, i do know of them , looks like q good piece of kit and not bad new price but only 7 " screen ,, ( i would not expect any problem hooking a digital to that ) . i really want the larger screen , 120 or 140 w . i think i should really be looking for an " E " as the C is analog and not compatable with digital radome , am i correct ,,, alternatively i could go for a complete analog C type , apart from age and possible maintinence issues is there much diff to the digy system re performance , i believe the E screen is brighter and better ?? ( my knowledge of these things is somewhat limited ) ty all again . R
"
Click to expand...
The big difference is power consumption, digital uses a fraction of the analog sets
 
As an aside and I don’t want to teach you to suck eggs

Just be careful that what you’re
seeing on the overlays Is what is actually the correct return.

W.
 
Difficult to explain online.

But say you’re headed int Portsmouth and expect to see a radar return overlaid for a bouy in a certain place and you see the radar overlay it might not be the bouy. It might be another boat or obstruction.

Radar is great as is modern charting but they don’t always go together how you expect/want.

I don’t know what radar courses are available in the UK but if you can get to play safely in the classroom take it. I’d been using it for years when I had
fo take the class here and learnt a huge amount.

W.
 
cherod said:
currently looking at / like stuff like 2kw raymarine radome and C / E 140w raymarne mfd ,, any advice is welcome ,, ty R
Click to expand...

The wide series which came after the classics (which includes my C90W and the C/E140W) definitely supports raymarine digital radar, both C-wide and E-wide. There's mention of analogue support in my C-series manual but the installation instructions only mention digital compatibility so it's a "yes" for *older* digital radar (but see below) but a "hmm..maybe..maybe not...more investigation needed" for analogue.

The C-series wide (and I presume E-wide) do not support Quantum though. When Quantum first came out I was thinking about buying one. The rest of the Raymarine digital radar range was compatible with my plotter at the time (things may have changed now) but not Quantum: for that you needed a newer plotter.
 
Last edited:
I have been in this situation as my boat came with C70 and analogue pathfinder. The first thing the broker told me was that neither the display or scanner could be updated independently.

I have looked into this, my understanding and to expand on laika's answer (in Raymarine terms):

1) Any display that takes an analogue radar input cannot work with any digital scanner.
2) An analogue scanner cannot work with any display that will take a digital radar.

Additionally early pathfinder scanners are incompatible with the MFD type displays, only the stand alone radar displays.
 
Last edited:
laika said:
There's mention of analogue support in my C-series manual but the installation instructions only mention digital compatibility so it's a "yes" for *older* digital radar (but see below) but a "hmm..maybe..maybe not...more investigation needed" for analogue.
Click to expand...

My C-series wide manual has a whole section on tuning analogue radar but I'm suspecting it's a mistake because elsewhere only digital radar support is mentioned and from the installation manual there doesn't seem to be anything to connect analogue to. So I therefore believe older digital radar yes, analogue no, quantum no.
 
excellent all you people who replied , thank you all ,,, now i have some more info to consider,,, looks like go with digital,,,, e series mfd / compatible radome
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top