Raymarine Radar - Digital or HD?

[PRH]

I am going to fit a new radar soon and was wondering if it is worth paying the extra for HD.

Without wishing to start a thread on which manufacturer makes the best radar, anyone got any info/views on the worth of going HD instead of just digital?

 

[omega2]

Radar

imho I would go for Koden.
http://www.koden-electronics.co.jp/eng/marine/radarpc/

 

[MikeJ42]

I am going to fit a new radar soon and was wondering if it is worth paying the extra for HD.

Without wishing to start a thread on which manufacturer makes the best radar, anyone got any info/views on the worth of going HD instead of just digital?

I just fitted the Raymarine 4kw digital radome. Its noticably better than my old Raymarine analogue radome. HD is noticably better again if funds permit, but for my coastal hopping it seemed overkill. Blobs become defined shapes on HD.

 

[PaulGooch]

I have Garmin HD, i'm not sure that it's appreciably any different to non HD digital to be honest.

It was only an extra £100 ish, though. I think the Raymarine is a big jump.

Not wishing to give any egg sucking lessons, but you do know that digital/digital HD only works with the newer plotters ?

 

[jfm]

I am going to fit a new radar soon and was wondering if it is worth paying the extra for HD.

Without wishing to start a thread on which manufacturer makes the best radar, anyone got any info/views on the worth of going HD instead of just digital?

It will be difficult to find anyone who has done a direct comparison. I went straight from Raym analogue to Raym superHD, both 4ft open scanners 4kw, and the superHD was loads better. I loved it.

I love radar and would always try to buy the very best available. I have Garmin's equivalent of super HD on the new boat, but 12kw instead of the 4kw I had with Raymarine, and I used it in the dark last week and loved it even more than superHD Raym

But none of this is directly answering your question, sorry, and I have never done the direct comparison you're asking for

BTW, imho it's definitely worth spending the extra for a 4ft open scanner instead of a raydome if possible. I have done a direct comparison on this and can confirm the targets are much better defined with the 2deg beam width of the open scanner than with the 4deg beam width of the raydome

 

[aquapower]

Not wishing to give any egg sucking lessons, but you do know that digital/digital HD only works with the newer plotters ?

Have fitted Digital to the older plotters aswell, had one of the first Digital scanners in 2007 and worked on the E120 ok, it only needed a software update.

 

[PaulGooch]

Have fitted Digital to the older plotters aswell, had one of the first Digital scanners in 2007 and worked on the E120 ok, it only needed a software update.

As the analogue scanners won't work on the new plotters, i thought the opposite was also true. Looking on the Raymarine website i see that you can indeed fit a digital scanner to the E seies classic, but not any of the other older models(C series etc).

 

[PRH]

Thanks to all for the info/tips/advice

I just fitted the Raymarine 4kw digital radome. Its noticably better than my old Raymarine analogue radome. HD is noticably better again if funds permit, but for my coastal hopping it seemed overkill. Blobs become defined shapes on HD.

Just what i wanted to hear - thanks

Not wishing to give any egg sucking lessons, but you do know that digital/digital HD only works with the newer plotters ?

Good point though I am OK with that one

BTW, imho it's definitely worth spending the extra for a 4ft open scanner instead of a raydome if possible. I have done a direct comparison on this and can confirm the targets are much better defined with the 2deg beam width of the open scanner than with the 4deg beam width of the raydome

Unfortunately the cost of an open array is too much for me.....