The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

Marine Electronics Recommendations—Radar

Radar is, at least to Phyllis and me, the most important piece of marine electronics on our boat. Yes, more important than GPS or a chart plotter—we know how to find our position without GPS and we can navigate on paper charts, but neither of us can see in the dark or have x-ray vision to penetrate fog.

We also find radar’s ability to accurately measure the distance to an object and gauge if it’s moving, and if so how fast and in what direction, invaluable—humans are really lousy at this.

So, before we move on, I need to make clear that these recommendations are for those of you with similar needs to ours: radar is mission critical.

(Also, if you have not read them already, you need to stop here and read this chapter and this one too.)


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Wim Vandenbossche

Twelve years ago – when I first started fitting electronics to a boat – I was given the exact same advice (AFI/AFF) and for the exact same reason.
Sometimes you hear about other marine electronic brands: ‘Their customer service is great’.
I don’t know how good (or not) the customer service of Icom or Furuno is because no Furuno/Icom gear I have owned has ever broken down.

Taras

Thank you for the article John!
Where would you position the radome? On the mast near first spreaders or on the pole on the aft of the boat?

If the radar currently is on the mast, would you recommend moving it to the pole?

I currently have the old Rayethon SL-70 radar. Came with the boat. Screen working, but no data from radome unit. Will try fixing it, and if not – need to research what to buy.

Tristan Mortimer

Hi John,

The Furuno DRS digital radar scanners have been available for almost 10 years. I have had one fitted for 8, and apart from an initial firmware issue the system has been completely trouble free. Whilst I whole heartedly agree that standalone is by far the best I do think that on a small boat where both space and power supply can be problematic, combined plotter / radar units definitely have their place. Whilst I don’t know about other companies combined units, coming from a commercial shipping background I will not fit anything other than Furuno to my boat when it comes to radar equipment, if you suffer a breakage of Furuno radar you are indeed very unlucky. My experience of their ‘leisure’ range of equipment also reinforces this purchase policy.

Matt

Never look at the sticker price alone when deciding how much something costs.

A piece of stand-alone, commercial-grade hardware that lasts 15 years is a lot less expensive than a piece of yacht-grade hardware that costs half as much up front but only lasts 5 years. (Plus, in the second case, you get the added fun of repeatedly visiting a remote Customs warehouse trying to find the replacement radar drive gear set that the manufacturer swears they mailed to you last month.)

$7,000 on high-end commercial gear that lasts 15+ years is $467/year. A sub-$2,000 yacht-grade radome with a 3-year lifespan, plus an MFD for it to talk to (6 year lifespan), is close to $1000 a year.

(Addendum – After looking up a few price lists, I think you’ll have a pretty hard time putting together a functional radar system from any brand, even low-grade pleasure yacht gear, for significantly less than a Furuno 1835 set costs.)

Taras

What if the boat goes thru a major refit project with a plan to finish in 3 years? Would you wait 2-3 more years before buying expensive equipment to see if it drops in price or for currently new equipment to be proven to work?