caltexflanc
Guru
Best bang for the buck? A used Furuno. Plenty out there as take outs from boats whose owners want the latest. Excellent support from the factory even on units 3 or 4 generations old,
Charts can be very inaccurate when in inland waters (ICW)....and you are operating within feet of shallows sometimes.....
So seeing the bottom come up rapidly can save you from going aground.
I love everything about it, but it won’t see things like crab pots, right?
The answer to this question is no. Conventional pulse radar cannot see objects that close to the boat. You would see them with your eyes much easier. If there’s any ripples in the water at all even broadband radar is going to miss some.
Steve -
You might be interested in the Furuno 1st Watch Wireless Radar (DRS4W). It's designed for the iPad. We've been transitioning to all iOS devices for navigation, and the DRS4W fits perfectly into that realm. VERY easy to install and use. And it will display on two iOS devices simultaneously. It's nice I can take my iPhone up on the flybridge and keep an eye on the radar. Plus, it will overlay seamlessly on the TZ iBoat Navigation App (which has replaced Navionics on our boat), even in 3D and using satellite imagery. We think it's pretty cool!
Here's the video we made of installing and testing it: https://youtu.be/prCtdALeWV8
We've also recently been approved as Furuno retailers so we'll be offering the DRS4W in our online store next week at $150 off ($1,050) as an introductory price.
I have a Lowrance HDS-7 multifunction display and one of their broadband radars. If you want to see targets like crab pot floats you will need a broadband radar (Lowrance, Simrad, B&G) (also called Quantum - Raymarine, Doppler - Furuno, and Fantom - Garmin). That type of radar uses a fundamentally different technology and is all solid state - no magnetron tube and uses much lower transmit power.
I prefer a multifunction display that allows you to overlay radar returns on the chart display. To do that with my system I had to add a heading sensor.
Note that Lowrance, Furuno and B&G are all the same company with different target markets. Lowrance is the cheapest, but essentially the same as Simrad and B&G. You can buy a Lowrance HDS-7 Carbon MFD with integral charts, a BR3 broadband radar antenna and a Point-1 heading sensor for about $2,250. You can also find a similar Simrad system for about the same price. That will give you a chart plotter, radar and, if you buy a sonar transducer, sonar all in one unit.
It is easy to install these systems yourself if you understand the basics of DC wiring and can read the instructions. The radar simply plugs into the MFD. The radar does require separate power wiring, but that is no big deal. The hardest part is pulling the radar cable from where you mount the radar to the display unit.
Alternatively you can buy a Furuno antenna that does not have its own display and uses your Ipad (or I-phone) as the display. That antenna requires that you pull power wiring to the antenna, but the connection to your I-device is wireless. This is probably the cheapest option you can implement (~1,000) for the Furuno First Watch Wireless Radar. This is stand alone radar (no chart possibility) that uses magnetron tech so you won't get the sensitivity for targets like crab pot floats.