Which Radar..

Tony · 09 June 2007, 19:28

After getting caught in thick pea soup today, i have decided for the safety of my family to install a Radar set up. There were alot of idiots out there racing around at 30+knots.
I have a Raymarine c80 and wondered if i should just set a dome to this or weather to have a second dispaly( maybe a different make?) and dome. I think it would be a lot easier to have two displays?
What do you think???

jwalker · 09 June 2007, 19:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony

I think it would be a lot easier to have two displays?
What do you think???

Without a doubt. Much better than faffin about moving through pages.

codprawn · 09 June 2007, 20:20

The big advantage of having one display is the way you can overlay the radar over the chart etc. On a RIB I would stick with just the 1.

Older dedicated sets are great though - none of this digital automatic crap - good old analogue knobs to twiddle with for gain/clutter etc - much easier!!!

jwalker · 09 June 2007, 20:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

The big advantage of having one display is the way you can overlay the radar over the chart etc. On a RIB I would stick with just the 1.

Is this advice based on personal experience on the water Codders?

codprawn · 09 June 2007, 22:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwalker

Is this advice based on personal experience on the water Codders?

Yup!!!

Rogue Wave · 10 June 2007, 01:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

The big advantage of having one display is the way you can overlay the radar over the chart etc. On a RIB I would stick with just the 1.

Older dedicated sets are great though - none of this digital automatic crap - good old analogue knobs to twiddle with for gain/clutter etc - much easier!!!

I'd agree with that, i much prefer using the older sets on tugs as opposed to newer ones..

Tony · 10 June 2007, 09:13

One of the shops over here is doing a deal on a GArmain 3010 and a Garmin 18 dome for £1750.00..It seems quite well priced what do you think?

4str · 10 June 2007, 15:08

I have a JRC radar and like it a lot. One thing about NOT integrating to one screen is that you gain redundancy. If the GPS/Chartplotter fails for some reason, you may still have a radar.

No experience base with this, but looking at the combined unit demo displays they are too "clean". Radar that is adjusted properly should show some wave top returns. The combined units may be filtering information so the display looks good with the chart readable underneath the radar overlay.

I run the display on the GPS "course up" so both it and the radar have the same orientation. I just glance from one to the other, it is easy to identify comon geographic features on both units once you learn how to read a radar screen.

I bought a couple of "how to" radar books, there was a lot of information about how to use radar than is in the manual. They were good investments.

codprawn · 10 June 2007, 16:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony

One of the shops over here is doing a deal on a GArmain 3010 and a Garmin 18 dome for £1750.00..It seems quite well priced what do you think?

That's a lot more than a radome for your Raymarine!!!

The Garmin is also a chartplotter - thought you wanted dedicated? Other than redundency it just doesn't make sense.

Remember the bigger the radome the better - it makes a hell of a difference but may cause problems on a RIB - then again there isn't that much difference in weight between the 18 and 22" - only 1kg - you get more power and a better resolution with the bigger dome.

Tony · 10 June 2007, 19:17

I didnt need a dedicated radar but i wanted a seperate display for gps and for radar ( i think)
Also the Garmin has a Video in which might be fun..
The Raymarine dome is about £800.. i think, so it would be more viable

Mollers · 10 June 2007, 21:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony

After getting caught in thick pea soup today, i have decided for the safety of my family to install a Radar set up. There were alot of idiots out there racing around at 30+knots.
I have a Raymarine c80 and wondered if i should just set a dome to this or weather to have a second dispaly( maybe a different make?) and dome. I think it would be a lot easier to have two displays?
What do you think???

Likewise, we were down to 20m viz. Had issues with a tanker which was underway albeit very slowly, we couldn't see his nav or deck lights at all. He let go with his fog horn and we nearly dumped our pants! We passed a lighthouse at less than 0.5m and couldn't see the light. We had to check and double check with Fal coastguard re. shipping at anchor in the bay and Carrick Roads to avoid running into any of it. Dropping our speed had run us late into the night. It was the worst viz I'd ever experienced. Yep, Radar for me also.

codprawn · 10 June 2007, 23:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mollers

Likewise, we were down to 20m viz. Had issues with a tanker which was underway albeit very slowly, we couldn't see his nav or deck lights at all. He let go with his fog horn and we nearly dumped our pants! We passed a lighthouse at less than 0.5m and couldn't see the light. We had to check and double check with Fal coastguard re. shipping at anchor in the bay and Carrick Roads to avoid running into any of it. Dropping our speed had run us late into the night. It was the worst viz I'd ever experienced. Yep, Radar for me also.

It can be very scary the way thing suddenly loom out of the fog at you. One trick is to go into shallow water - no chance of meeting a big ship then. Chart plotters have made things much easier though.

Scariest place has to be Worms Head - there is a blow hole that makes an awful sighing moaing sort of noise - very scary indeed but at least it must be one of the few headlands with it's own inbuilt foghorn!!!

Searider · 11 June 2007, 09:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony

I didnt need a dedicated radar but i wanted a seperate display for gps and for radar ( i think)
Also the Garmin has a Video in which might be fun..
The Raymarine dome is about £800.. i think, so it would be more viable

Looks like it makes sense to go for the Raymarine radome and see how you get on. If you want another display at a later date you can just get another Raymarine display.

IIRC the latest Raymarine E series kit can accept a video input.

bedajim · 18 June 2007, 11:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony

One of the shops over here is doing a deal on a GArmain 3010 and a Garmin 18 dome for £1750.00..It seems quite well priced what do you think?

So have you got one yet ?

Tony · 18 June 2007, 13:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by bedajim

So have you got one yet ?

Nope..
Still looking around
Advice from a furuno dealer was very good but confused me a bit and it meant spending over £3000

So what i need is to see one in action on a rib!! (hint hint)

jwalker · 18 June 2007, 13:45

Tony, stick with Raymarine. Simply because your sytem will be much more versatile having units which can fully communicate with each other. Searider's suggestion of buying a Raymarine raydome and seeing how you get on is a good one because you will be able to display split screen chart and radar. It'll be a bit small but you may find it satisfactory. It's only a matter of connecting a cable to the back of your present unit so it can easily be moved to another display if required in the future.

codprawn · 19 June 2007, 16:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwalker

Tony, stick with Raymarine. Simply because your sytem will be much more versatile having units which can fully communicate with each other. Searider's suggestion of buying a Raymarine raydome and seeing how you get on is a good one because you will be able to display split screen chart and radar. It'll be a bit small but you may find it satisfactory. It's only a matter of connecting a cable to the back of your present unit so it can easily be moved to another display if required in the future.

Err that's what I though I said when you argued against it???

Tony remember to get the bigger dome if you think it will fit - the weight isn't much different but the resolution will be.

jwalker · 19 June 2007, 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by codprawn

Err that's what I though I said when you argued against it???

Err, no. You said use one display so that radar overlay can be used. I said use one display to see how he gets on. I still think two displays is the way to go. Versatile.

For me, the problem with radar overlay is that both the chart and the radar need to be at the same zoom setting so, while occasionally useful, I not convinced that it's a good reason to stick with just one display. I frequently adjust my chart zoom but normally work on a 2 mile radar screen and change it only occasionally.

I would expect the radar info to be able to be passed between two Raymarine units, is this not the case?

codprawn · 19 June 2007, 18:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwalker

Err, no. You said use one display so that radar overlay can be used. I said use one display to see how he gets on. I still think two displays is the way to go. Versatile.

For me, the problem with radar overlay is that both the chart and the radar need to be at the same zoom setting so, while occasionally useful, I not convinced that it's a good reason to stick with just one display. I frequently adjust my chart zoom but normally work on a 2 mile radar screen and change it only occasionally.

I would expect the radar info to be able to be passed between two Raymarine units, is this not the case?

Must be - I am sure you can have dual stations.

bedajim · 19 June 2007, 18:20

so if you have no radar just a Garmin 178c, so starting from scratch what would you spec?