Garmin GPSMAP 7212 with GMR 18HD Radar anyone?

I'm thinking I need to buy a chart plotter/radar system for my boat as I'm going to be boating the Maine coast and eventually head back to Texas. I have an Ipad with a few apps but I think I'll feel better with a full blown system, any thoughts? around 6000 (or 3500 for one screen and dome) bucks plus installation

Sounds like a good setup for what you plan for the East coast. You might want to step up the radar to a 24 inch dome or open array since you plan to go to Maine.

High Wire said:

Sounds like a good setup for what you plan for the East coast. You might want to step up the radar to a 24 inch dome or open array since you plan to go to Maine.

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Thanks, since this is all new to me you mind sharing the reason for the 24"/open array? Also, the boat is in Portland now, I bought it in New Hampshire
Rob

roguewave said:

I'm thinking I need to buy a chart plotter/radar system for my boat as I'm going to be boating the Maine coast and eventually head back to Texas. I have an Ipad with a few apps but I think I'll feel better with a full blown system, any thoughts? around 6000 (or 3500 for one screen and dome) bucks plus installation

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I hope your idea works out for you, Rogue. I chose the same Garmin unit and 18" broad-band radar, also with a good sounder. Should finally have it installed this month. Likely, I'll keep one of my old Garmin units for a back-up, and/or maybe use a dedicated laptop.

I guess I'm a bit old fashioned. I purchased the entire Garminn suite including sounder, 18" HD radar, autopilot, autopilot remote and 2 chart plotters. At the upper helm is a 6212 and at the lower is a 6208. I say old fashioned because I prefer the positive sensation of pushing buttons rather than a touch screen. The 6212 and 6208 are push button. I also like that the screen stays clean of fingerprints and if the seas are rough I can manage buttons much easier than a touch screen. Just my preference. The equipment is first rate and to the radar question, I find the 18" dome perfectly adequate for our New England cruising as well as the coastal waters down to FL. Howard

In foggy conditions in Maine I kept the radar on 1/2 to 1 mile range to avoid incoming boats. Motoring at 6 kts if you see one a half mile ahead and you have a couple of minutes to do something about it if they are going the same speed towards you.

The HD or broadband radars are good for short range definition so I am sure that an 18" dome will work fine.

The only time I used a longer range is when in open waters at night or spotting a thunderstorm approaching and even then it was set on a 6 mile range.

David

I agree.

RW, the larger diameter antenna, provides for a narrower horizontal beam width, which in turn, provides better target definition. It is easier to distinguish targets such as a daymark from a small moving boat. As you go north there are more fog days and every little bit of advantage helps. Is 18" enough? Yes. Is 24" better? Yes for not a lot more $$.

electronic upgrade

We just installed the Garmin 7212 at the upper and lower helms and Garmin's 18hd radar. I kept the old depth sounder, separate unit but I can add a Garmin transducer later if needed. Paid about $6300 for the electronics, install took a day. Very pleased with the upgrade; not 1st experience with Garmin but the drop downs don't always agree with the manual. Still, Garmin is somewhat intuitive. The touch screen will take some adjustment, think iPad. The radar is awesome for a dome.
Guess I'll have to teach the old dog a new trick.
I hope to sell the Raymarine RL 70c units, the RL80c and the radar; probably ask $250 for each.

I just got the 7612 for upstairs as a didplay with bthe 7608xvs for the salon saved a little money and connected the withNEMA and rj45 with the 18" xhd tasare so far very happy learning to use it all
Gregg

I've had my 7212/hd18 for 3 years. Amazing piece of equipment. Head is mounted in NavPod on flyybridge - sufficient tilt/rotate to view/operate from helm seat or outboard nav seat for on the fly course changes. I was concerned about the touch screen - I'm a dinosaur - but it was the best Father's Day gift ever, so I learned. Turns out touch on this unit is bulletproof. Muck and mung on the screen? Works fine. Screen visible in direct strong sunlight? check. Runs hot - but keeps running. Resolution sufficient to pick out crab trap floats at several hundred yards (depending on seas). Usually use 1 to 5 mile range, depending, for open water/ICW. Used the aux inputs for engine room cams. Also connected to the standard Horizon GX2200, for AIS display. Sweet setup.

I've had zero experience with other makes, but the 7212/18 configuration seems robust and completely suitable for my coastal cruising.

Also did what by bnoft did - had a perfectly functioning Garmin gps/fish finder already installed. Didn't feel like the $ & hassle of installing the Garmin recommended transducer, so my go to boat fixit guy called Garmin and they figured out how to get the old unit (non NEMA 2000) to transmit depth data to the 7212. Works like a champ.

Bnoft, what is the radar unit you mention selling in post #9? Do you still have it? Do you have manuals?
Dave

Legacy system.

I was advised by Garmin that the 7212 is a "legacy" system which I guess means it is or will be discontinued. The 7612 is the current system and is much improved. Most important is that it is not compatible with legacy systems except for radar and simple sonar. That is what I was told by Garmin which means in stock 7212's should be discounted ...$2,200? Tough to swallow given that I installed new "legacy" gear in December only to have them made obsolete in January.

That's the disadvantage with Garmin.

maac16324 said:

I was advised by Garmin that the 7212 is a "legacy" system which I guess means it is or will be discontinued. The 7612 is the current system and is much improved. Most important is that it is not compatible with legacy systems except for radar and simple sonar. That is what I was told by Garmin which means in stock 7212's should be discounted ...$2,200? Tough to swallow given that I installed new "legacy" gear in December only to have them made obsolete in January.

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The 7612 is not much improved. It has some new depth features and a couple other differences and is a new model for these reasons. Discontinued is not obsolete. You can still get service, support, maps, and repair on the discontinued equipment.

I have 2 7212's, garmin auto pilot, transducer and 24xhd radar. Love the entire setup although I dont get much chance to use the radar...

Toolbuddie,
Sent you a PM

Have replied to PM's

I decided to go 7616 with the 24 XHD dome and 2 thru transducers with a 7607 down below in house.

In 2014, I installed a Garmin 741xs chart plotter (~$1300 retail) with CHIRP transducer and 24xHD Dome Radar (~$2400) in my trawler to replace an antiquidated system. I totally love this chart plotter/sonar/radar combination. For me, touch screen is preferred and the affordable entry price also offered me multiple upgrade pathways in the same unit, including displaying NMEA 2000 instrument data. For example, my analog tachometer displays were dead, so my technician found a NMEA 2000 bridge for about $600 which integrated with the Garmin and now I have digital tach data on my 741xs screen, and the capacity to display other instrument data in the future just by feeding more sensors into the NMEA bridge.

But....the feature I find priceless is the Radar-Over-Chart display. Its immediately intuitive which reflections are fixed (land, obstructions) and which are not. For the newbies (and probably everyone), this one feature removes much of the interpretive errors with radar imaging. I would highly recommend that any system you choose, from any vendor, includes this option. If in doubt, check out the Garmin site and investigate what this feature does. For a $1300 base price, the ability to display Radar-Over-Chart is an amazing price-performance bonus.

The 741xs also includes has a wireless basestation so you can mirror the Garmin display onto any iPad. So, when running from the flying bridge, I can view and control the 741xs on my helm. The cost of all this additional functionality was about $10 to install a 12V charger on my fly bridge to keep the iPad battery up.

The Garmin 741xs was some of the best $$$ I have spent. There are other Garmin models with similar features but larger screens. However, I had limited physical space and budget, which I feel I maximized with the 741xs model.