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Old 10-06-2018, 09:04 AM   #19
TDunn
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City: Maine Coast
Vessel Name: Tortuga
Vessel Model: Nunes Brothers Raised Deck Cruiser
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 889
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.
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