Gas Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 Hi! All Just a thought as I am not in the financial position to buy one at the moment but the fog thing scares the S**t out of me and the information I can find looks good, the Navico/ Lowrance video on You Tube looks like an excellent bit of kit also the articles that I have read seam to say the same. What do other club members think of the new Broadband Radar and who has the best price on these units? Nigel I think has one on the way lucky bugger? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Martin Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 I have the new Raymarine HD radar with class B AIS transponder but it's not yet fitted to the boat so can't comment on how good it is however I did a lot of research and couldn't find much between all the top manufacturers. Furuno came out about the best but does cost a lot of money not that any of them are cheap. A site called panbo http://www.panbo.com has reports and tests on just about everything electrical but look out you might come away confused.I did Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Nash Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 With all this talk of fog, I have been looking at this one just today! http://www.mesltd.co.uk/furuno-1715-radar-p-7350.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike02380 Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 http://www.mesltd.co.uk/garmin-map4008-plu...dle-p-7510.html how about this little sal, bit more money but a big colour plotter as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Nash Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 http://www.mesltd.co.uk/garmin-map4008-plu...dle-p-7510.html how about this little sal, bit more money but a big colour plotter as well wowwww I like that V2 card that goes in it. Another couple of hundred quid but rather nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gas Posted January 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 but look out you might come away confused.I did Martin Thanks Lads I thought this would stir loads of interest after the Fog thread???????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 I have the new Raymarine HD radar with class B AIS transponder but it's not yet fitted to the boat so can't comment on how good it is however I did a lot of research and couldn't find much between all the top manufacturers. Furuno came out about the best but does cost a lot of money not that any of them are cheap. A site called panbo http://www.panbo.com has reports and tests on just about everything electrical but look out you might come away confused.I did Martin it used to be simple - because there were no colours or pixels! Power and beamwidth were key (more and less respectively being good) pixels actually made it easier to compare and to understand how much power and how small a beamwidth it was worth paying for to match your chosen screen - until the concept of non-dedicated screens and the ability to upgrade components! I actually have the 'worst' resolution LCD screen ever produced with radar, but a slightly better raydome. It works (AWOL knows that!) and I wouldn't be without it in any reduced visibility situation (or on a yacht when crossing busy shipping lanes). Having looked at a number of the newer ones (in use) I have to say they are way, way better in terms of auto settings and overall clarity. Look forward to hearing how others get on with theirs in due course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjb Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 On foxy fisher too i have navman hd digital radar now named northstar and very happy with it and seems to be better to read when i put it on overlay on the plotter screen but i should use it more in good weather to get more familiar with what i am looking at so when the bad weather comes i can be hopefuly on the ball graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam F Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Can really recommend the Broadband Radar from Lowrance we have on JV. I'm not a techy - but it's easy for someone like me to use, clear and can pick up pot buoys on a calm day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jsplace Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Whats the power consumption like on the new units? As we do an awful lot of our boating at night in the harbour I was thinking it would add an extra layer of safety in avoiding any errant mooring buoys. Having tied up to one of the new Barrel Buoys over near Brownsea I certainly would NOT like to hit one of them at any speed. They really are solid and very very heavy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Whats the power consumption like on the new units? As we do an awful lot of our boating at night in the harbour I was thinking it would add an extra layer of safety in avoiding any errant mooring buoys. Having tied up to one of the new Barrel Buoys over near Brownsea I certainly would NOT like to hit one of them at any speed. They really are solid and very very heavy. you wouldn't want to run it without the engine charging! but most of us will have more charging than our electronics/nav lights consume the only time I find it an issue is when drift fishing in fog where I would prefer to turn of the engine (which also means I can hear - in Alderney this means the chat on the other boats before you see them!). Here it would be good to leave it running but hard on the batteries! Whilst the head units get more efficient you still need most of the power to drive the raydome (although most of the head unit efficiency gets consumed by the bigger and bigger screens being used! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisE Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 I'm sure that you have all researched this but my understanding of bb radar was that it used about a 10th the power of a conventional radome. The power usage of an LCD screen is negligable. For comparison on my yacht we have a 220 ah battery bank and are very happy to use radar with a conventional radome plus LCD screen for long periods with no appreciable battery drain. I am looking at bb radar for the fishing boat on the understanding that we'll get better target detection and much lower power consumption. We have 150 ah on Hilda Maud. Have I got this right or am I missing something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niggle Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 (edited) BB lowrance. Standby 1.6w...only 100ma 17w when in use@ 13.8vDc Older units I believe are either 2kw or 4kw Edited January 8, 2011 by niggle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 BB lowrance. Standby 1.6w...only 100ma 17w when in use@ 13.8vDc Older units I believe are either 2kw or 4kw lol I haven't seen many radar units wired with the AWG 2/4 cable necessary for 2Kw (that's thicker than many starter circuits) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 I'm sure that you have all researched this but my understanding of bb radar was that it used about a 10th the power of a conventional radome. The power usage of an LCD screen is negligable. For comparison on my yacht we have a 220 ah battery bank and are very happy to use radar with a conventional radome plus LCD screen for long periods with no appreciable battery drain. I am looking at bb radar for the fishing boat on the understanding that we'll get better target detection and much lower power consumption. We have 150 ah on Hilda Maud. Have I got this right or am I missing something? Chris, the two technologies are so far apart that I really don't see how such comparisons are meaningful. The power consumption characteristics are a bit mis-leading - one of the key advantages is that digital radar doesn't have a Magnetron so can be powered up instantly. This is very useful in good vis if you want to check CPA of something. The other thing is that Magnetron in a small RADAR doesn't use that much of the total power consumed. The array will use a fair bit and the processing will probably use the most but the two technologies are totally different. Digital is normally more efficient but pulse is better at longer ranges. They (the digital units) will use less power overall - but it's not a factor of 10. I don't have the manual for my old JRC to hand but even at 40-50w I consider that a big drain on a small boats batteries; but insignificant relative to a powered craft with engine running. FWIW I have 300Ah total - but only 170x60%=100 free for electronics etc. As this includes the beer fridge it's guarded carefully! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niggle Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Sorry Duncan doooooooh..........2kw &.4 kw is I believe transmit power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wotu2uk Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 It can get a bit more complicated, I am afraid. A digital unit eg Garmin, uses a normal 2 or 4 kW pulse head unit, but the signal is processed digitally to give clearer results, often making automatic some functions which would be difficult adjustments otherwise. A broadband unit uses a totally different way of transmitting the pulse, chirping the signal, which gives lower range but much better close-in performance. negating the close-in blank spot of normal pulse radar (which digital units also have). The perfect situation is to have a digital pulse radar for long range and a broadband for short range. Lowrance had to change their advertising last year to avoid making wrongful claims on performance, now only recommending their's for shorter range. john Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted January 9, 2011 Report Share Posted January 9, 2011 As Niggle was indicating, according to the spec sheet for the Lowrance BR24 radar it uses a total of 19 Watts operating and 2W in standby ( 150 mA ). The scanner itself has a power output of 0.026 watts !! From a Lowrance presentation : Power Requirements Power consumption transmitting is only 17 W 30% less than a 2 kW radar 50% less than a 4 kW radar Power consumption in standby is only 1.6 W Presentation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisE Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Duncan, thanks for your comments. I guess the major difference between the usage on yacht v a fishing boat is that we only ever use the radar in active mode rather than standby is in thick fog and then we are motoring, so no drain on batts. I'm not sure I've got the nerve to continue drift fishing anywhere near big ships in a pea souper Any roads up it looks as though the overall power consumption is less (thanks all for the more detailed comparisons) and close range target spotting better so, other than the cost, it looks like a no-brainer. On another point who uses their radar for looking out more than 6-12 miles? The only time we use a range greater than this is when on offshore passages, in the channel we rarely go above 6 miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 completely agree Chris - cost aside BB radar is a no-brainer for our type of use. btw I wasn't advocating drift fishing in fog amongst the shipping lanes (although 2 of us did wreck hop back across the channel one year starting in very poor vis but not in the main lanes!). We have had 20ft vis on the Schole more than once, and radar was great at navigating back up the drifts amongst the 20 or so boats present in the area! For some reason everyone was fishing the shallower areas generally avoided by all transiting craft! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wotu2uk Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 May I add another fourpennyworth to this. Allow another Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Nash Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I have just realised that my Lowrance 7200c will accept radar reading on t'internet it would seem that it is not Broadband whatever that means?? Does anyone have any info on this? What do i buy and what will i get? or do i need to go broadband? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisE Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Great, all I need now is a good deal on the kit. I'm thinking of toddling up to London to see if there are 'boatshow deals' in the offing. Has anybody been up there and asked? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Martin Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 When doing my research I decided not to go with broadband but have HD instead Apparently broadband is brilliant at close range but not so good for distance works whereas HD gives almost as good target separation at close range but is much better at longer distances Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duncan Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 I have just realised that my Lowrance 7200c will accept radar reading on t'internet it would seem that it is not Broadband whatever that means?? Does anyone have any info on this? What do i buy and what will i get? or do i need to go broadband? Lowrance do both HD and Broadband Radar - and have detailed explanations on their website of the two. From memory the 7200C is a Global Map unit that uses NMEA 2000 networking protocols. It should be compatible with the Lowrance LRA-1800 - HD Radar and might be compatible with their BB radar (it gets a little confusing) Whether you will need a networking hub or can connect the radome direct to the head unit will depend on what you have plugged in at the moment - ie the raydome acts as a powered network device in the same way that your GPS antennae currently does. You may need a red to blue connector or vice versa as well. Can't remember which is which. I really haven't kept up with all this over the last few years so might be way off line. What I have found is that emailing Lowrance support in the US with your question used to be a good route to clear answers. The 7200C is now discontinued and replaced with the HDS head units - but I think they retain the networking even if the plugs have changed (again!!!) Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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