Radar: 18 vs 24 inch? B&G vs Garmin?

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

It is a fair point. But let’s put this number in perspective. Say there is a tug towing a barge 1 nm away from you. If the distance between the two is 500 ft or more both radars will show two blobs. If the distance is less than 400 ft, both radars will show one blob. If the distance is between 400 and 500 ft, only the larger radar will show two blobs. It is an improvement but not that significant. It is much better to spend the extra money on the 4G signal processing vs the larger radar.

Sure, if you assume the tug is at right angles and the radar image is perfect. That's not the way it is in practice under stress. The larger antenna will have better discrimination in real conditions for little extra cost. The radar needs to be able to remove sea scatter and rain while still not loosing small targets as well as continually process Arpa targets. A larger antenna makes this more successful.
Going to 4kw from 2kw antenna also makes viewing storms easier and seeing through heavy rain.

[ArmyDaveNY]

In addition to the previous points, consider support. I have found Garmin and B&G support to be good. Raymarine support is good IF you can get through to them. We have a dealer line and we don't even try on Mondays and sometimes Tuesday. I had a local Coast Guard commander buy some $30K worth of gear and it took many weeks to finally get a second level technician and finally get things sorted out. Please note that this is in the U.S. so perhaps things are different elsewhere.


I particularly like the comment about ease of use. I recommend you actually play with the ones you are considering. Garmin is exceptionally intuitive and easy to use. B&G is good but not quite as easy to use.



I cannot comment on the Furuno as I have never used those. Good luck with your purchase.

[slug]

Originally Posted by Looking4Neptune

I will be replacing most of my electronics on my 2010 Leopard 46 cat. We will be in the Sea of Cortez next winter and heading to the South Pacific spring 2021. We are live-aboard cruisers and will be doing frequent multi-night passages.

I and am trying to decide on B&G vs Garmin for the overall system and the radar. I like some of B&Gs 'SailSteer' features but we are not racers. I like Garmin's ease of use.
1. How important is it to get the radar from the same vendor as the rest of the system?
2. How important is the increased resolution of a 24 inch radar over a 18 inch?
3. What else should I be considering in the radar choice?

thanks!

Sailboats are sensitive to weight and windage aloft

Smallest is always best

[Looking4Neptune]

Thanks to all for the replies. My take-aways: (I am commenting only on B&G vs Garmin)
1. B&G has a number of great sailing oriented features that Garmin does not. (Mostly talking about Sailsteer and laylines. I am not a racer so the start-line functions are not a factor for me.)
2. Garmin has a more intuitive interface.
3. Garmin products go obsolete with no support more rapidly.
4. Spend time using each to see which you prefer. It comes down to personal preference.
5. Choose the vendor based on system functionality, then buy their radar.

One difficulty in 'spend time using each' - I have been down to West Marine where they have both but it is not conducive to getting familiar with the interfaces. Their are no manuals available and the demo systems don't allow you (or I could not figure out how) to try many of the normal scenarios I think would be important to me.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Good luck interpreting the B&G manual, the Garmin I don’t think in all honesty that I read the manual after the install, darn thing is like an IPad, it’s so intuitive you just know what to do.

I've found that over the last thirty years and hundreds of deliveries Garmin was the only brand I didn't need the manual at the helm.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Looking4Neptune

3. Garmin products go obsolete with no support more rapidly.

On two occasions I bought obsolete garmin units on E-Bay. In both cases Garmin sent me the missing connectors I needed ..... no charge.

[bstreep]

I'm late to this discussion. But I thought I'd throw in a couple of quick thoughts on our recent purchases:


1) Raymarine is WiFi - just run a 14 gauge wire to the unit. This was huge to us. And yes, it works. Every time.



2) If you ever need Raymarine support, call and then ask for 2nd level support. The 1st level is idiot - I know way more than they do. Or, do like I do and say "I'm sorry, I'm old, I can't hear, and I can't understand you. Can I please talk to someone in the US?"

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by slug

Sailboats are sensitive to weight and windage aloft

Smallest is always best

It's lighter if you don't have one at all. The difference in weight and windage between an 18in vs 24in system is nominal.
Mounting on a stern pole offers less weight up high and functions just fine.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

. . . what really makes me dislike them is about the time you need to get it repaired, you may find your only option is to replace, and likely the whole thing as the old Radar dome may not play with the new plotter etc.

The B&G luckily so far I haven’t had to have it repaired, but hope they don’t orphan products as fast as Garmin does, . . .

I wouldn't hope too much for this.


Navico "orphan" their products with blinding speed. They so little care about the existing client base that when v2 of the GoFree app was released several years ago, this didn't support the first generation of Zeus plotters -- which had only been out of production for 3 or 4 years by that time -- and v1 was no longer available. You were prompted to upgrade, and if you did -- poof, no more GoFree. Barstewards.


The problem here is that they treat these expensive marine electronics as if they were mobile phones, and support them as if normal use is to use them for two years and throw them away. I would not again buy marine electronics which are treated like that, if I have any choice.


When I got rid of my Raymarine Pathfinder radar and plotter, this gear was more than 10 years old, but was still fully supported by Ray. Don't know if it's still like that with Ray, but marine electronics should have planned useful life of at least 10 years and should be supported like that. I can't imagine Furuno orphan their products in 3 years like Navico do. A pox on them.