Laser Rangefinder Anyone use for anchoring?

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by chris mac

One of the features I prefer a rangefinder over radar for is when anchoring in the presence of crab/lobster traps. I can range the float and know if any are within my swing radius before I drop the anchor. Maybe radar exists that detects and accurately ranges floats like this, but mine sure doesnt

One of the advantages of solid state radar is it shows small, near targets like crab pots.

[clownfishsydney]

Golf rangefinders are cheap and very accurate. I had one when I had my yacht, was great figuring out if a boat was too close to us or we were too close to the shore. Sometimes we were amazed at the difference between perception and reality.

[MikeHoncho]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

One of the advantages of solid state radar is it shows small, near targets like crab pots.

Mine is new and it doesn’t. Also the higher the radar is mounted, the lower the potential of close proximity signatures.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by MikeHoncho

Mine is new and it doesn’t. Also the higher the radar is mounted, the lower the potential of close proximity signatures.

Is it a solid state, CW radar like the Simrad 4G?


My by now 10 year old B&G 4G is mounted 10 meters above the water and I can see crab pots within 30 meters or less.


Kayaks, SUPs, row boats are also no problem.


It gives me a perfect picture of the anchorage where you can see the distances between objects as well as the distances to you. To replicate that with a range finder would require an hour of plotting on plotting paper.

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Is it a solid state, CW radar like the Simrad 4G?


My by now 10 year old B&G 4G is mounted 10 meters above the water and I can see crab pots within 30 meters or less.


Kayaks, SUPs, row boats are also no problem.


It gives me a perfect picture of the anchorage where you can see the distances between objects as well as the distances to you. To replicate that with a range finder would require an hour of plotting on plotting paper.

Hi Dockhead, as an aside, have you had success seeing and possibly tracking squalls with your 4G B&G? We have the same unit about 6m up and have found it tricky to see weather.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Hi Dockhead, as an aside, have you had success seeing and possibly tracking squalls with your 4G B&G? We have the same unit about 6m up and have found it tricky to see weather.

It's not as good as my old magnetron radar (a 24" Raytheon) but it's reasonably OK. I've never been dissatisfied with that aspect of it. It's giving me adequate warning of Baltic squalls on a number of occasions. Nor does it lack range I need.



We put the newer type (B&G Halo) on the other boat and it is much better, especially with regard to weather, seemingly as good as the old magnetron radar was. It's doppler so shows in colors whether the target is moving towards or away from you -- very useful. I'm tempted to put the same on this boat but then I would need to replace both MFD's -- €€€

[Franziska]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

It's not as good as my old magnetron radar (a 24" Raytheon) but it's reasonably OK. I've never been dissatisfied with that aspect of it. It's giving me adequate warning of Baltic squalls on a number of occasions. Nor does it lack range I need.



We put the newer type (B&G Halo) on the other boat and it is much better, especially with regard to weather, seemingly as good as the old magnetron radar was. It's doppler so shows in colors whether the target is moving towards or away from you -- very useful. I'm tempted to put the same on this boat but then I would need to replace both MFD's -- €€€

Thanks. Good to hear. We use ours directly tied to a PC with OpenCpn.