Lloyd Sumpter wrote:
On Thu, 25 Dec 2003 21:56:03 +0000, Harry Krause wrote:
I'm now prowling for a deal on a radar set for Yo Ho. I was going to go with a
Furuno 1712 LCD, but there's been a price cut on the 1731 Mark III, and that's
a CRT set. To my eyes, the CRT sets seem to resolve smaller targets better.
But the move definitely is towards LCD radar, especially LCDs with
chartplotters built-in. I still prefer separates, though.
If you look at this photo:
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hak...s+in+Cabin.jpg
you can see that to the right of the chartplotter cover there's a space for a
radar. Though a friend says to pull the Furuno fishfinder off the cabin roof
(to the left of the pilothouse wheel), put *it* in the dash and stuck the
radar screen up where the fishfinder was.
I certainly have time to think about it.
Harry, if you check out those rag-boters over at rec.boats.cruising, I've
started several threads on radar. I need one to go to the West Coast this summer
(so: New Engine, New Genoa, New paint, New windows, and New radar - geez, maybe
I should do a Krouse and buy a new boat!)
Uh, Lloyd...with all those replacements, you *bought* a new boat.
I'm leaning towards Furuno (1722 if I can afford it, or else the 1623)
because 90% of the commercial boats around here have them, and I have the GP31
GPS and like it's ruggedness (also, might as well be "coordinated"). I'm also
checking out JRC - apparently they used to make the radars for Raytheon until
Raytheon "became" Raymarine.
I like the the 1712, which I think is the same radar as teh 1722, sans
the plotter.
I also like "separate" units - although my chartplotter will be a program on
my laptop - I still prefer papar charts. One thing the Furuno has (others may as
well, but Furuno mentioned it): it displays the data it gets from the GPS while
in "standby". Sounds like a Good Thing...
Well, let me say this about that. I have a small chartplotter on Yo Ho,
a Standard Horizon unit, and it works very well, but...and this is the
same "but" with the chartplotter on the 1722 Furuno...the screen is
damned small, compared to any sort of usable chart, and when you zoom in
and out on the chartplotter for detail on where you are and then want to
see detail on where you are going, you'll have an even greater
appreciation for paper charts. The smaller chartplotters, 7" and less in
size, are pretty decent for showing you where you are, but for a
comfortable and familiar nav tool, you really need a much larger screen,
or a chart on a sheet of paper.
I have a C-Map card reader and programmer, and it hooks up to my laptop
via a USB port, My laptop works pretty well on Yo Ho, but...hell, you
can see both sides of Chesapeake Bay's shorelines most days, and if
you've been on the waterway for any number of years, you sorta know
where you are. And at night, well, you need radar. Lotsa traffic.
Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36 - 20yrs old, getting a "Cher"
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