That's a nice philosophical argument, but what's the point? I'm not saying you shouldn't
get a radar, although I did question why you think you need it. I'm saying that unless
you have a special need you haven't mentioned, you don't need more than a quality basic
unit.

So I'll ask you a third time, what aspect of the Furuno 1623 do you think might be
lacking?




wrote in message
...
On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 21:04:14 -0500, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

Sorry, Joey, I tried to give you reasonable advise. I have sailed in New England for
over
40 years. The last dozen years I've had radar, and I've been happy to have it. But I
cruise the Maine Coast, Buzzard's Bay, and Vineyard Sound - all places that have more
than
their share of fog. I've also traveled the East Coast to Florida several times, and
haven't used radar more than few times south of Newport.

LIS has very little fog; roughly 1% of observations have visibility less than 1/2 mile.
If you "frequently encounter fog" in LIS, you don't know what fog is. When you get
further East, you run into more consistent soup: Nantucket is 10% of observations.
Even
in the cities in Maine the number is 4%, but offshore that can go much higher. And
while
radar is handy at night, it shouldn't be needed in good visibility.

Further, you asked if you need anything more than a 1623. The answer, in my opinion,
is
no. You'll make marginal use of a small radar on LIS; I don't see any reason to spend
money on a bigger. What do you think you need? More power? More range? Better
resolution? A bigger screen? You tell us, what feature do you think you need? You
haven't told us what kind of boat you actually have, or where you plan to cruise.


A big factor for me is being able to see the display. My vision isn't as good as
it used to be. The Furuno seems to have a big advantage in that regard.

I certainly don't suggest that there is constant fog on the LIS. As far as I'm
concerned, if there is fog when I want to sail, then I need radar. Is that such
a foolish notion? Last summer I sailed down the coast in extremely thick fog.
For much of the time visibility was between 20 and 300 feet. I navigated from
buoy to buoy using a compass, a watch, a knotlog and a chart. Radar would have
been REALLY nice when passing New Haven and Bridgeport. I don't care if I don't
need radar often. My preference is to have it when I need it. Just like my PFD,
EPIRB, and other safety equipment. I don't need any of those most of the time,
but in certain rare situations, they can save me.

In this month's Sail Mag, there is a good quote. It was from someone who had
been in a few situations where he had to abandon ship. In each case, as he
boarded the liferaft, he said to himself that he wished he had spent more money
on the life raft.

Joey