We are looking for a combination radar/chart plotter/fish-depth finder for
our boat. We see some pretty nice looking units from both of these
manufacturers. Does anyone have any general comments one way or the other?

--
Peter Aitken

"Peter Aitken" wrote in
:

We are looking for a combination radar/chart plotter/fish-depth finder
for our boat. We see some pretty nice looking units from both of these
manufacturers. Does anyone have any general comments one way or the
other?

--
Peter Aitken



On our THIRD 2KW Raymarine radome in Charleston. Damned thing is made of
POT METAL - ZINC! The little rubber tit drain breathes in humidity at
dusk, the water condenses out of it on the potmetal chassis/circuit boards
that are open to the radome environment/magnetron's easily rustable magnet
and the cheap connectors. During the day, the sun makes sure the water
trapped in the dome corrodes everything inside it in the heat and causes
pressure to blow out the drain tit so it can suck in more moisture when the
sun sets to repeat the cycle, over and over, like an empty gas tank every
24 hours. Rots the potmetal chassis into a fine, conductive white powder
that falls on the electronics until it shorts "something" important.
Raymarine's solution is to keep replacing them with another piece of marine
consumer crap just like the old one...no changes, no fix.

Do you really want this on your nice boat?

Furuno...it's gotta be better.



--
Larry

You know you've had a rough night when you wake up and your outlined in
chalk.

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Peter Aitken" wrote in
:

We are looking for a combination radar/chart plotter/fish-depth finder
for our boat. We see some pretty nice looking units from both of these
manufacturers. Does anyone have any general comments one way or the
other?

--
Peter Aitken



On our THIRD 2KW Raymarine radome in Charleston. Damned thing is made of
POT METAL - ZINC! The little rubber tit drain breathes in humidity at
dusk, the water condenses out of it on the potmetal chassis/circuit boards
that are open to the radome environment/magnetron's easily rustable magnet
and the cheap connectors. During the day, the sun makes sure the water
trapped in the dome corrodes everything inside it in the heat and causes
pressure to blow out the drain tit so it can suck in more moisture when
the
sun sets to repeat the cycle, over and over, like an empty gas tank every
24 hours. Rots the potmetal chassis into a fine, conductive white powder
that falls on the electronics until it shorts "something" important.
Raymarine's solution is to keep replacing them with another piece of
marine
consumer crap just like the old one...no changes, no fix.

Do you really want this on your nice boat?

Furuno...it's gotta be better.


Thanks for the excellent report. In fact I was considering the 2KW radome. I
will keep this in mind.

--
Peter Aitken

On 2005-06-12 02:11:16 +1000, "Peter Aitken" said:

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Peter Aitken" wrote in
:

We are looking for a combination radar/chart plotter/fish-depth finder
for our boat. We see some pretty nice looking units from both of these
manufacturers. Does anyone have any general comments one way or the
other?

--
Peter Aitken



On our THIRD 2KW Raymarine radome in Charleston. Damned thing is made of
POT METAL - ZINC! The little rubber tit drain breathes in humidity at
dusk, the water condenses out of it on the potmetal chassis/circuit boards
that are open to the radome environment/magnetron's easily rustable magnet
and the cheap connectors. During the day, the sun makes sure the water
trapped in the dome corrodes everything inside it in the heat and causes
pressure to blow out the drain tit so it can suck in more moisture when the
sun sets to repeat the cycle, over and over, like an empty gas tank every
24 hours. Rots the potmetal chassis into a fine, conductive white powder
that falls on the electronics until it shorts "something" important.
Raymarine's solution is to keep replacing them with another piece of marine
consumer crap just like the old one...no changes, no fix.

Do you really want this on your nice boat?

Furuno...it's gotta be better.


Thanks for the excellent report. In fact I was considering the 2KW
radome. I will keep this in mind.

A word of caution. This is one of Larry's hobby horses and he has a
few. When this first came up many others indicated that they did not
have similar problems. At our marina there is a real mixture of
Raymarine (some very old ones), Furuno, JRC etc. I worked on a
Raymarine 4KW unit that had quite a number of years service and inside
was pristine.

Oh, another point about Larry is that he has opinions on equipment he
has never used or owned so my advice is take it for what it is worth
(you paid nothing for it and that is what it is worth). Logic should
dictate. If the Raymarine scanner has such a glaring defect then in the
land of the lawsuit don't you think some out of work lawyer would have
stirred up a class action lawsuit against Raymarine by now? Just a
thought for the whiplash willey brigade.

--
Regards,
John D Proctor

Peter Aitken wrote:

snip Larry's rant
Thanks for the excellent report. In fact I was considering the 2KW radome. I
will keep this in mind.

Please bear in mind that this is one of Larry's pet rants. It shows up
about 30 times a year, he probably has it stored as boilerplate and
regurgitates it with a hot key.

I have opened up the radomes of many of the same model radar he mentions
and have never found one badly corroded. I have once or twice seen
light surface rust on the magnetron's iron core laminations. Very light
surface oxidation is sometimes seen on the aluminum panels and covers.
I have never seen any corrosion on PCB's or electronic components or
connectors.

Not even on radars that had been in service for periods of up to 4-5
years have I ever seen significant corrosion. These were, for the most
part, on pleasure boats and seasonally used.

It may be that Larry's problem is associated with the radars he installs
and because of the way he install them.

Do not plug the provided drain tube in an attempt to prevent
condensation build up inside the domes. I find little or no evidence of
moisture accumulation inside Raymarine radomes. But trapping the
moisture from condensation inside is not going to help anything.

The installation instructions for Raymarine radars are clear and
explicit, installations can by anyone with common sense and good
mechanical and electrical skills simply by following the directions.

I consider Furuno radars to be comparable to Raymarine in quality
service. I admittedly have had much less experience with Furuno than
Raymarine.

The controls and menus on the two brands are quite different in use, I
have heard a number of marine technicians and boat owners express a
preference for one over the other based on perceived ease of using the
controls, menus, and submenus.

I find Raymarine controls and menus to be a little more logical or
intuitive in use than Furuno's. The Furuno operation and service
manuals have also been a weak point for me, calls often had to be made
to their technical support to resolve settings. Their tech support is
good, I have had their techs tell me to "rip that page out and throw it
away" on some configuration and setup problems.

Networking multiple displays, other equipments, and PC's is a less
expensive with Furuno because it is basically an TCP/IP network. But
that does not mean that everything you know about networking PC's will
be found to be the same.

If you can spend some time at a marine dealer who has working display or
simulators set up, if may help you decide between the two brands. Boat
rides can even better if you can get one with a knowledgeable user.

Good luck,

Jack

--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)

"Peter Aitken" wrote in
m:

Thanks for the excellent report. In fact I was considering the 2KW
radome. I will keep this in mind.

--
Peter Aitken



Raymarine told us this "only happens in certain climates", but I'm not
buying it. I want to pull the top off other domes in our marina to see
what their radars look like in our "certain climates".

How stupid. The damned thing is made of POTMETAL!...ZINC! Where the
connectors go into it, it's OPEN! All the water trapped in the dome is
easily sucked inside as things heat and cool. The last one died because it
trashed the electronics that drives the PRINTER STEPPER MOTOR! Yes, the
drive motor for the cheap little, UNCOATED, printed circuit board it uses
for a phased-array antenna, driven by a little tape recorder rubber belt,
is straight out of a printer, used to pull the head back and forth. It's
on TOP of the potmetal chassis fully exposed to water it never would be in
a printer.

Well, after all, it's only $2000. What would you expect?



--
Larry

You know you've had a rough night when you wake up and your outlined in
chalk.

As to the others who don't like me pointing out how much of a piece of ****
this radar dome really is....I can only invite you to simply take out the
four tiny screws that hold the top of the cheap plastic to the bottom and
inspect it for yourself to see what I'm talking about.....

Notice the waterproof, spring-loaded wire connectors where the data/power
cable connects directly to the open-to-the-weather circuit board it's
soldered to.

It's CRAP....see for yourself, don't take my word for it.