No Frills Standalone Radar

[Bobcat]

My ancient radar is getting dodgy-- doesn't want to fire up consistently. I am thinking it is time to replace it. I know little about radar or the options.

My current radar is monochrome with an 8 mile range. I use it mostly for other vessels and in the fog. I don't run much at night, if at all.

I run my nav program on a laptop. I want to keep the radar as a standalone unit.

Any thoughts or recommendations?

[wizbang 13]

I prefer a simple stand alone as well.
I just bought my second Furuno 1720. (second cheapest model I think.)
Mostly, I do not want to learn a bunch o new buttons...just getting a handle on how to use the old one. It worked perfectly for about 15 years, then began to go dull in the lcd department, then the big whatzit went frizzy...I spent half the money of a new one to fix the old one...big mistake.
I can recommend the 1720 furuno .
I built my own gimbal!!...which you will not need of course

[Bobcat]

I got ten years of use out of my current radar and I think it dates from 1986 or earlier. I just want something simple. The Furuno 1720 is not longer available. But the Furuno 1623 looks like it might be a good choice

[wizbang 13]

oh great, i jus bought an obsolete radar
i guess it was 3 years ago

[Bobcat]

Obsolete doesn't mean it won't work. My radar is at least 35 years old....

I am sure my flasher depth sounder is even older.

The boat came with an autopilot that soon died. It was from the 1960's, older than the boat

[Breakaway]

I am running a Furuno radar from 1997....

Any new one is pretty simple to use. No more need to manually adjust sea clutter, gain, etc. It all adjusts for you. Depending upon model, the display will distinguish targets moving towards you or away from you by using color or trails.

Full disclosure: a friend works at Furuno,

Kevin

[woodpile]

I am running a Furuno radar from 1997....

Any new one is pretty simple to use. No more need to manually adjust sea clutter, gain, etc. It all adjusts for you. Depending upon model, the display will distinguish targets moving towards you or away from you by using color or trails.

Full disclosure: a friend works at Furuno,

Kevin

Also a Furuno guy, just put their Wireless (WIFI) radar on a boat, radome only requires a 12 volt connection, it feeds the Furuno plotter and will also feed an Ipad or iPhone simultaneously with Furuno's free app.
Haven't had a chance yet to try it out. It's a basic small boat unit without all the bells and whistles of a high end unit and very reasonably priced.

[ron ll]

I’m very happy with my Simrad radar. The screen has extra modes for plotter, sounder, split screen etc. but I only use it as full screen radar. I have the 7” screen, I would really rather have a larger screen but that’s a lot of extra $. Mine is mounted at a height of about 15’ off the water, just above the dry stack, but it seems to see everything it needs to including to my surprise a Canada goose that was following me through the marina. I’ve also been surprised a couple of times by VERY fast targets coming up behind me that turned out to be low flying float planes. I understand that these digital radars don’t have quite the range of the magnetrons, but mine has plenty of range for anything between here and Alaska. I won’t be going offshore in this boat.

(This is my second one, I lost the first one with the rest of the mast in The Straits a couple of years ago. )

DC94135E-F86D-4FCE-B5A4-925349349829.jpg

[Bobcat]

My current radar has a range of 8 miles, and I don't use that setting much. I am not going offshore either

[ron ll]

Here’s my little 7” screen. If you decide on one of these solid state radars, spring for a little bigger screen if you can.

9D5E5BA2-4B9B-46E1-9918-B4BFEF967C6D.jpg

[J.Madison]

I have the raymarine quantum and love it. Not truly stand alone in my setup, but maybe they have an option for that.

The modern radars that are solid state are great. Very much lower power draw, and supposedly they emit less radiation than a cell phone. Mine is good to 24 miles for tracking weather. You won't see a boat smaller than a ship at more than 8-12 miles though. Small fiberglass sailboats show up at 4-6 miles. This on the offshore setting which reduces noise from waves. All settings are automatic, though you can adjust them if you like.

The quantum comes as a wireless option that uses wifi, but you have to run power to it anyway and I don't trust wifi much so I got the hardwired one. The new one does marpa target tracking and fancy doppler stuff showing what is approaching or receeding from you. Pretty cool and easy to use. I got first Gen and don't have those features though.

Raymarine is okay generally, though I wouldn't hesitate to get a similar product from a competitor if it made sense.

[J. Brown]

Not strictly a stand alone, but if you find yourself in the Port Townsend area soon, this Furuno package could fit the bill. I'd buy it in a heartbeat if I needed a radar replacement right now.

https://olympic.craigslist.org/bpo/d...498192912.html

(not my ad, yada, yada, yada)

[Bobcat]

Is installation of a standalone as straightforward as it seems: mount the radome, mount the monitor box, get power to the unit and plug in the cable between the two?

[Breakaway]

Is installation of a standalone as straightforward as it seems: mount the radome, mount the monitor box, get power to the unit and plug in the cable between the two?

Yes.

Note:

The cable that carries the radar signal is about 3/4 -inch thick, so depending upon how snakey the run is, it may prove challenging ( Tip: coat wires with baby powder for pulling through tight spots) Of course, you'll have the old cable in place, which you can use to pull the new cable through.


Kevin

[Bobcat]

Thanks for the quick reply. My current cable run is straightforward. I assume that power to the radome is carried in the big fat cable

[ron ll]

Thanks for the quick reply. My current cable run is straightforward. I assume that power to the radome is carried in the big fat cable

Do you have one picked out? My Simrad has an intermediate box mounted between the dome and the screen, don't remember what it does but it was pretty easy to install.

Here is what the components of my Simrad 3G look like. This unit is now discontinued and replaced by the Halo 20 which might have some updated features.

[Garret]

Another Furano vote. My 1620 worked nicely for years. Well - 2 things. It doesn't work worth a damn when not installed - 8 hour trip in pea soup provided the round tuit for the installation. The other thing is that having lightning strike the mast does not help the radome. Various things got fried, but the most obvious was under the radome cover - lots of melted stuff. The VHF was pretty well fried too.

I replaced the 1620 with a 1623, but haven't had the opportunity to use it for real - just testing.

[Bobcat]

I have not yet picked a unit. I am leaning toward the Furuno 1623

[Bobcat]

The old radar is definitely a goner. I will order a Furuno 1623. May it too last for 36 plus years.

[Bobcat]

Back ordered welcome to the supply chain problem world

[Boatbum]

I've preferred and MFD with radar once they were available. Having the radar echo superimposed on the chart is real handy for finding buoys in the fog at night. It's also nice to help to help spot coastline echoes.

[Bobcat]

My radar should arrive today. I was told it was back ordered to the middle of October, so I was pleased was shipped in the middle of September.

Fortunately there has been no fog this summer so far

Now to see if installation is as straightforward as I hope it will be

[Dinghy Pipedreams]

[QUOTE=Bobcat;6726137]My radar should arrive today. I was told it was back ordered to the middle of October, so I was pleased was shipped in the middle of September.

We've used Furuno on our 31'er for nearly 10 years so far. We liked the display better than Raytheon's at the time. We used to have several commercial fishermen friends Ak and WA, and when we asked them which brand they all said Furuno so that's how that happened.

It's likely you'll be happy with it.

"Power/Mode/Menu"!!! That's the mantra (order of button/key pushes) we had to memorize though in order to turn the thing on! Hopefully that's easier now with newer models. Every Spring when we started firing things up we'd had to go look in the manual to remember...."the mantra".

Let us know how it goes.

[Treeguyus]

Found a 1621 MK priced at about half the price of new. Surprised to find one. This thread is very timely thanks

[kbowen]

here's a radar question: in the 60's somebody marketed a radar the size of a suitcase which you held in front of you and pointed into the fog. You scanned it around manually, and the output was a variable pitch in an earphone, like higher when the target was closer, and lower when it was further or something. I never used one, but my family coveted the thing. Is anyone making such a poor-man's radar?

Ken

[Garret]

here's a radar question: in the 60's somebody marketed a radar the size of a suitcase which you held in front of you and pointed into the fog. You scanned it around manually, and the output was a variable pitch in an earphone, like higher when the target was closer, and lower when it was further or something. I never used one, but my family coveted the thing. Is anyone making such a poor-man's radar?

Ken

Haven't heard of that, but there's always potato radar. Hard to get much cheaper.

[Breakaway]

Haven't heard of that, but there's always potato radar. Hard to get much cheaper.

Sounds like RDF: radio direction finder.

Transmitter towers are on nautical charts. So, if you detect the frequency, you have a line of position.

Kevin

[Garret]

Sounds like RDF: radio direction finder.

Transmitter towers are on nautical charts. So, if you detect the frequency, you have a line of position.

Kevin

Potato radar is far more basic:

Put a person with a bucket of potatoes in the bow & have him/her throw them forward every so often
If they hear a splash - things are OK
If they hear a thud - it's time to turn the boat - hard!

[Breakaway]

Potato radar is far more basic:

Put a person with a bucket of potatoes in the bow & have him/her throw them forward every so often
If they hear a splash - things are OK
If they hear a thud - it's time to turn the boat - hard!

I knew that! Was waiting for someone to ask you and play Gracie to your George. Next time, I'll be your straight man.

[Garret]

I knew that! Was waiting for someone to ask you and play Gracie to your George. Next time, I'll be your straight man.

Sorry Kevin! I shoulda known & will try harder next time

[wizbang 13]

here's a radar question: in the 60's somebody marketed a radar the size of a suitcase which you held in front of you and pointed into the fog. You scanned it around manually, and the output was a variable pitch in an earphone, like higher when the target was closer, and lower when it was further or something. I never used one, but my family coveted the thing. Is anyone making such a poor-man's radar?

Ken

that sounds like a radar detector ?
I had a gizmo in the 80;s , can't even remember the name, "lo-ca-ta"? something like that, smaller than a suitcase, it scanned 360 for a radar sinal and emitted a beep. then a handheld part could be moved around to pinpoint the signal.
colission prevention.
it used only a fraction of the power of a radar, which was important then as i had only a rope start diesel withno alternater .
it was effective at beeping when an electronic ignition outboard came near anyway.

[Loose Moose]

here's a radar question: in the 60's somebody marketed a radar the size of a suitcase which you held in front of you and pointed into the fog. You scanned it around manually, and the output was a variable pitch in an earphone, like higher when the target was closer, and lower when it was further or something. I never used one, but my family coveted the thing. Is anyone making such a poor-man's radar?

Ken

That hand held radar was the brainchild of Dodge Morgan and his company.

[Andrew2]

Always been interested, but never needed a set. Considering the price of other electronic gizmos, the Furano 1623 I found, new, priced at under $1,500 sounds a bargain. Compared with the older, non digital sets and their power consumption, makes them affordable on several fronts.

Never heard of hand held (except by the local police!) and the radiation from old scanners was reputed to be dangerous.

Now, the budget alt is AIS, but doesn't see icebergs.

[kbowen]

Re: AIS: I keep thinking that someone will integrate AIS transmit with receive in a VHS radio so you don't have to buy an extra box. Has that happened?

Ken

[Boatbum]

Re: AIS: I keep thinking that someone will integrate AIS transmit with receive in a VHS radio so you don't have to buy an extra box. Has that happened?

Ken

It is a lot more complicated than and an AIS receiver. With the receive only option, you just need the VHS to continuously monitor the AIS frequency and plot it using GPS location in addition to normal radios functions. Once you make it a transceiver, you need essentially two transmitters and two antenna (or a signal splitter for a single antenna).