Lowrance radar and other questions

[rogerbum]

All, now that I've bought F. Silvestris, I need to put radar on it for my fishing trips in the fog. The two options I am considering are:
1) Buying a Lowrance radar - the LR1800 HD and using the currently installed Lowrance 8/9200C display. The cost of the radar would be about $1100 and in principle I could get the radar to overlay on the map. My understanding is that to do the latter, I will require a Simrad heading sensor and I don't know what that will cost. Is there any brat or dealer who has set up a boat with the Lowrance radar/gps and the Simrad heading sensor who can provide input on this? Also, if you have a NEMA electronic compass for the autopilot already, do you really need the additional Simrad heading sensor?

2) Buying a relatively inexpensive LCD Furuno radar like I have on my 22CD - model 1613 or 1723. The cost of these is around $1300-1600.

It seems to me the main advantage of going the Lowrance route is the ability to overlay the GPS and radar (with the additional expense of the heading sensor). The main advantage of going the Furuno route is that I have a redundant display for the radar and can see the radar at all times regardless of what view I want on my Lowrance display at any given moment. I'm also already familiar with the Furuno and the Lowrance user interface seemed a little more opaque to me. So I'm leaning towards the separate radar/Furuno route.

What's the collective wisdom of the group have to say about this? Is the value of the radar/GPS overlay worth the extra expense and the loss of redundancy?

[matt_unique]

My own preference is to have separate images for radar and GPS - it feels 'cleaner' to me to be able to focus on nothing but radar returns.

[starcrafttom]

I have and like the over lay, dont know what iam looking at with out it. a round screen with just green blobs means almost nothing to me. a blob over a dock or bouy means a lot and I dont have to worry about it and can concern my self with the blobs over the open waer where nothing is suppost to be. its just like having two screens in one. the radar does not block out the mapping, you can see thru it. you can also set two screens on the chart plotter, one with the chart and one with just the radar or even chart and overlay on the second one. you are limiting your self with a stand alone radar. oh when are we going after silver in the new boat???????????

[bjidzik]

You'll probably get a lot of different answers on this. Individual preferences abound. I like the simplicity of the Furuno 1623 radar.

You might want to check out the KVH autocomp 1000 heading sensor. It can be tied in via NMEA to the Furuno display. You can also hook up a separate GPS with a NMEA interface. That would give you some redundancy if your Lowrance display craps out.

When we bought our 25' C-Dory, I went with the Raymarine package with the exception of AIS & heading sensor. We had the WestMarine AIS1000 tranceiver with dedicated GPS antenna and the KVH autocomp 1000 heading sensor installed. All works well together via NMEA on a single display. However, there have been a few occasions that I had to restart the display to reset the data sources for radar & sounder.

I've tried the Raymarine GPS/radar overlay several times. Personally, I prefer having the chart and radar display on separate pages. I find it less confusing.

Brian

[starcrafttom]

oh I forgot the redundancy argument. is it really redundant if its hooked to the same battery???? redondancy is a paper map, hand held compass and a air horn not a second unit.

[rogerbum]

[Will-C]

Why not just get a new multifunction unit with radar. Building on older foundations does get you the newer advantages. Keep the older stuff for back up. That older Furuno stuff works but the newer stuff is much better. Lowrance has had some issues some have said. Check the sites www.hulltruth.com or www.panbo.com I'm thinking stick to the newer Furuno multifunction units which are the best IMHO or Garmin. I added Garmin radar to a a multifunction Garmin 4208. When I talked to the electronics guys at BOE marine they said the new Garmin HD radar was a better bet than the older 1715 or 1623 Furuno stuff. It has overlay on the GPS chart. I have a separate GPS/ chartpotter if I want to use radar full screen. If you bought a nice boat why chinz on the electronics. I'd get a radar deflector, a hailer if the boat does not have them. Good luck in the fog.
D.D.

[starcrafttom]

just spent some time rereading the two sites you linked to and the "problems" don't sound like problems too me. A problem to me is some thing not doing what it was designed to do, that's a problem.

It seems to me that the most complaints about the radar is its lack of range and the ability to find birds at ten or more miles. Now I don't need to find birds at that range and to tell the truth I don't need to see anything past ten miles and most times three miles works just fine. I would how ever like to see everything with in the three miles and more at 1/2 miles. But that's all because of what I do and where i do it with my boat. the guys on the east coast fish off shore and target fish by looking for large flocks of birds. so they need a radar that will do that. cruisers that run off shore need to see twenty to forty miles for weather and large ships. So the question is what do you do with your radar???

[rogerbum]

My primary need for radar is to keep from getting run over and to prevent me from running over someone else. My Furuno LCD radar on my 22 is almost always used to look 2-4 miles away and sometimes I look out to 8 miles away. Even with radar, I don't over drive my vision - e.g. if visibility is really bad, I'm going really slow. I just want to see the idiots out there who are barreling through the fog as speeds too fast to permit them to stop prior to hitting me. Since my resources are finite (darn it), I want to buy what I actually need and not what is cool. Hence, the relatively simple options on the radar.

Would I like to be able to see flocks of birds at 8-12nm from my boat? Sure. Am I almost always able to limit my boat on salmon in Neah Bay without that? Yes. It might be nice for tuna, but it's not necessary. Another use I have for radar is to locate the commercial trollers and or certain guides. They know where the fish are. As you can infer from this, I'm more likely to "chintz" on radar than on the fish finder but I still will get a radar that will serve my purposes. I've been pretty happy with my cheapo Furuno LCD radar on the 22. Does the job, easy to operate.

I do think it might be nice to have the radar/GPS map overlay for the reasons that Tom states. The Lowrance display on the boat is 2 years old, so it's not like I'm building on an ancient foundation. I do however, like the Garmin user interfaces best of all the units I have touched to date.

But to return to my original questions - Anyone set up a Lowrance with radar and the heading sensor? Is the overlay more valuable than the second display ? E.g. Lowrance radar on this display or Furuno on another?

[A Fishin C]

Roger, The answer is ok to radar with overlay on one screen or separate screen for radar.
I bought a lowrance LRA 18 to go with my boat's LCX27c thinking that they would overlay. When I picked up my boat, much to my dismay, the chap said overlay, another 1000 canuckbux to make them overlay. The 7" screen really is too small for splitscreen radar and c/p.

For the same price I would get a separate radar and screen.

Shoulda, coulda, would...

Wonder if I can still get a separate screen for the Radar...

[rogerbum]

I bet the extra k$ was for the heading sensor and associated cabling. That's why I'm also wondering if other NEMA based electronic compasses serve the same purpose or if the Simrad heading sensor mentioned in the Lowrance manuals is required. The Lowrance manuals seem to be a little less than informative.

[Sneaks]

[Captains Cat]

Roger, spend the $$ get what you want and need whatever it is. This will be the last boat right?

Me too..

Charlie

[20dauntless]

The KVH Azimuth 1000 compass works fine as a heading sensor for my Raymarine C80 over NMEA 0183, but I don't know about the Lowrance. I love having radar overlay to confirm locations of buoys and land in the fog, but I've never had a boat with a separate radar screen so I might like that too. Also, I find MARPA invaluable when it's foggy and crowded in the summer in the San Juans, but I'm not sure if it is available on the basic Furuno models.

I think anything less than this radar just wouldn't get the job done:
http://furunousa.com/products/productdetail.aspx?product=FAR2167DS%2f12&category=Products+%3a+Radars+%3a+Radars

[Will-C]

Maybe Lowrance customer service has gotten better but a lot of folks whinned about. Ask Marc of Wefing's about Lowrance. Anyway, add up what you are going to spend the non "COOL" way as you term it and then look at the difference of what it will cost using a slightly larger display and what most really say is really the better stuff. Sometimes the difference isn't all that much. You might try talking to Jim at BOE Marine. The sell, service and install. They rig alot of different kinds of boats. Jim has a pretty good handle on what is needed besides being able to answer all of your questions. They usually have decent pricing if you are buying via internet. Toll free 866 735 5926, they are located in Stevensville Md. and they operate on Eastern standard time. Jim usually rolls in about 9:00. Check them on the web www.BOEmarine.com. I'm just saying you spent a pile of money already why not drop a little more and get the better electronics.
D.D.