Do I need Radar

[Tailspin]

Radar is a very nice thing to have if your anchored up for hali and the fog rolls in, especially some areas of Constance and Border Bank with traffic crossing over to Vic from Puget sound.

I have picked up floatsum, logs etc, but I would not count on getting them all. When I run in the dark I usually keep it under 8 knots radar or not. Saw a huge Hemlock Deadhead just last week that made me shudder, under for 6 second, up for 3....ugly big bugger, straight up and down.

Once you run Radar, you would be pretty uncomfortable going without, it has kept me from running a few Nav light free guys over in the wee hours of dawn. One was a guy off Whiffen Spit last September, weaving all over at Mach 2 in the pitch black without a stitch of light. I was picking a group up at a private dock in the Harbour. Radar is the best money spent, IMO.

 

[Doug]

When purchasing radar, consider purchasing a system which has radar overlay over your GPS screen. I use the radar overlay all the time when in the fog, when fishing a bottom contour depth line (Gordon's Beach which is off shore) and is heavily fished by other vessels.

On the GPS screen with the radar overlay running, I can easily see the location of a approaching vessel and what depth contour the vessel is traveling on. I then can make my adjustment to my fishing gear to pass the vessel on the shallow or deeper side of the tack and well before I can see the vessel.

I run a North Star radar/gps system.

 

[Stosh]

What is life worth? No question in my mind. I like to have back ups for everything, and twice now I've had 2 gps units go down in the fog. Radar got us back.
Be safe.
Stosh

 

[Doug]

If the gps screen goes down I can run the radar as stand alone or as a split screen and not have the GPS running.

Luckily to date I have never had the North Star system crash in three years, my other system (Lo...___) crashed every second day. For my back up I run a hand held (battery operated) gps with a sea map chip which saved me numerous times when I had my Lo.... system.

As the SVOP book says "the more option you have to help you navigate the better, as long as you have them running"

Radar is a great addition to any vessel and it can be a stand alone unit or multi display unit, it is well worth the $$.

 

[King_Cod]

Anyone running a Lowrance combo unit with radar? If you are are you happy with it?

 

[Last Chance]

My lowrance is great when it's not in the shop. Got it in June, took it to Island Outfitters in October, no answer, no news yet......

 

[King_Cod]

My lowrance is great when it's not in the shop. Got it in June, took it to Island Outfitters in October, no answer, no news yet......

What issue are you having with the unit? Is it the HDS unit or a older model?

 

[bananas]

Good luck Kelly had the same prob last year .when i finaly threatend to grab one off the shelf it was returned within the week. It's not island outfitters it's lowrance they said they had no units in stock to send out but when crap hit the fan they magicaly found one .

they are a great unit when they work , this new one is almost a year now no probs yet!

 

[Last Chance]

Mine is an HDS8....

 

[Last Chance]

www.lowrancesucks.net is available. I think I'll be registering it soon.

 

[beemer]

If the gps screen goes down I can run the radar as stand alone or as a split screen and not have the GPS running.

Luckily to date I have never had the North Star system crash in three years, my other system (Lo...___) crashed every second day. For my back up I run a hand held (battery operated) gps with a sea map chip which saved me numerous times when I had my Lo.... system.

As the SVOP book says "the more option you have to help you navigate the better, as long as you have them running"

Radar is a great addition to any vessel and it can be a stand alone unit or multi display unit, it is well worth the $$.

That a great unit Doug. I wish NorthStar (NavMan) has a better presence in Canada , there products are bombproof and easy to use. If you run mercs you can put the whole engine management system on the screen. Great Units!

beemer

 

[Doug]

North Star is great, after three years I have total confidence in mine.

Lowrance makes a great product and I have good success with them in the past. My friends run Lowrance and have no problems. The unit I had must have been made on Friday, because after owning it for 6 months and 5 breakdowns I finally lost confidence with the unit and wrote a few letters.

I purchased the Lowrance from the Port Boat House and the PBH dealt with Lowrance for me, they were excellent dealing with my complaints. At no time did I wait for any part for more than a week (incl shipping) and once I finally lost all confidence with the unit (6 months) the PBH did the entire re & re over to the new system.

The PBH provided excellent service dealing with Lowrance and all of my problems and at no cost to me.

The dealer has to put the presure on the supplier for you. If you don't get service don't deal with them.

 

[Halilogger]

Raymarine C80 combo, 10 months old ran in pea soup fog, from Campbell to Jervis, nasty stuff, so far it has been a great unit with no problems.

 

[nahmint]

Great comments here. I agree with the guys who say that adding radar can make a significant improvement in your safety/comfort out on the water... and who wouldn't want to do that? I boat/fish on both "inshore" and "offshore water... mostly on the south coast here. I've been running an integrated gps/radar/ais/vhf system for the last 3 1/2 years and I feel the package has meant a huge improvement in our safety & comfort on the waters that we travel in. I don't know too much about other brands but like "halilogger", I'm also running a Raymarine c-80 system with a 2Kw Raydome etc and have been really happy with its performance too. Like some others have mentioned, it does little good if you have the navigation equipment but you don't understand how to use it. I'm shocked by the number of guys that I talk with out on the water that don't know how to use their stuff!