HD radar, is it worth the extra cost??

eastpoint

eastpoint

Active Member
I am adding radar to my raymarine c120w display. 18 " digital is about $1000, 18" HD is almost $2000. Vedor claims the HD can spot birds on the horizan, also has colour overlay on charts. Is 24" dome required for a 26' boat, higher cost and more weight up top.

What are the thoughts of guys using each
Thanks in advance

easpoint
 
I agree with Fishassassin.

If you have the money, get the better radar. I wouldn't worry about the weight factor on a 26' boat.

I've seen these units on friends boats and they are very nice.



Jim's Fishing Charters
www.JimsFishing.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/Sushihunter250

jfc_banner-2009-01.jpg
 
Thanks for the response Fishassassin and Sushihunter

I guess X3 including me. I just got my final inspection today, finally, This is for my house that I built and have lived in for the last 2 years. That gets my wife off my back for a few days AND I get back my deposit. Yahoo!!
Raymarine 24" HD digital, To Me From ME ':)'
 
Just my 2 cents, but if you can get the 18" in HD go with that. Boat doesn't sit high enough off the water to take advantage of the extra power of the larger unit.

After you install it, it would be very cool if you could take some photos of the HD output from your new toy and post them. It would be great to see what shows up.

TenMile
<'((((><
 
Good idea TenMile, I will try different targets and post the images. Like you say it will be a new toy and I will be able to try different things.
Ready to pull the trigger just checking prices

eastpoint
 
Just got mine this season- still learning all the ins & outs but it can pick up crab traps float nicely [8D]
 
Would be nice to see pictures, can you decern a 14' whaler from a crab pot float, and if picks up objects as small as floats, your screen may light up like Christmas tree if there's lots of debris in the water.
 
MMMM- Not sure I hope my radar has training wheels :)

Like I said it's new to me this year & I have just startied to use this in my travels in the fog.My fishing partner who know all this stuff better then me thinks it's the best he has ever used and he has run a lot of different types.I've run my boats for over 20 years with out any of this stuff and touch wood have never run over any boats yet:)
 
Just another note Derby, to help you learn your radar run it in daylight so you can see what it picks up, also you get an idea when running on a 1 mile screen how close or how far things are when they show up. Also you need to be really familiar on navigating the screens, you don't want to struggle with this doing 20+ mph in low visibility. Sounds like an auwsome unit.
 
quote:Originally posted by TenMile

Just my 2 cents, but if you can get the 18" in HD go with that. Boat doesn't sit high enough off the water to take advantage of the extra power of the larger unit.

After you install it, it would be very cool if you could take some photos of the HD output from your new toy and post them. It would be great to see what shows up.

TenMile
<'((((><
Click to expand...
X2
 
Just another note Derby, to help you learn your radar run it in daylight so you can see what it picks up, also you get an idea when running on a 1 mile screen how close or how far things are when they show up. Also you need to be really familiar on navigating the screens, you don't want to struggle with this doing 20+ mph in low visibility. Sounds like an auwsome unit.


Your right:) Being doing a bit of that this year -just haven't been able to get out on the water this year as in the past couple years- Just been swamped:(
 
eastpoint what did you end up going with ? haven't seen any new post, and you don't need HD to overlay maps on radar.;)
 
I had to order in a 10M cable from Toronto. I just installed the dome and cable last week. Tested it last Thursday. I was quite impressed with what I saw. I got the Raymarine 24" HD. Once I got it on top of my boat it looked awfully big. I should have gone with the 18" for that reason as the specs are almost the same and it is a little cheaper. I don't have enough experience yet. I could see ramps and floats and good shore line details. The other new info is that after 8 hours fishing with the kicker, the radar and my down riggers drained one of my batteries to the point that it would not start the main engine. Of coarse the 2nd battery, and 4way switch, took care of that. I will bring a camera next outing and capture photos of the display and what I see outside on a clear day and post those. My main motivation was for fishing off WCVI, but see how it will be usefull aound Georgia Straight too. Feel free to send me a PM or post if there are any questions.

Eastpoint.
 
OK I have uploaded some photos and will describe what the photos show. I just turned the radar unit on, no real tuning as I have not learned how to do that yet. This is my first attempt at this so it may not be optimal.
radar_IMG_7111.jpg

photo_img_7111.jpg


This shows the shore line with the boats etc in the photo. The area circled in yellow on the radar image is what in shown in this photo. To the right in the radar image is more of the same, where the ramps and floats project from the shore.

More to follow.
 
This shows some wooden pilings and the remains of an old wood pier, the decking has been removed.


radar_IMG_7122.jpg


photo_img_7122A.jpg


photo_img_7122B.jpg



Again the area circled in yellow on the radar image is what I captured in the photos. It was dusk when I took these that is why they are of very low quality. The first photo shows multiple pilings and the old pier in the background. The second photo shows the single piling to the right in the radar image. I would expect that the piling have steel cable wrapped around the top to hold them together.
 
Last, but definitely not least!

radar_IMG_7130.jpg



photo_IMG_7130.jpg



This radar image was a surprise to me. It was almost dark, I saw the three objects as shown circled in yellow on the radar, but I did not really see them from the helm. I stepped outside and saw the kayakers paddling by about 700' feet away. I did my best to take a photo, the white blobs in the grainy photo are the kayakers. I expect the radar reflection off a human in a fibre glass boat would not be all that great.

Well these are my first attemps with HD digital radar.

"What ye thinks?"

Eastpoint
 
Looks good, next time i'm around some dolphins ( more than 1 piling wrapped together = dolphin )I will look to see if they show up on mine. I have a raymarine as well just not HD. Have you overlaid your radar on a map yet ? And have you picked up any birds, like a previous post mentioned I would think this would not be a good thing.
 
I will keep experimenting. How do you do the overlay? And what is MAPRA[?]

Eastpoint
 
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