Which radar

[49pan]

I am considering radar. I have a Garmin 7610xsv. I’m thinking about a Garmin 18 “ . Any suggestions?
thanks Gary

 

[luckydude]

I have that radar and like it _now_. The original mount was done on my hardtop and it sucked. When I had my pilot house built, the guy doing it put a 6 inch pedestal up there and tilted it forward a bit. Much better, sees more stuff.

I'd caution you that my radar, at least, does not see everything, some boats just have no return. So take it as a heads up but you still have to have your eyes on the ocean.

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

It depends for what you want the Radar and how much you are willing to pay for.
I have a Fantom 18 and it does its job, but the new GMR xHD3 seems to be considerable better and in case you want the best then a open array will be better than a radome, but much more expensive.
As LuckyDude already mentioned, the radar should point in the correct direction at the speed / boat level the radar is needed and that is usually pointed down a bit to compensate for bow high at low speed/no wake zone to see near objects in front of boat.
Chris

 

[49pan]

It depends for what you want the Radar and how much you are willing to pay for.
I have a Fantom 18 and it does its job, but the new GMR xHD3 seems to be considerable better and in case you want the best then a open array will be better than a radome, but much more expensive.
As LuckyDude already mentioned, the radar should point in the correct direction at the speed / boat level the radar is needed and that is usually pointed down a bit to compensate for bow high at low speed/no wake zone to see near objects in front of boat.
Chris

That’s the unit I was looking at. I can’t afford an open array. I mainly want it for not good weather conditions and running in low light conditions. How many kw is you unit ?

 

[Hookup1]

The Garmin Fantom units are digital and use less power (sort of like LED's). The GMR Fantom 18 closed array radar I have is 40W. There is a GMR Fantom 18x 50W unit.

If you have over-the-road clearance while trailering of have high bridge clearance you may want to use a 6" pedestal for the radar unit. It's helps with angle and performance of the radar.

Another thing to consider is adding a heading sensor if you don't have one already (ie: autopilot). The moving slow the GPS doesn't have enough forward progress to determine your magnetic heading. Consequently your chartplotter map overlay won't accurately line up with radar returns.

 

[luckydude]

The Garmin Fantom units are digital and use less power (sort of like LED's). The GMR Fantom 18 closed array radar I have is 40W. There is a GMR Fantom 18x 50W unit.

If you have over-the-road clearance while trailering of have high bridge clearance you may want to use a 6" pedestal for the radar unit. It's helps with angle and performance of the radar.

Another thing to consider is adding a heading sensor if you don't have one already (ie: autopilot). The moving slow the GPS doesn't have enough forward progress to determine your magnetic heading. Consequently your chartplotter map overlay won't accurately line up with radar returns.

Get the nmea bus heading sensor, I'm accurate to 3ft with that.

 

[luckydude]

It depends for what you want the Radar and how much you are willing to pay for.
I have a Fantom 18 and it does its job, but the new GMR xHD3 seems to be considerable better and in case you want the best then a open array will be better than a radome, but much more expensive.
As LuckyDude already mentioned, the radar should point in the correct direction at the speed / boat level the radar is needed and that is usually pointed down a bit to compensate for bow high at low speed/no wake zone to see near objects in front of boat.
Chris

Has anyone upgraded from fantom 18 to xHD3? I'm curious to know if it sees stuff better. I usually don't see kayaks.

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

Has anyone upgraded from fantom 18 to xHD3? I'm curious to know if it sees stuff better. I usually don't see kayaks.

Nope, i ask this question from almost a year now and got only a bit vague replies from sellers who say that their buyers are happy. In theory the xHD3 should be considerable superior but it's very hard to find tests or youtube videos showing the difference.
Have you tried to lower the front of the radar a bit to point the circle a bit lower? It took me a day trial end error to get the one on the Venture reading the fender ball.

The xHD3 is a BlueNet device so you need the GMS 10 Port Expander or a 9000 series GPSMAP

Chris

 

[luckydude]

Have you tried to lower the front of the radar a bit to point the circle a bit lower? It took me a day trial end error to get the one on the Venture reading the fender ball.

The xHD3 is a BlueNet device so you need the GMS 10 Port Expander or a 9000 series GPSMAP

Chris

Yeah, mine is tilted forward, Charlie Hicks did that when he built the pedestal.

BlueNet is new to me, and I'm 8612xsv and 943xsv so unless someone can show me a big improvement, I'm staying with what I have.
Edit: just chatted with Scott at Johnson-Hicks and he said what I have is fine, no need to upgrade.

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

BlueNet is new to me, and I'm 8612xsv and 943xsv so unless someone can show me a big improvement, I'm staying with what I have.

BlueNet is Garmin's new network standard with different plugs and need a converter to connect older devices with the usual Ethernet port.
Yes, same here, as i can't get any useful informations regarding the superiority of the xHD3 i use my Fantom 18 till i find a buyer for the Fantom or win a lottery ticket.
Chris

 

[SkunkBoat]

I am considering radar. I have a Garmin 7610xsv. I’m thinking about a Garmin 18 “ . Any suggestions?
thanks Gary

I'm pretty sure the 76xx series is not compatible with newer Garmin radars. I think you are stuck with the old GMR HD+

Unless you get a new Garmin MFD.....

The Fantoms have the best features. The HD3 and xHD3 are the same old HD+ transmitter but with some bells and whistles.


IMO you should consider a new mfd if you need radar and then get a Fantom 18.
Try to fit an 8610 along with your 7610. yes...more$$$

I was there once. I had a 4208. Could only use a HD+. Got a 1242Touch and a Fantom 24. I use the old 4208 up in the hartop box as a second sonar screen and it serves as a backup mfd. But it won't display the radar

 

[SkunkBoat]

Has anyone upgraded from fantom 18 to xHD3? I'm curious to know if it sees stuff better. I usually don't see kayaks.

xHD3 is not an upgrade over Fantom. Fantom is a solid state pulse doppler radar. You get dual ranging to slpit screens or two mfds.You get MotionScope which colors a crossing target to bring attention to it.
IMO, Fantom is the best choice for people who "just need a radar at night and in fog so I don't hit somebody".


xHD3 is the old magnetron transmitter with some menu features that they shoe-horned down from the Fantom.
marketing to a lower price point and to allow older mfds to get some of the new features that are in fantom.

 

[49pan]

I'm pretty sure the 76xx series is not compatible with newer Garmin radars. I think you are stuck with the old GMR HD+

Unless you get a new Garmin MFD.....

The Fantoms have the best features. The HD3 and xHD3 are the same old HD+ transmitter but with some bells and whistles.


IMO you should consider a new mfd if you need radar and then get a Fantom 18.
Try to fit an 8610 along with your 7610. yes...more$$$

I was there once. I had a 4208. Could only use a HD+. Got a 1242Touch and a Fantom 24. I use the old 4208 up in the hartop box as a second sonar screen and it serves as a backup mfd. But it won't display the radar

Hey Skunkboat
I was thinking of using my 7610 more for fishing, then adding a new mfd just for the radar. Your input on this please.
Thanks, Gary

 

[SkunkBoat]

Your 7610 has built-in xsv sonar and a Transom Mount sidevu transducer? Networked it will share sonar with another mfd. It will not run newer radars.
You can look at "Compatibility" on the Garmin site. It might not support the latest Navionix+ and Shaded Relief charts either.

The newer mfd (86xx or 943/1243) will be much better for charts and will run and overlay charts on any Garmin radar.(I suggest Fantom18 dome because "why by old tech? " Those HD radars are slowly being phased out)
86xx has the edge over 943/1243 for resolution and scaling charts. But 943/1243 is very good and much less expensive.
If you get one with xsv then you can get a different transducer like a B175 and you can run either transducer from either mfd.
It is possible to get a new mfd without sonar and just use the 7610xsv over the network on either screen. That would save some money but IMO you might as well get it with built-in sonar.
How much room do you have? Bigger is always better...

I have a 1242Touch and I split screen the radar with a chart overlay and a plain black background. Works great and both halves are big enough.
I use the 1242 with split chart/sonar and triple split chart/traditional sonar/sidevu and rarely look at my 4208 sonar up top. I have that connected to a blackbox GSM24 sonar to a 2kw R199 shoot thru hull transducer. I only use that in deep water or when I want an easy view of sonar while fishing in the cockpit.

I don't think a 9" would work well split screen

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

I had the 7410xsv and a 18HD radar on the Venture 34 in Costa Rica and it worked, but radar on split screen is not very useful as too small window.
The cheapest solution would be to find a 7608 still in stock somewhere and use it only for Radar, but you will get no updates anymore. I had also a 7408 on my RIB and could run eco and charts together, but obviously it was small and when i added a 8410 it became much more useful. More recent and faster would be a 8607, 8608 or another 8610.
The GPSMAP 8nnn series shines in particular due their HD screen, much higher resolution than the more economic 1243nn and 943 series, but the higher resolution screen of the 84/87nn series comes at a considerable higher cost.
The 9nn and 1nnn series are single channel xsv devices, so you can't show same screen low and high chirp or twin fixed frequency as it's possible on the 7/8/9nnn series, only either low or high chirp or fixed frequency. This may matters a lot, or nor really.

You can save about 200$ buying the non xsv version and network them to still have radar, echo and charts on both mfd's and can use whatever function on each of them.
The 7xxx and the 8xxx series have two network ports so you don't need a network switch, just plug the radar in one and add a second network cable to connect both mfd's together and you are good to go.
Consider that it's more difficult to sell a non xsv version than a xsv. I am stuck with this problem to sell my 8410.

All depends on how much you want to fork out and how much space you have available to install a second MFD.
On the 306 Canyon i bought a few months ago i have two 8412xsv and thats better than 2 x 8410xsv as my seat position is much more far from them than the 7408 and the 8410 on the RIB i had before.
If the distance of your mfd's is rather near then 8 or 10 inch will work, if distance if medium then it becomes more difficult to read them.
Keep in mind that you get used to bigger screens ... I start to think about to keep my almost new 8410 and add it to my two 8412xsv, either on top of the console to show radar and/or nightvision or hang it under the rear of the hardtop to see the depth sounder when i am fishing from the transom.

Chris

 

[Hookup1]

I have 8610xsv in the overhead and 8612xsv at the helm. This series has higher screen resolution than the 943/1243 series. The 9000 series is 4k but price of the unit and size of the unit are not practical choice for smaller boats. The added resolution is most noticeable with charts but also helpful with multi-screen combos. The touch screen makes it easy to zoom to full screen.

 

[luckydude]

I have a 8610xsv and a 942. The 942 will not do shaded relief so I upgraded to a 943. The 943 feels more like the 86xx series, it's just better.
Just wanted to put a heads up in case someone was looking at the $500 942 at West Marine.

 

[49pan]

Thanks everyone for the valuable information. Now my head is really spinning. All I have to do is pull the trigger

 

[Hookup1]

Get the nmea bus heading sensor, I'm accurate to 3ft with that.

Garmin SteadyCast heading sensor is a NMEA2000 connected device. About $130.

I use Garmin GPS 24xd for improved GPS positioning and heading sensor. About $250.

 

[luckydude]

Garmin SteadyCast heading sensor is a NMEA2000 connected device. About $130.

I use Garmin GPS 24xd for improved GPS positioning and heading sensor. About $250.

I have those 2 and a powerless GPS antenna that goes into my AIS unit. I believe that steadycast is redundant, it was first.