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2 kw 4 kw 3g 4g?!!!????? I have lowrance hds 9 gen 2 touch screen want to hook the radar up but have no clue about what one to get. seems like the 3g is better than the 2 kw I don't know I just need some clarity from some one who knows not a salesmen

Forget about distance. You can't put the antenna high enough to see anything on the surface that's more than a few miles away anyway. And although it's nice to be able to see squalls, a radar is no substitute for a weather report and a radio.

More powerful and better resolution means better picture when it really counts...... and there are three scenarios that quickly come to mind which illustrate this.

1. Fishing - You want to be able to spot birds (and boats) that might be on the fish.
2. Pea soup fog - You want to keep from crashing into stuff.
3. On the hook - You want to know when something is bearing down on you in the dark.

On the first point, 12 miles is more than you can use effectively. Even at 24 knots, the fish will already be gone when you get there. In fact, they'll be where you just were........laughing.
On the second point, you should barely be making headway anyway, so a few miles is sufficient.
On the third point, setting the proximity alarm at more than 6 miles makes little sense and may just keep you up all night until you shut the damn thing off.

There used to be a lot more, but GPS has replaced many functions like lining up for an inlet, or staying in the center of a waterway. Even still, those are very near range uses. I would look for clarity first, NEMA compatibility with your existing components second, power third.

Mike is, as always, right.

I used my radar from 1/4 to 4 miles -- the rest was pointless.

Tom

Agree on the distance. The important thing is differentiation. How clear is the stuff that is near you. The Furuno open-arrays always offer a very clear view and let you distinguish individual objects. Don't know who does that best with the newer technologies.

Simrad high speed twin screen

I don't know guys that's a tough one.the 35' yellowfin has Simrad the 45' cabo has three 12' Furumo Navnet screens.one screen dedicated to radar. I have 4kw open array raymarine on my 31' I have to give the edge to Furumo Navnet .no false intensity ,a red dot on white background is a floating beer can 1/2 mile away. The Furumo weather always works perfect unlike hit or miss raymarine. Garmin and raymarine are hard to beat with there side scan sonar. Simrad " owns" auto pilot .i have simrad ap27 and there is a slight error with raymarine smart heading sensor. New Garmin 14" chart plotter display looks real natural in my humble opinion and is closest to noaa charts which I am accustom to and recently installed in 35' cc

Another key component is the type of radar. Most of the newer digital HD radars give you the ability to split the screen and have TWO radar views up. This is particularly useful when it's foggy. Dialing one view down to .25 mile while keeping the other at 1-1.5 miles is pretty amazing when navigating in a waterway or other limited quarters.

For what it's worth, I have a 24" Furuno Radome rather than an open array with my Navnet. An open array was just too much weight for my radar arch (not to mention it would have limited my other antenna mounting options). I have had no issues with target separation in tight quarters. I can pick out my crab pot buoys on the water from about .25-.5 miles depending on sea state.

HOWEVER, the one thing I really do wish I could do that would have required I get an open array is pick out birds on the water more effectively, especially in the wee hours of the morning. If I had a hard top (rather than just a radar arch) with multiple mounting options that could accommodate an open array and my other antennas, I would have gotten the open array.

I've been happy with my Navnet. I have been mostly happy with my Furuno autopilot, but agree with Bob Lico that Simrad autopilots are the best.

Good luck.

The hds9 should accept a small 4g radar.
Since lowrance is a Navico company I would expect it to be as good as the Simrad 4g which is a fantastic radar in tight and out far. With a B31 we are not high enough off the water to see much more than 20 miles anyway so anything over 6kW is wasted. The higher outputs will increase closer detail but not on par with the 4g radars ability.

You can literally count the pilings in a marina with the 4g stuff

JP -- based on your advice and that of Brewter, I went with the Simrad NSS with 4G - I can't wait to get it installed and learn how to use it. The majority of my friends have all told me the difference on the HD radar versus the old style is like using a 6' open array Furuno against an 18" dome 20 years ago. From everything I looked at, it appears that Simrad has some very easy to use, yet extremely precise electronics. I've heard that Furuno is coming out with something that is supposed to be amazing, but like with computers, the minute I turn on whatever I buy - it is outdated.

TOm

For the rest of you guys out there next month we start pulling the shrink wrap off the boats .just give me a call and I can show you the latest and greatest electronics installed on boats. Where you can actually see,touch,feel,and compare.

P -- based on your advice and that of Brewter, I went with the Simrad NSS with 4G - I can't wait to get it installed and learn how to use it. The majority of my friends have all told me the difference on the HD radar versus the old style is like using a 6' open array Furuno against an 18" dome 20 years ago.

Tom, unfortunately the NSS does not have the processing power to fully utilize the 4G aspects. You need the upcoming NSS EVO or the NSE/NSO units to get the dual range & the 45 rpm scan.
Al

Al - thanks and sorry I did leave off the evo in the model I bought.

Tom

Tom make sure it has an ARPA board so it will track targets. You will have to get a digital compass to supply heading to it. gps is to slow

Can you split the signal from the auto pilot compass?

You can on the Furuno units via NMEA 0183.

I went with the 3g. supplier said all the same things you guys did. thanks for the advice! also got new transducer now we just need some warm weather!!!! any of you guys use the structure scan? was thinking about doing those transducers also but im getting mixed reviews looks wild on the demo of it

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm going to ask my guys at True North Electronics if I did buy all of the above - if not, box isn't opened, so I will just exchange for all of the above. I didn't buy it here but Defender has the best propoganda available that I could find quickly. This is what I bought. http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?pat ... Id=4893655


Tom

The owner of the 45' cabo ask me to look into updating electronics. WOW you guys did not mention pricing 120,000 for the new state of art Furumo triple touch 14" screens and a smaller one in cockpit .the complete system from Simrad was 84 000 quite a bit of difference. The Raymarine system was about the same as Simrad. I have a complete Mtu self monitoring system aboard that even indicate percentage of power being used while underway.the two system duplicate the monitoring.i have to look into this further and have never used the Flir system yet it is built right into the display.on a short note now that Flir has taken over Raymarine they are spending big money on R&R . company is heading in the right direction on all fronts .this year i will take photo's while underway on the cabo and yellowfin to auctually see the difference.