BroadMinded
New member
I am looking to upgrade my radar in an effort to find birds further away. Does anyone have any experience using the DRS25A-NXT for finding birds? If so how does it perform?
DRS25A-NXT vs DRS25A X Class for birds
- Thread starter BroadMinded
- Start date
BroadMinded,
I get asked this question quite a bit, especially during boat show season, so here is my assessment.
The DRS25A-NXT has a lot to offer in the way of Solid-State Technology, it has 200 Watts of power and uses a lighter gearbox. The DRS25A-NXT's T/R utilizes much less power for TX and RX, and along with the "Bird Mode" it also features Target Analyzer and Rain Mode which are great for enhancing your Navigation.
However, the DRS25AX is the cheaper alternative that still is a Magnetron Based Radar. It also has "Bird Mode", along with Fast Target Tracking. And when the Echo Trails are selected with Bird Mode, you can track the directions of those birds.
So the decisions come down to this:
If I was a hardcore sport fisherman, then I would select the DRS25AX using a 6' Foot Array. Both the DRS25A-NXT and DRS25AX can track bird targets, but I've found that a DRS25AX using the 6' Foot Array has slightly better Bird Detection than that of the DRS25A-NXT, but it's close, very, very close.
It's the DRS25AX by a hair...
- Deep Blue :capt
I get asked this question quite a bit, especially during boat show season, so here is my assessment.
The DRS25A-NXT has a lot to offer in the way of Solid-State Technology, it has 200 Watts of power and uses a lighter gearbox. The DRS25A-NXT's T/R utilizes much less power for TX and RX, and along with the "Bird Mode" it also features Target Analyzer and Rain Mode which are great for enhancing your Navigation.
However, the DRS25AX is the cheaper alternative that still is a Magnetron Based Radar. It also has "Bird Mode", along with Fast Target Tracking. And when the Echo Trails are selected with Bird Mode, you can track the directions of those birds.
So the decisions come down to this:
If I was a hardcore sport fisherman, then I would select the DRS25AX using a 6' Foot Array. Both the DRS25A-NXT and DRS25AX can track bird targets, but I've found that a DRS25AX using the 6' Foot Array has slightly better Bird Detection than that of the DRS25A-NXT, but it's close, very, very close.
It's the DRS25AX by a hair...
- Deep Blue :capt
Quitsa
Furuno Super Fan
I will add my two cents as a long-time user of radar to find birds. I have a DRS25A NXT with a six foot array. Previously I have had a 12kw Furuno NavNet magnetron radar and a 25kW magnetron from another maker. The DRS25A NXT has performed extremely well for me and is at least as good as the 12kW Furuno magnetron and much better than the Garmin 25kW magnetron. I think in the end it may come down to installation specifics as to whether the NXT or the 25kW magnetron will do better finding birds. I suspect that on a big, stable sportfishing boat with the radar mounted high on a tower platform, the magnetron will be marginally better as Deep Blue suggests. I am not at all sure the differences would be evident on a smaller boat. For navigation, I would give the advantage to the NXT hands down because of the target tracking and close range performance advantages. Another thing is that Furuno may make some tweaks to the software on the NXT, which is a new product.
It’s a close calll.
It’s a close calll.
BroadMinded
New member
Thank you for your responses. Guess it maybe the NXT as I may not have the height to take advantage of the x class.
gtstang462002
Furuno Super Fan
I have never used the AX personally, but do own the DRS25A-NXT with a 6ft stick. I have easily tracked birds 4-6 miles away here in the Chesapeake bay. I have tracked rainstorms over 40 miles away. I am completely impressed with the capabilities of the NXT.
MegaMartin
New member
Sorry to resurrect an old post but figured I would start in lieu of creating another.
My center console boat has the DRS25ANXT/4 and I've only used it a few times for weather and target tracking vessels. I have begun to use the bird mode in AUTO mode, I was surprised by the return. My past Furuno radar was would return green clutter and when birds were detected the orange/red color. That clutter was missing when I ran DRS25 in auto bird in rough seas setting, does the programing of the solid state remove that? When I switched between calm and moderate sea states the green clutter modestly appeared. Its a new look and I'm trying to determine if I should abandon the AUTO mode and play with the manual settings or if the programming is doing me a favor that I haven't got used?
My past radar performance using a magnetron was awesome, I moved to the new technology based several recommendations and I'm trying to get through this learning curve.
My center console boat has the DRS25ANXT/4 and I've only used it a few times for weather and target tracking vessels. I have begun to use the bird mode in AUTO mode, I was surprised by the return. My past Furuno radar was would return green clutter and when birds were detected the orange/red color. That clutter was missing when I ran DRS25 in auto bird in rough seas setting, does the programing of the solid state remove that? When I switched between calm and moderate sea states the green clutter modestly appeared. Its a new look and I'm trying to determine if I should abandon the AUTO mode and play with the manual settings or if the programming is doing me a favor that I haven't got used?
My past radar performance using a magnetron was awesome, I moved to the new technology based several recommendations and I'm trying to get through this learning curve.
Quitsa
Furuno Super Fan
I have been using a DRS25A-NXT with 6 foot array for two years now. Finding birds is a major use of the radar.
My experience is that manual tuning produces what is for me at least a better result than the auto bird mode. I tune the old fashioned way the same as I used to do with magnetron radars: turn the sea state and rain filters to zero, turn on target trails at 15 or 30 seconds, turn off echo averaging ,and start increasing the gain until the screen has lots of speckles and then back down a little until there are just a moderate number of speckles that are not obscuring targets.
I haver no problem marking moderate sized birds (shearwaters) at 4-6 miles with the DRS25A-NXT using this tuning. I have seen them at slightly longer ranges on calm days but usually I don't look beyond 4-5 miles since I don't want to run that far because the fish would likely be down by the time I get there. Probably the bird signatures were a little more apparent with the DRS-12A magnetron on my old boat at the longer ranges.
My attempts to use the auto bird mode have not been especially satisfactory. There is either too much noise on the screen or the bird targets aren't showing well. Perhaps others have figured out how to use it but the manual tuning is not especially difficult or time consuming so why bother.
My experience is that manual tuning produces what is for me at least a better result than the auto bird mode. I tune the old fashioned way the same as I used to do with magnetron radars: turn the sea state and rain filters to zero, turn on target trails at 15 or 30 seconds, turn off echo averaging ,and start increasing the gain until the screen has lots of speckles and then back down a little until there are just a moderate number of speckles that are not obscuring targets.
I haver no problem marking moderate sized birds (shearwaters) at 4-6 miles with the DRS25A-NXT using this tuning. I have seen them at slightly longer ranges on calm days but usually I don't look beyond 4-5 miles since I don't want to run that far because the fish would likely be down by the time I get there. Probably the bird signatures were a little more apparent with the DRS-12A magnetron on my old boat at the longer ranges.
My attempts to use the auto bird mode have not been especially satisfactory. There is either too much noise on the screen or the bird targets aren't showing well. Perhaps others have figured out how to use it but the manual tuning is not especially difficult or time consuming so why bother.
Thanks for that Quitsa. I recently upgraded to a DRS25A with birdmode.
I have only found one flock of birds around 2 miles out. I find it too cluttered also.
I wish there were user modes so I didnt have to adjust to find birds then adjust back to travel. We deal with alot of fog here in the northeast and once I get my radar dialed in I don't like to keep changing it. I will try what you have suggested.
I have only found one flock of birds around 2 miles out. I find it too cluttered also.
I wish there were user modes so I didnt have to adjust to find birds then adjust back to travel. We deal with alot of fog here in the northeast and once I get my radar dialed in I don't like to keep changing it. I will try what you have suggested.
Quitsa
Furuno Super Fan
The primary inconvenience from manual tuning is the need to go through the process again whenever the range is changed. The auto mode works very well for navigation so normally what I do is just shift to manual when I want to look for birds and then go back to auto for navigation.
While in concept presets would made this a little easier, the sea conditions and range requirements change enough that there will always be some difference in the optimal manual settings for bird finding. So I am not sure how useful it would be at the end of the day.
I am enough of a human fossil to remember when Furuno dramatically upgraded the radar auto tuning 12-15 years ago and it actually became useful. I was always accustomed to manual tuning so using it for the birds doesn't seem to be much of a burden.
While in concept presets would made this a little easier, the sea conditions and range requirements change enough that there will always be some difference in the optimal manual settings for bird finding. So I am not sure how useful it would be at the end of the day.
I am enough of a human fossil to remember when Furuno dramatically upgraded the radar auto tuning 12-15 years ago and it actually became useful. I was always accustomed to manual tuning so using it for the birds doesn't seem to be much of a burden.
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