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