Navigation Radar

[LowBoater]

I have a Garmin Fantom 24x. It does not make me happy. I am looking to switch to Furuno and figuring out what radar to get. 45’ slow boat in Puget Sound. I don’t need to find fish, but “seeing” kayaks, paddle boards, and so on would be a plus. Accuracy and reliability (false positive and false negative acquisitions) in ARPA are top for me.

I currently have the Fantom dome on the lower section of a Seaview dual mount, I think I could take the dish off the top and replace with an open array and swing a 6’ element. It might also mean a new mount (Talking to Seaview about that) which makes this a very slippery slope if I need to drill new holes for a bigger base...

Is there a good way to see the NXT radars side by side in Puget Sound?

 

[Johnny Electron]

If you talk to some of the local dealers they might have some boats they can take you on if you are buying from them. Domes use a 160mm square hole mount and the open arrays use a 200mm square hole mount. You can't beat the Furuno radars. If looking for a stand alone radar you might look at the FR10 or FR12 display with either an X-class or NXT open array.

 

[mikek]

If you just want it for navigation a NXT dome would work. The yellow circled returns in this picture are 2’ PVC pipe marking an entrance to a canal. Furuno’s radar is much, much better than a Garmin. You could probably keep the same sea view mount for the NXT dome also.

 

[Jsubzero]

My furuno nxt dome is excellent.

 

[Magnetron]

Is there a good way to see the NXT radars side by side in Puget Sound?

IMHO, every time I head up to Ballard I see tons of NXT domes on all types of boats across marinas all over Lake Union. You should contact Lunde Marine to see if they can show you one. Either the 24" or 19" dome are the perfect radar for small object collision avoidance in dense fog all the way north up the inside passage. I'd recommend to my Washington friends the 6A open array if you think you want better range and accuracy for trips heading west far past Fort Casey or you want to spot the ferries far off. However for Lake Union to Fidalgo runs, the dome is boss.

- Maggy