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Random Quote: They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time.
Well after the baby and the construction projects I was finally able to go Swordfishing last night and try out the radar for the first time. I have been boating for the better part of 30 years and been around many nautical electronics. First I must say I was very impressed with this little unit. Extreamly easy to operate. What I mean by that is if you did not have the manual you would still be able to operate it properly because of the ease of use. Second the target recognition was great even out ot the radar limits of 12 miles. All the freighters showed up as well as smaller boats.
Heading in for the night it proved even more impressive. I put the range on 6miles and as we approached the port the screen lit up with dozens of targets both small (fishing boats) and large (freighters) which enabled us to easily navigate around the mess. With the bright lights of the port you could not see any of these targes with the naked eye.
Grant it there are much better units out there with far greater range but all in all this unit worked great for general small boat purposes. I bought it just for swordfishing at night and the entire unit and raydome is removed from the boat at all other times.(It is on a removable mini tower) Eventually I will add a folding arch or T-Top and perminently install it.
Our experiences mirror one another. After a bit over 30 years of driving around on boats I got around to buying my first radar about a year and a half ago. I play with it a lot but I've never actually needed it. But it was the last toy on the list so that isn't unexpected.
I usually run ours on a fairly close range, 4 or 8 miles if not closer. Sometimes I turn it up or down just to see if I can spot things that I know to be out there somewhere. Practice you might say. We fish the same area most of the time; a strip of water a couple of miles wide, 40 miles long, and typically about 35 miles off the beach. When we are running back in I've noticed that the longest reach our radar has allows me to see a fairly tall bridge that spans the intlet we run out of (Oregon Inlet, NC) from a distance of about 20 miles. It looks just like a fish arch on the screen - just about the only fish arch I've ever actually seen. That's just for entertainment though, its essentially meaningless other than I learn from it.
What I wanted to tell you about was the day it dawned on me what a valuable tool the radar really is. Don't get me wrong, this was a clear, calm, cool day, mid-morning, and no more peril surrounding us than at an icecream stand. We were motoring back, at a liesurely pace, to the ramp after doing god-only-knows-what and ahead of us there were two guys heading out in an aluminum John boat. you know the ones, 6" of freeboard, a 9-hp engine on the back, a case under the bench seat and two very happy guys out to spend a very good day. I had the radar on and cranked to some low range. Their boat showed up at something between a quarter and a half a mile. It was clear as day and I could see that it was moving. Remember, this thing was no more than 12' and only had about a half a foot of boat sticking up out of the water. The point is that I saw it and saw it clearly. It occured to me at that moment that if the circumstances were much different, night, rain, fog, who knows what, that radar would have stopped me from plowing right over top of those guys. Really. So I became a believer in that one moment.
Up in these parts there are a good number of people who know that my wife and I fish off shore. Deep sea fishing, as they would call it. This is a decidely uncommon hobby for folks from West Virginia. A bunch of folks I know from here have been out with us over the years. They think of the electronics on the boat as extravagant toys. You and I know better.
Thom
"I command thee, O fish of the ocean, rise to my bait"
Over the 4th weekend I am out and about with a couple of friends of mine who are experienced boaters. Experienced in the terms of going out and cruising around the bay and drinking and generally having fun. The largest boat that the Husband had was a Searay Sundancer 30 which he sold a few years ago to help with finishing his house.
We are over at Kent Island and having dinner and drinks and the other stuff. As we are headded back at night the Husband is upset. Too many windows to look through. So he is looking around the outside of the boat looking for things to go wrong. Nervous.
I am inside at the helm of the High (my boat) and watching the 841 I installed last year. Pitch black night, no moon, and a lot of light pollution.
We are cruising at about 17 knots, just above displacement speed, and I am following 2 targets converging ahead of us at about 1 1/2 miles ahead.
Seeing that the two barges are going to pass each other in the area we are headded into , I reduce speed to get there AFTER they pass each other .
I have dropped off and am at hull speed for a minite when Bernie says "Hey, there is something wierd ahead of us". His wife climbs to the other gunnel to look. So we ease on up to about 1/8 mile to see a large pushed barge and a large towed barge pass each other .
They spent the rest of the trip sitting next to me looking at the funny screen at all of the blips and learning to recognize things like bouys, markers, boats that had no lights, and a host of other things.
Radar. You don't know what you don't know. But when you do know, You Buy It.
Thom I'm not easily impressed by electronics but this was just a suprise. My wife bought it for me so I would be safe fishing for swords at night. I was just amazed at how easy and how well this budget line unit performed. I cranked the gain till I saw the wave tops and backed off just a bit and viola I saw everything within 12 miles of my boat including the shore line. I was heading in to my wpt for my entrance to the port and put the radar on 6 mile range and saw at least 1/2 dozed boats and 2 freighters right in my path. Then I would look up to see if I could see anything with the naked eye and nothing. One thing for sure is to trust those electronics GPS and radar. No JFK jr. here.
Amen. Radar should not be considered a toy, perhaps not even a luxury. I have one on my 22 foot walkaround, and have seen them on boats as small as 16'CC's. They are not difficult to operate or understand, and a bit of time with one will greatly improve your seamanship.
Mako Madness, JRC makes a very fine product, and that unit should last you a lifetime. Now, if you really want to get yer jollies jostled, upgrade to a MARPA unit where you can id your targets course, speed, true and relative vectors, range, bearing, etc. Dang, I'm drooling here : [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] Seriously, it is a nice feature and is becoming more available and cheaper each year.
If you can afford it, radar is a great safety device. I bought my first radar this spring, and it's helped me avoid several situations at night and in fog that might have become close calls without it.
Here's a thread with an example of radar's limitations:
I just bought a installed a JRC 2000 and have used it severial time now. I can mark those wood stakes they use in pound nets very well. I marked jet skies very well also. I made my 1st night run sat night. Only had to run 6 miles on the potomac but incountered at least 6 boats. All in all I am happy so far. Still learning how to tune it as sat was the 1st time I had enough time to play with it. The other 6 or 8 times I was too busy fishing or tring to drive a boat in choppy water.
Make sure that the radar antenna is not installed level with and near a GPS antenna. It will fry the preamplifier in the GPS antenna. Happened to a buddy.
Captharv
I also just recently installed a JRC 1500 radar. What a nice unit. Radar on my new boat was a luxary item but I was just able to budget for it. The JRC 1500 is really a great buy for the price. In west central FL, summertime storms pop up really fast so seeing them on radar is a really big help. While bottom fishing one night, I saw a storm on radar heading right at us. It gave us plenty of time to pull anchor and clean up enought to run home.
Having spent the first 20 years of my life in WVa, I can tell you Thom is certinly a minority as far as West Virgina "Deep Sea" captains go and I applaud him for his knowledge and participation in this forum. The radar is one piece of safety gear I'm very glad I purchased.
While my 1500 works well, I did have some bad condensation in the screen one cold morning when I took the boat out of the shade and into the sun. It took about 5 hours to clear up. hasn't done it since.
Without that JRC radar and my garmin 182c, I would have had a really difficult time making it back to port today. Fog rolled in, you could barely see 50 feet, and you really had to concentrate, and go slow. Narrow, poorly marked channels, weekend boat traffic, and shoals all around it was quite challenging, but the electronics worked perfectly, and got me home safe.
I was also suprised with all the big expensive boats that had no idea where they were, or which way they were going, because they didn't have or didn't know how to use these electronics. Very dangerous situation out there today, in hindsight.
What are some opinions on the SL72, is it worth the extra$$$ or does the JRC work best for the money, I have been considering both of these units. Thanks.
I was in the same situation last year. The JRC has the same specs as the SL72. The difference is in the interface. I was planning on using my radar as my primary display and connecting to my GPS. The Raytheon had easier menus for me to use and more options and displays for connecting to a GPS. For me it was worth it. If I were not depending on that function, I would have a JRC.
JRC 1500 Results, Finally 
