Furuno Radar/Chart Plotter Selection - The Hull Truth

dsheli · 06-13-2006, 01:13 AM

Hey guys!! Well this is my first post and love the site. I have been doing allot or research on various companies (Garmin/Raymarine/Furuno) and think I would like to go with a Furuno setup. The boat all this will be mounted on is a 21' Boston Whaler Outrage. Now I have never bought a radar and am not to sure what to get, if one at all. I have seen several boats that have a small Furuno radome which I believe from research is the Furuno 1623. Dose anyone have that unit and how does it work? Then what about a GPS/Chart plotter? The 1623 is nice because of its great price tag and comes with the basic features that I would find useful.
Thanks,
David

Red_Tag · 06-13-2006, 03:21 AM

Hi David

Furuno makes great gear and the 1623 is appropriate for a 21'.

If you are thinking of overlaying radar over your GPS chartplotter, then you will also need an electronic heading sensor or they will have an angular mismatch.

What transducer you thinking of using?

DriftR · 06-13-2006, 02:15 PM

I have a 24'r and I just completed the install of a Furuno 1734Cvx2 4 KW radar with GPS. It's got the Navionics chip. I went with Furuno due to their customer service and close proximity to where I live (their west coast service center). I also have a Furuno 582L Fishfinder and Furuno 1850 WD DGPS Plotter. All good units and have worked solid for me since the day they were installed. Just that there are so many more options on these units. I have to keep the operations manual near the helm just in case I can't remember certain steps. Which seems to be happening more and more as I get older. But then again, our new micro wave oven we just bought might as well be a F-16 jet fighter. Still having problems setting the correct time on that puppy and my dog ate the operators manual.!!!!!!!!

dsheli · 06-13-2006, 10:34 PM

So will the 1623 interface with a chartplotter? As for transducer does a thru hull transducer require you to drill a hole through the bottom of your boat? Man there is some cool stuff out there!

cbcb · 06-14-2006, 12:41 PM

I've got the GP7000F plotter/finder and the 1623. They can be paired up with a double ended 6 pin NMEA cable. I'm still waiting for my arch to be built, so I can't tell you about the radar's performance. If you go with a similar unit, get the C-Map wide or mega SD card. The basic mapping the unit came with was pretty weak. I'm really liking the plotter and finder so far.