T&T: GPS/Chartplotter recommendation needed

[Faure, Marin]

With regards to a recommendation for a radar/plotter unit, we installed
a Furuno NavNet VXII a couple of years ago and couldn't be happier.  We
use C-Map charts since our older plotter uses them and we like their
characteristics. Our retractable radar display mount in the overhead at
the helm station would not accommodate the 10" screen NavNet so we got
the 7" screen.  As the unit is only a couple of feet away from the
person at the helm, this screen size is sufficient.  But if space had
not been a consideration, we would have gotten the larger screen and I
would recommend the larger screen to anyone not faced with a mounting
restriction.

When it's foggy we boat in the fog, so for our boating a radar--- and a
good one--- is essential.  I've never boated on a river so don't know
how useful a radar would be.  However if you are going to run your boat
when the visibility is not so great, or at night, I would assume that a
radar would be as valuable to a person on a river as it is to us on the
inside waters of the PNW.  Maybe even more so in cases where lots of
lights on shore make it difficult or impossible to judge distances,
what's another boat and what isn't, and so on.

One thing we really like about the Furuno is its ability to go to a
range of just 0.125 miles.  Our previous radar, a 1980s vintage
Raytheon, had a minimum range of 3 miles.  I thought this was fine until
its CRT screen started to die and we installed the Furuno.  Now I would
not want to be without the ability to shorten the range to a quarter
mile, a feature I would think would be a requirement on any radar used a
vessel in a river.

______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington