SAIL MAGAZINE
Guard Sectors and Alarms It’s possible to set up one or more sectored guard zones ahead of your vessel, as well as an exclusion ring around it. In either case, an alarm will sound if any other vessel comes inside predetermined guard perimeters.
Radar Overlay on Chart All modern MFDs now allow you to overlay a radar scan over your chart, which greatly clar-
Operation On the radar screen all the options are available on a drop-down Radar menu, including the settings for gain and filters, MARPA target acquisition, Target Boost control and more.
Acquiring a MARPA target requires a single tap on the screen and another on the menu. At any time you can check that target’s details and nav data just by tapping on the tracked target. The 4G’s ability to split the display into two separate radar screens, each with their own range, gain and other settings, is a real boon—especially when you can monitor up to 10 MARPA targets on each. It’s a bit like having two entirely separate radars, and one or both can be overlaid on charts. While you’re looking ahead at ships up to 36nm away you can still clearly make out buoys within a few hundred feet. Close-up detection of channel buoys is excellent, usually with a clear distinction between buoys and moored boats. bandg.com
with completely independent controls for each.
SOLID-STATE VS MAGNETRON
Solid-state radar has several benefits over the older magnetron technology:
Instantly On No more lengthy wait for the radar to warm up, all the features of solid-state radar are ready to use almost the instant you power it up and press transmit.
Better Short-Range Target Discrimination Navico’s FMCW radar achieves greatly increased range resolution of nearby objects, even down to 300ft, which is ideal for pilotage assistance in limited visibility as it allows the user to more easily identify channel markers and buoys. Pulse compression also has good range resolution and all solid- state provide horizontal resolution that’s compa-
When he’s not testing electronics and sailing equipment, Duncan Kent is sailing somewhere in the English Channel
Operation Some of the filter functions are very good—especially the weather button, which adjusts the rain clutter filter to allow rain-bearing squalls to appear more clearly without having to manually play around with the filter controls.
The range and rotation speeds are limited to 24nm and 24rpm respectively. Also, it lacks a dual-range split window option that the other radars mentioned here have.
The Wi-Fi function might be useful for tough install situations or racing boats, where even the weight of the data cable up the mast might be detrimental to stability and speed, but for the cruising sailor I don’t feel it’s worth the risk of Wi-Fi interference disabling your radar when it’s most needed.
The Quantum is excellent at close range, picking out the smallest buoys and RIBS, and the image is crisp and clear with good target discrimination. However, it’s let down a little by the annoying user interface, which needs fine-tuning. raymarine.com