Garmin xHD or xHD+ with Garmin GPSMAP 942XS Plus

[Boater71]

hi everyone, looking at buying one of these packages. I'm noticing there are a couple of packages on the radar and the difference is about $200 with the xHD. i'm wondering if any have has either and can share experiences.

I do boat in the Boston Harbor, at night and been caught in the rain and do fishing.

 

[mquiet]

I run the xhD with open array displayed on Garmin 8212. Love it

 

[Boater71]

I run the xhD with open array displayed on Garmin 8212. Love it

This is 18" Dome (what i can afford at this time).

 

[b_arrington]

For a $200 delta, I'd 100% go with the xHD. It's newer technology (yes, newer does not always = better). The xHD has longer range, a dual range mode, and faster rotation (for quicker updates).

Don't forget a heading sensor to he able to use the MARPA functions of the radar and also overlay the radar data on a chart. The SteadyCast unit is not expensive and works well.

I know you said you have a budget to stick with; I'll just mention that I installed dual 8612 units with a Fantom radar. There are some very real benefits to the Fantom with the Doppler technology that I have found very useful. Especially the MotionScope, which dynamically shows if a target is moving torward or away from you. This feature helped me a lot last summer figure out which direction the sailboats in the distance were moving.

 

[ttmott]

Don't look at the Garmin Fantom radar. You will loose control of senses, logic, and purpose then your pocketbook will take another dip downward.

 

[b_arrington]

Don't look at the Garmin Fantom radar. You will loose control of senses, logic, and purpose then your pocketbook will take another dip downward.

I'll admit that I was outfitting a new boat (the one in my signature). I felt like I had one shot to do it right so went for it. I did defer installation of an autopilot, however.

I do very much like the Fantom radar, and indeed the whole setup.

 

[Boater71]

Don't look at the Garmin Fantom radar. You will loose control of senses, logic, and purpose then your pocketbook will take another dip downward.

Owning a boat already doing it!!!!

 

[Boater71]

ok, since i'm spending money and have a one shot at this, Simard 4G? Does the Simrad 4G compare to the Garmin xhd or Fantom?

 

[b_arrington]

ok, since i'm spending money and have a one shot at this, Simard 4G? Does the Simrad 4G compare to the Garmin xhd or Fantom?

I can't really answer the radar comparison question. In general, Simrad has a reputation for having very high quality radar systems. Possibly a bit better than Garmin in that area.

However, you can't mix and match one brand of radar with another brand of MFD - it all has to be the same brand. That said Garmin has a reputation for being very very user friendly overall with powerful functions that are easy to use. Having used a couple of generations of Garmin equipment I agree with that.

Simrad - you'd would want to see how it operates and if it makes sense to you. The Vessel View on my boat is basically a small current-gen Simrad MFD that's been rebranded. I don't like how it operates AT ALL. To me it's not at all intuitive and a pain in the neck to use. I just leave it on the gauge screen, and frankly usually view the engine data via my Garmin devices.

 

[mquiet]

I have only used ray marine and Garmin. Both are great but Garmin is more user friendly. Ray marine you need to study and learn the procedures. But again, but good radar units.

 

[NotHerDecision]

Point blank if you want the most powerful and ‘best’ radar, then Consider Furuno. I have a Furuno system that is incredible. I have dock neighbors with Fantom Garmin and a boat I run often with Garmin hd and neither are as powerful as the Furuno.

if you want the most simple then stick to Garmin.

 

[Boater71]

thank you all for the tips. I will keep you posted on my project.

 

[JPGator]

hi everyone, looking at buying one of these packages. I'm noticing there are a couple of packages on the radar and the difference is about $200 with the xHD. i'm wondering if any have has either and can share experiences.

I do boat in the Boston Harbor, at night and been caught in the rain and do fishing.

 

[JPGator]

I have a 1242xsv, 942 and the Fantom 24 dome. Love the products. Living in SoFla and running back/forth to the islands it’s served us well. You can always spend more but what do you really need. IMHO I’d have FLIR if I lived where y’all live.

 

[Boater71]

I have a 1242xsv, 942 and the Fantom 24 dome. Love the products. Living in SoFla and running back/forth to the islands it’s served us well. You can always spend more but what do you really need. IMHO I’d have FLIR if I lived where y’all live.

OMG, this is the setup I'm looking to purchase and install (1042xsv & 942 with either the 18" xHD or 18" Fantom). Question for you, what did you do for Smartraft gauges and engine data? I have the smartcraft mobile and love it. picture of setup?

 

[b_arrington]

OMG, this is setup i'm looking to install (1042xsv & 942 with with either the 18 HD or 18" Fantom). Question for you, what did you do for Smartraft gauges and engine data? I have the smartcraft mobile and love it. picture of setup?

You can get a Smartcraft Gateway. It will translate the Smartcraft data into NMEA2000 data, which can then be consume by the Garmin system via a NMEA 2000 network.

You might be able to get your generator data out also, if your Kohler supports either a NMEA 2000 or J1939 connection.

 

[JPGator]

OMG, this is the setup I'm looking to purchase and install (1042xsv & 942 with either the 18" xHD or 18" Fantom). Question for you, what did you do for Smartraft gauges and engine data? I have the smartcraft mobile and love it. picture of setup?

I purchased the smart craft and everything is tied in. All the analog gauges still work except for the speedometer which is on the MFD’s. The variety of the data is wonderful. I bought most everything from the GPS store. If you have any other questions shoot me a PM and I’ll give you a call.
JP

 

[Tripsdad]

I am in the process of having my electronics upgraded from the original Raymarine that came on the boat when I bought it in October. The PO already had a Garmin 942xs installed so I added a GPSMAP 8612xsv, GMR Fantom 54 Radar, VHF 315 and Heading Sensor (thank you Brad). Since I did not have the time to do this myself due to work/family commitments I had my mechanic do the install while addressing the mechanical issues found on the survey.

I'd like everything linked like JP so I can get my engine data on the Garmins but they are only seeing data from one engine at a time on the Garmins. Garmin says it is a Mercruiser issue and Merc says it is a Garmin issue but since we get both when connecting to a laptop we think it is most likely the Garmin. They have downloaded the latest updates for all and told me they were using a Garmin Backbone, Gateway CAN P, Multi Link Kit, NMEA 2000 Terminator, existing J Box and Smartcraft / Vessel View. I saw in earlier posts where others had similar issues but couldn't find a resolution. Any ideas?

 

[Larry]

If your relatively new to these electronics, do yourself a favor and go with Garmin if you can swing the XHD radome go with that.

 

[Boater71]

I am in the process of having my electronics upgraded from the original Raymarine that came on the boat when I bought it in October. The PO already had a Garmin 942xs installed so I added a GPSMAP 8612xsv, GMR Fantom 54 Radar, VHF 315 and Heading Sensor (thank you Brad). Since I did not have the time to do this myself due to work/family commitments I had my mechanic do the install while addressing the mechanical issues found on the survey.

I'd like everything linked like JP so I can get my engine data on the Garmins but they are only seeing data from one engine at a time on the Garmins. Garmin says it is a Mercruiser issue and Merc says it is a Garmin issue but since we get both when connecting to a laptop we think it is most likely the Garmin. They have downloaded the latest updates for all and told me they were using a Garmin Backbone, Gateway CAN P, Multi Link Kit, NMEA 2000 Terminator, existing J Box and Smartcraft / Vessel View. I saw in earlier posts where others had similar issues but couldn't find a resolution. Any ideas?

one of the thread I read (way back) is using harness to combine the data from both Jboxes or link both boxes. Not sure if this is applicable or not in your case. This was dependent on the engines and how they are connected to the J-boxes.