Koden Radar

[daddyhobbit]

We are looking at replacing the radar on a 1984 43 foot Young Sun Pilot House. The old radar does not work and it is beyond repair. Does anyone know anything about the Koden? We are looking at the 7" display and the power is 2KW. It communicates with multiple control/display devices via Ethernet. I am not sure if it is 10baseT or 100baseT. Although that should not matter. The system is expandable to include GPS chart plotter etc. The idea that it is expandable is appealing since it would allow me to free up some of the clutter at the Nav station and the Helm. The price is about 1064.70USD so it may be in my price range. I was thinking that we could just unbolt the original Ratheon unit from the radar arch and install the new dome where the array was previously installed.
I would appreciate your input as to the radar and the feasibility of a quick replacement as I have outlined.
Thanks
Jim

[thekeip]

I think the Koden unit is not a bad choice. It may not be the best one either. If you're looking for modern, up-to-date replacement, tit for tat so to say, then go for it if you've done your homework. I, myself, have a Sitex (Koden) aboard Sea Quest that I've been happy with for many years. It lacks a lot in expandability potential though, and I wish I had mounted the antenna a bit higher...probably at the 1st spreader or so.
If I were going to do it again, I would go for one of the 'big 3'...Raymarine, Faruno, or Garmin. The performance of their individual units is nothing short of sensational (I suspect their respective engineers all went to the same school), and they necessarily all make do with the same parts, or kinds of parts, but the inter-connectivity issues, though technically identical, are largely marketing driven.
It would impossible to make a bad choice today.
Howard Keiper
Sea Quest
Berkeley

[Valiente]

Koden is generally the choice of commercial vessels such as freighters, ferries and fishing boats. I have a friend with an older monochrome CRT display on his steel ketch, and he believes it to be an excellent unit. My general impression is that they are built more ruggedly and with less interpretive help than say, Raymarine, in the sense that the Koden will last longer, but that you will need to know how to operate it and how to interpret radar returns in order to get the most out of it.

I've played with one at night and have been amazed at how much information I could get just by carefully altering a few knobs.

My current choices are Furuno and Koden, but I won't be buying until Winter 2009.

[CharlieCobra]

I like the JRC 1500 in that price range and was thinking of getting one soon.

[witzgall]

I called Sitex about these units. Their opinion was that it is an excellent radar, and an OK chartplotter.

[Valiente]

JRCs are basic, but good. A good choice for coastal/Caribbean cruising, I think. They are priced right, certainly, and seem pretty straightforward. There's quite a few on the Great Lakes, which features heavy freighter traffic, but in fairly well-defined "lanes".

[sailingdog]

If you're also going to use the unit as a chart plotter, it would be wise to make sure that it has accurate charts available for the areas you will be sailing in... if not, then get a brand that does.