Furuno DRS4D-NXT Radome

By Ben Ellison

January 20, 2017

Last year Raymarine, Garmin and Furuno all followed Simrad/B&G by introducingtheir own solid-state small radars, a technology that’s especially sailor-friendly, due to its fast startups, modest DC power needs and low emissions. However, only Garmin and Furuno have thus far included Doppler-assisted target motion features that instantly and automatically highlight underway vessels; and only the Furuno NXT offers full ARPA target tracking rather than manually selected MARPA. What’s more, Furuno NXT also uses the Doppler effect to both intelligently select targets of concern, and calculate their accurate speeds and headings, so that it’s almost like having a sophisticated ship’s radar on your wee little boat. As an added benefit, the 24in DRS4D-NXT has automated high rotation speeds to help track nearby fast targets, RezBoost beam sharpening to help refine horizontal resolution and the ability to display two ranges anywhere between 1/32 to 36 nautical miles. The NXT is supported by Furuno’s TZT and TZT2 displays, of which the latter provides a particularly modern and easy-to-use radar and charting interface.