Help me make a GPS decision?

Hello All,
I have been trying to make a decision regarding the purchase of a new GPS/radar system for a while. I had settled on a Furuno 1724 radar/gps unit at the helm. The problem I see with marine electronics is the same as any electronics. Obsolesence. We are planning on taking the E38 to the Caribbean in 5 years or so with many shorter trips planned around NE in the years working up to that.

So the question becomes do we bother replacing a working nav station mounted CRT Furuno radar now or do we wait for the longer trips?

Option #1 Furuno 1724 gps/radar: Installed this system will cost about $3700. It will allow radar and gps overlay. Keeps the array "hot" so switching it on when needed is simple if you just want to check on things every 20minutes or so. Expensive but nice. The negative would be the obsolesence. Would I need to go through this all again in 5 years? Hmmmm.

Option #2 Keep the Furuno CRT radar the nav station down below. Its old but works great. Just difficult to use as you have to leave the helm or have someone else below watching the screen. When you need the radar unfortunately having a second person in the cockpit with you would be helpful also so its a compromise. With this option I would replace just the dead helm mounted Raymarine chartplotter with a Furuno chartplotter. This option is about $2000 installed.

So I guess its a question of spend now, spend later? Another idea is a mounting bracket and a longer cable to allow the CRT radar to either swing out or hang in the companionway so it could be viewed from the cockpit. This is a partial solution IMHO as if the weather turns really bad keeping the companionway open is not an option.

So what to do? RT

Rob...
I think the best thing to do about obsolence is nothing. Realize that there is a gross difference between obsolence and functionality, and there is a moving point from which functionality doesn't improve much as time goes on and equipment necessarily, gets older (read obsolete).
It's a good subject anyway. If I were, today, to cofigure a system based on what's current or about to be current by regulation, I'd select a vendor with an established reputation across the marine instrumentation spectrum: Raymarine, Faruno, and Garmin...the big three. They compete vigorously with the latest technologies, well beyond just Radar, GPS and electronic charting.
Get the latest magazines, go to the boat shows allow yourself to be impressed.
CRT technology is still adquate for simple Radar or GPS presentation(s), but you'll be blown away by the simplest LCD displays with chart, radar, depth, etc., etc., etc..
The most excitement comes from the incorporation of communications, especially satellite, into the equations making it possible (probably required in the near future) to ascertain who's who, who's where, course, speed, all the info necessary to identify you to the guy in the tanker bearing down on you.
Anyway, go with one of those three and be impressed.
hk

Radar/GPS

I have a Furuno radar linked to a NorthStar GPS on my '97 E-380. Both units are 6 years old. PO sailed the Maine coast for 4 years where Radar is more necessary than it is on the Chesapeake. Last season I went through the unpleasant expense of updating my Navionics cartridges only to learn that the new charts label depth in meters, not feet, and there is no way to change it until the new cartridges are introduced - - another expense! The point of all this is that "technology creep" can be expensive. I'll wait until the need becomes imminent before I buy any equipment with short time to obsolesence.

Vince Benn
Wild Blue