Furuno 1621 Mark 2 radar--any comments?

whaler20 · Aug-30-2007, 04:10 PM

I just bought a used Furuno Mark 2 radar system...I am replacing the radome board as it is currently burned out, but other than that the system looks like new. I am sure it should work well for my purposes..

Does anybody have any positive or negative things to say about this system? It's just going on my 20" Whaler, so I'm not in need of a very powerful system and I"m hoping that this keeps me a bit safer at night navigating around.

TEAMFISH · Aug-30-2007, 05:18 PM

Well, I have the 1621 and up until a few months ago it was fine. It stopped working on me and everyone Iv'e spoken to say's its not worth fixing. Not that it's a bad unit but that it costs nearly half as much as new one in parts then you got labor. So with that short story on my experience, did you get your radome board fixed or are you in the process of doing so? and if I may ask, who and how much? I'm pretty sure thats whats wrong with mine. P.M. me if need be. I need hlp deciding on repair or replace (upgrade)

TEAMFISH · Aug-30-2007, 05:23 PM

I mentioned my 1621 worked fine (until it took a shit), it actually worked awesome. It picked up shit that amazed me. You say yours is the 1621 mkII which has .5kW more power output, so should be bitchin.

?? fisherman · Aug-30-2007, 05:23 PM

Ummmm Chuck, you may want to read this. Scroll down to where it says Radar.

Electronics

Good luck and I hope it works out for ya but I have a bad feeling about this.

Edit: Then again this could be an isolated case. lets hope so

The unknown fisherman

TEAMFISH · Aug-30-2007, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ?? fisherman

Ummmm Chuck, you may want to read this. Scroll down to where it says Radar.

Electronics

Good luck and I hope it works out for ya but I have a bad feeling about this.

The unknown fisherman

WOW!! Thats helping my decision already

MATTANZA · Aug-30-2007, 09:27 PM

I have one on my Whaler. I like it. Real easy to use. By the way I saw you at EB bait barge a while ago, your boat is really cool!

skipjack-20 · Aug-30-2007, 11:50 PM

I have a 1621 mk2 now, I had a JRC 1500 and it was good until I drove under the atm kiosk. I got my 1621 on ebay and I like it way better than the JRC. the definition is great and it sees pretty much everything and it has the course up function so I don't know what that article was talking about. mine is working great and reliable so far.

Bigpondonly · Aug-31-2007, 07:18 AM

1621 w/dome mounted on T-top, works great. Gotta have it for safety's sake.
Dave

sickcat · Aug-31-2007, 09:41 AM

I read the unknown fishermans link and it sounds like the Tahiti repair center was not very good. That fact that the "tech" in Tahiti did not know how to navigate through the 1621 screens tells me that he/she would not be a good choice to do ANY repairs. My experience with Furuno's service center in Washington has always been first rate. Repairs have been done the first time with no further problems and turnaround time has been quick. As far as the cost effectiveness of repairing your 1621 I would say that if your magnatron is worn out then it may well be time to upgrade to a newer antenna if it is compatable. A call to the Furuno service center should be all you need to decide on what your possibilities are. There is a reason you see so many commercial boats with Furuno equipment.

shinerunner · Aug-31-2007, 10:18 AM

I had the 1621 on my ol' striper. It worked well enough for me. The "balloon" feature showing the boat relative to the way point selected on my garmin 235 was a nice feature.

whaler20 · Aug-31-2007, 12:59 PM

Thanks for the comments guys...I really do appreciate it..

Regarding the units in general, yeah, it seems that the expensive part of these things is the main circuit board. I am getting a used board that is reported to be good from a shop called Outerbanks Marine in Kitty Hawk, NC. It's a couple hundred bucks, but its less than half the price of a new board ($754).

I am going to look into getting the current board diagnosed---I may send it to the Furuno shop up in Washington just to have them take a look at it....It may not be entirely burned up, but I have no idea....

I'm going to replace the board myself and save the 75 bucks an hour you would spend on labor. The radome unit is not too complex inside and replacing the board is mostly a plug and chug deal. There is only one coaxial that I will need to soldier. I'll let you know how it turns out.