Unlit markers

[ATLTiger97]

I know it is only a pond, but same issue on my lake. The radar, as silly as it is on lake, has saved me a few times from bumping a floating one. The light never work around me. Slow and radar or a hand held night vision.

 

[Stray Current]

radar overlay is glorious. You may also need a heading sensor for it to work. Dome would be fine for you, open array is better for long range performance but the new domes are exceptional even a few miles out. Collision avoidance is using the first mile or so of range and the domes do better close in. Mostly I use overlay and generally no more than 1-2 miles out anyway. This Simrad 4g unit can see a single duck sitting 3/8 of a mile out at 17 knots on a calm night and also will pick up a small channel marker 60’ from the boat or 1 mile out with ease

the raymarine equivalent should do just as well for significantly less money than a 4kw array

 

[Blueone]

My radar will pickup markers but you really have to pay attention… like stare at the screen. When I am on plane during the day I aim for buoys and watch the radar at different distances just to get a feel for how the size of the buoy shows up on the screen and waves or chop conditions has a big effect on the screen as well.

 

[Creekwood]

Up on Georgian bay many (most) of the markers are unlit and really hard to see if there is background town/city/highway lights. My radar picks them up if they are any height at all. There is a setting on my Raymarine called "enhance targets" or something like that, that on my C80 makes the purple target "blobs" a bit larger and easier to spot on the radar overlay. What is interesting is that even the official coast guard nav aids are not always on position shown on the charts, so running at night assuming a chartplotter has them marked exactly can be very risky, even with updated charts.

I bought my radome "used" about 9 years ago in the dead of winter from a guy that bought it for a sailboat that he ended up selling before he installed it. The box was unopened and had the original tape uncut. I got it for 1/2 the retail price at the time. Best addition I have made to the boat.