The Lowrance Electronics company has unveiled a very large number of boat accessories over the past couple of years, addressing pretty much every segment of the market, from fish finders and GPS chartplotters to VHF radios. So, it's no wonder that the firm's lineup also includes a few high-end radars, like the device you're about to see as follows, namely the LRA-5000 Open Array Radar, released back in the first half of 2007.



As the name says it, the LRA-5000 has been equipped with an open array-type antenna, which measures around 4.9 feet (1.5 meters) and sports an output power of 4 kW. It's also important to mention the fact that the antenna has a horizontal beam width of around 1.7 degrees, a vertical beam width of around 25 degrees, while the distance range is of 48 nautical miles. All in all, it's a product that will occupy some space around the deck, but, at the same time, it will provide quite an impressive functioning range.



The device is capable of providing very reliable information in just about any type of weather, as it offers certain features designed especially for this purpose. For example, it supports Interference Rejection (up to 3 levels), FTC (Rain Clutter Rejection), STC (Sea Clutter Rejection - up to 256 levels), as well as Gain Adjustment (up to 256 levels), Automatic Tuning, and 7 levels of Trail Settings, all of which contribute to a very high level of accuracy.



The Lowrance LRA-5000 Open Array Radar can be found at quite a large number of retailers in the 2,300 – 2,700 US dollars price range, give or take a few hundred dollars. This might seem like a rather hefty sum, but the truth of the matter is that such a device is a must-have accessory on any ship, especially those traveling by night or during stormy weather.