With regards to a recommendation for a radar/plotter unit, we installed a Furuno NavNet VXII a couple of years ago and couldn't be happier. We use C-Map charts since our older plotter uses them and we like their characteristics. Our retractable radar display mount in the overhead at the helm station would not accommodate the 10" screen NavNet so we got the 7" screen. As the unit is only a couple of feet away from the person at the helm, this screen size is sufficient. But if space had not been a consideration, we would have gotten the larger screen and I would recommend the larger screen to anyone not faced with a mounting restriction. When it's foggy we boat in the fog, so for our boating a radar--- and a good one--- is essential. I've never boated on a river so don't know how useful a radar would be. However if you are going to run your boat when the visibility is not so great, or at night, I would assume that a radar would be as valuable to a person on a river as it is to us on the inside waters of the PNW. Maybe even more so in cases where lots of lights on shore make it difficult or impossible to judge distances, what's another boat and what isn't, and so on. One thing we really like about the Furuno is its ability to go to a range of just 0.125 miles. Our previous radar, a 1980s vintage Raytheon, had a minimum range of 3 miles. I thought this was fine until its CRT screen started to die and we installed the Furuno. Now I would not want to be without the ability to shorten the range to a quarter mile, a feature I would think would be a requirement on any radar used a vessel in a river. ______________________________ C. Marin Faure GB36-403 "La Perouse" Bellingham, Washington