Raymarine Cyclone 3ft 55W Open-Array Radar with 15 m Cable

Raymarine Cyclone 3ft 55W (T70491) brings the innovative Cyclone series features to smaller and mid-sized vessels in a more compact form. With its 3-foot array and 55W power, this radar strikes an excellent balance of performance and size – ideal for sport cruisers, fishing boats, and sailboats ~30–45 feet where an open array installation is feasible.

• Performance & Range: The 55W Cyclone covers up to 72 nm – plenty for coastal and offshore navigation needs. In practical terms, this means you’ll see coastline as you approach hours in advance, or catch a distant storm cell 30+ nm out before it reaches you. Thanks to CHIRP pulse technology, the range resolution is excellent – even closely spaced targets at different distances show up separately rather than blending. The 3-foot antenna yields ~2.8° horizontal beamwidth, which is nearly twice as sharp as a typical radome (~5°) – in real conditions, that means if you have two buoys or boats 100 m apart at 2 nm, the radar displays them as two distinct blips. Cyclone 3ft outperforms traditional 18" and 24" radomes in this regard.
• Smart Safety Features: Like its bigger Pro sibling, this model is equipped with Doppler technology. It continuously analyzes each return for Doppler shift – i.e. whether a target is coming towards or moving away from you – and automatically color-codes moving objects on screen (red/green). This is a huge advantage when navigating busy waters or at night: you immediately know which echoes are other vessels and how they’re moving relative to you, without having to watch them over time. The Cyclone’s ARPA system can acquire and track up to 100 targets, though the practical limit is what your MFD can display at once; nonetheless, you have the reassurance that even dozens of boats around you can be monitored automatically with their vectors, reducing collision risk. RangeFusion™ is here as well – on the Cyclone 55W it fuses the transmitter’s two pulse lengths to show, for example, a nearby harbor (5 nm) and a far storm cell (50 nm) all on one screen without switching ranges.
• Tailored for Fast Boats: The 3ft Cyclone is often favored for high-performance center consoles and yachts that cruise at speed. The reason – 60 RPM scanning at close range. Imagine running at 30 knots: you cover ~15 m in 1 second. At 60 RPM, the radar updates the picture every second, which means even at that pace, your radar is virtually real-time and won’t “miss” a small object right ahead of you. The auto downshift to lower rotation (say 24 RPM) when you zoom out ensures you get the sensitivity needed for distant targets – there’s no point spinning fast when looking 48 nm out, so Cyclone intelligently manages that for you.
• Easy Integration & Installation: The Cyclone 55W uses the same hardware interface as the Pro – a single data+power cable and the VCM100 module. This means if you later decide to upgrade from 3ft to 4ft or even to Pro, the cabling remains the same (only the pedestal/array differ). The 3ft antenna is lighter (~7 kg), which makes mounting on a mast or radar arch easier; it can often fit where a radome was, with an appropriate adapter. The housing is IPX6 weatherproof – it can take heavy rain and seas – and is designed with no external cabling (all connections are internal through the pedestal). The wind tolerance of 100 knots means you can safely run the radar even in a storm without fear that mechanical stress will damage it.

Recommendations: Raymarine Cyclone 3ft (55W) is an excellent choice for yachts 9–14 meters, fishing boats, sailboats, and cruisers where a standard radome would be “okay” but you want superior performance. Especially if you often operate in busy waterways (dense traffic, many markers) or offshore (where the long range and Bird Mode are valuable), this radar will elevate your safety and capability. Visually, the 3ft Cyclone also gives a modern, professional look to the vessel – its low, edgy design complements the aesthetic nicely. With this radar on board, you’ll receive clear and timely radar data to inform your decisions on every voyage.