Garmin announces new GMR Fantom 18x/24x series, the most powerful solid state dome radars in their class

New Garmin marine radomes are first to offer both black and white color options

OLATHE, Kan., Oct. 26, 2021 – Garmin International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), the world’s largest and most innovative marine electronics manufacturer, today announced the GMR Fantom 18x and GMR Fantom 24x solid-state dome radars, offering 50 watts of output power for long-range and better target detection on the water, even at high speeds. Equipped with Garmin’s signature MotionScope technology, the new high-powered Fantom 18x/24x radomes can detect and highlight moving targets in different colors, providing mariners with valuable vessel position information, track weather, and more.

“When visibility is low and situational awareness is crucial, you need a radar you can depend on. More power means you’ll get more consistent target positioning, excellent target separation, and unprecedented close- and long-range target detection for a clear, concise view of what’s ahead right on your Garmin chartplotter,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “And for the first time in the industry, we’re thrilled to offer this new radome series in black or white, making it easier than ever for users to customize their radar to their vessel.”

High-powered radar with new power saving settings



With 50 watts of peak output power – double the competition of other solid-state dome radars on the market today – the new Fantom 18x/24x radomes offer a range from 20’ to 48 nautical miles and improved target detection, even in fog or rain. Plus, they deliver up to 60 RPM rotation speed for a refresh rate that can better detect movement, including boats approaching at high speeds. Thanks to the new power save mode, users can choose when to use full power and when to pull back, conserving power when they don’t need it so that they’ll have more when they do. Additionally, timed transmit mode lets users specify active and inactive times down to the second to help reduce power consumption so they can stay on the water longer than ever before.

Incredible detail and Increased situational awareness

In addition to an increased power output, the new Fantom 18x/24x radomes offer a number of features to help increase situational awareness on the water, including:

  • MotionScope technology – uses the Doppler effect to detect moving targets and highlight them in different colors so users can navigate around other boats or severe weather, or toward fishing spots where birds feed at the surface
  • True echo trails – see a historical “train” on the screen to more easily identify moving targets and potential collision threats
  • Dual range – all Fantom radars offer a dual range feature so users have the ability to see both close- and long-range views simultaneously, with an overlay on a chart for one or both ranges, eliminating the need to toggle between views
  • Dual radar support – display units can pull data from one of two different radar sources to provide redundancy
  • Dynamic auto gain – this feature automatically adjusts to the user’s surroundings for optimal performance in all conditions
  • Dynamic sea filter – the gain automatically adjusts sea clutter for calm, medium and rough sea conditions
  • Radar overlay – users can easily overlay radar images on the chartplotter’s map page

The new 18” GMR Fantom 18x and 24” GMR Fantom 24x will be offered with both a white and black color option and are expected to be available in November 2021 with suggested retail prices ranging from $2199.99 to $3099.99. For more information, please visit garmin.com/marine.



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3 Responses

  1. Ben Stein Ben Stein says:

    I’ve had a Fantom 18X on Panbo(at) for a little bit and done some early testing. I still need more time on the water with it, but so far I’m impressed with what I’ve seen and the performance this 18-inch dome delivers.

    Fantom 18x Radar image

    -Ben S.

  2. Ben-
    The colors used above are a bit confusing – Green for Doppler targets moving away but all shore returns etc are red – so are approaching targets Purple / Lavender? Can you change the display to make Doppler Red / Green and fixed targets grey/ white / etc to make it easier to see the approaching targets more readily?

  3. Sven says:

    So what’s really new?

    The Fantom non-x have motion scope/echo trails/dual range/dual radar/dynamic gain/overlays.
    MARPA looks like it is still at 30
    Specs called out on the model website do show new “target size” and “scan averaging”.

    Power save mode does dial things back a little, but power consumption in power save looks the same as the non-x. Standby goes from 3->4 Watts

    Looks like we now get “up to 60 rpm” but no callout on what it goes when dual mode or motion scope are added.

    I am guessing we are getting some more robust processing /etc… that we would see in practice and potential new features.

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