The original question was about a Garmin radar and chart plotter. I think that combination mentioned would be great, though I have the older generation myself. The combination of a chart plotter with the radar image as an overlay seems vital to me. So that test report in Panbo of radar units in standalone mode, is a usage mode I would never use close to shore in coastal Maine in the fog. I have had a stand-alone Furuno 1990's monochrome unit for radar and could use it but it is very difficult to get a good picture. You had to know what you were looking for and then you could probably see it, but it had a lot of guessing and uncertainty. I am not a professional mariner with radar training so I need the simplicity of a system like the newer Garmin I have now, and would never go back to a standalone radar image like he shows in the Panbo article.
We now have a Garmin 24xHD sending to a Garmin 8xvs chart plotter, and for the radar function I always use it as the chart with the radar overlaid on it. The chart and the radar together give you much more of a picture. In clear weather you can practice and watch the overlaid images and build trust with what you are seeing, shorelines and rocks, buoys, etc. You can also tweak the antenna angle so that the radar image fits nicely over the chart image, on the go calibration. We also have a B&G VHF with AIS receiver and it ties into the Garmin through NMEA 2000 and displays vessels with AIS on the screen with the radar. I would recommend that be part of your system. You also need the heading sensor with the Garmin system. With NMEA 2000 it really is plug and play,
If you already have a newish chart plotter I think you could buy the radar that goes with your chart plotter or if buying new you buy radar and plotter as a set. I may be wrong and it may be differnt on the open ocean but there doesn't seem to me to be a role for a standalone screen for showing just the radar image, unless you have more room at the helm than a Morgan 382 has. Also don't believe you should have the radar down below in the cabin. For coastal work it needs to be up with the helmsman.
Steve