Upgrading FIshinder / Chartplotter combo or solo units.

[Dx life Rx fishing]

It is about time that I upgrade my electronics on my boat. Both of my units are over 10 years old and have some issues.

THere are so many advancements from my old unit I don't know which to choose.

I have an 18' CC and I would like to have 2 units, I like a backup and I only need a 7" screen.

I'm guessing the GPS part is basically the same with each unit. The bones of the unit is the sonar.

If you were goung to upgrade 2 units on your boat what would you get and why? Price is not a huge issue as most in the 7" size are about the same price give or take 100 bucks or so. Would you get the same brand or different ones? Would you get a sonar alone unit or combo? I really only need 1 GPS unit. I can get close to a spot I marked and when I'm close I can use the sonar to find the honey hole. Are the solo units from Raymarine or other brands better than the combo units? Through hull transducer or one that hangs off the transom?


I had a Garmin GPS only unit and a Humminbird GPS sonar unit that worked well until recently (last year). I am looking at the Raymarine and Lowrance units. They seem to have good reviews.


Any advice for or against would be appreciated.

 

[FV Lost Time]

I am a Garmin fan. Get out to a regional area show (Boat shows, saltwater expo, etc.) if u have time all the electronics are there and reps to show u their capabilities. Most r touch screens now work similar to modern I phones but Garmin impressed me the most. They also sync themselves so u can add products easily. Biggest thing is learning the machines u choose. Those reps do it every day they know the old stuff to modern day and u will learn every time u speak with them. I learned on paper recorders but with modern day electronics side scan etc. its not even a fair game for the fish. LOL GL..........

 

[Roccus7]

IMHO IF you can find a unit you like, try to get a non-touch screen version if you can find one. Nothing like messing up a screen w/hands dripping with fish slime, bait goo and/or fish blood. If you get a touch screen, better have a pile of individually-packaged wet eyeglass wipes handy...

The other piece of advice I'd give is go for individual units for 2 reasons. 1st, each unit has "X" hours of lifetime. No sense running your depthfinder when you're running for a long period of time to get somewhere to fish and on the other hand, no sense running your GPS if you're anchored up fishing. I'm even starting to believe that in shallow water, < 12', fish can sense the newer high-powered sounders so I don't even run mine while fishing the tidal bays, which means shutting off my combo GPS/Sounder while fishing. My previous boat had individual units and I liked that better.

 

[Capt Richie]

I have garmin and simrad on my boats...GPS plotter Garmin is the best ..FF Simrad ..If I were to go with a combo unit on a 18' boat garmin...

 

[george]

It is about time that I upgrade my electronics on my boat. Both of my units are over 10 years old and have some issues.

THere are so many advancements from my old unit I don't know which to choose.

I have an 18' CC and I would like to have 2 units, I like a backup and I only need a 7" screen.

I'm guessing the GPS part is basically the same with each unit. The bones of the unit is the sonar.

If you were goung to upgrade 2 units on your boat what would you get and why? Price is not a huge issue as most in the 7" size are about the same price give or take 100 bucks or so. Would you get the same brand or different ones? Would you get a sonar alone unit or combo? I really only need 1 GPS unit. I can get close to a spot I marked and when I'm close I can use the sonar to find the honey hole. Are the solo units from Raymarine or other brands better than the combo units? Through hull transducer or one that hangs off the transom?


I had a Garmin GPS only unit and a Humminbird GPS sonar unit that worked well until recently (last year). I am looking at the Raymarine and Lowrance units. They seem to have good reviews.


Any advice for or against would be appreciated.

Down and side scan is a must have. Once you use it you'll never go back. I'm not clear on the back-up. Will it too have it's own transducer? There's a lot you can do with networking the units, or maybe you don't need two? I have an 18cc Roballo with a Garmin with Down/Side scan and I love it.

 

[Dx life Rx fishing]

The redundancy was more for the GPS aspect. However I have room on the mounting plate on the transom for 2 transducers so that is not completely out of the question. But I agree with Roccus that all those waves may have an effect on the fish in shallow water. I was looking at Humminbirds 360 degree transducer but at 1500 just for that I think I will pass. It does look awesome though.

The 2 I have now are Garmin GPS and a Humminbird side scan. I have not had any issues till now. They have both been very good to me. Will definitely go with down/side imaging.

Thank you for all the input. Appreciate any more insight if anyone has any.

 

[Capt Richie]

both garmin and Simrad now use one transducer for down/side scan along with chirp or standard sonar...

simrad sonar is the best ..I have the TM total scan on my 23 mako...works great..on the 32 albemarle I have high chirp / side/down scan mounted by the keel ..also lowrance mounted right under the helm ,,deepest part on the Vee..and a 1kw furuno no longer use it..and a older garmin no longer use it...

the simrad is by far the best bottom machine...it takes a little time to understand what your seeing ..but once you figure it out I know pretty much what type of fish /bait are under the boat...

 

[george]

The hummingbird has as model that will build a chart for you that you can save. I really like that feature.

 

[Goosepoint]

I went through this last year. Had Lowrance in the past, but opted for the Simrad Evo 3 system. It has both a touch screen and rotary knobs, both come in handy depending on conditions/situation. The screen is crystal clear and reads the bottom better than I have ever seen. Blackfishing was lights out last Fall... It also has forward scan and side scan which are great when searching for structure. I feel like I am cheating now... Good luck

 

[captmike28]

Like Goosepoint , I also upgraded my Sonar machine last year after using a Furuno FCV for the last 14 years. I too selected the Simrad NSS EVO3 and the image quality is truly eye-popping. Not only is the image spectacular but the ability to find smaller pieces of productive bottom is unmatched. Looking at some of my more popular drops I have fished for years don't even look the same on the new screen. What I used to think were small little humps look like a mountain range on this unit! I will attach just one photo of a mix of Bass and Blues from one of my trips to the Race last summer.

Regardless of what brand you ultimately choose I also highly recommend going with a model that has manual input switches in place of or in addition to touch screen operation. Keeping the display clean is certainly important but there is another issue to consider. Trying to make adjustments on a small boat with sea conditions more than a flat calm can be very challenging on a touch screen. Another plus to the combination Sonar/Chartplottter format of the Simrad NSS is the fact that when you pass over a productive spot and hit the MOB button it not only saves the coordinates but will allow you to literally steer right back to the same spot as soon as you conclude your drift.

I agree that redundancy is always a wise choice and if you have the dash space and the budget then definitely go for it!

 

[Dx life Rx fishing]

I have been looking into Simrad and I really like what I see with them. I will likely go with the NSS EVO3 also. I an not sure if my back up will also be a fishfinder or just GPS. I may look into a small Garmin GPS. Thank you all for your responses. It helped.


Another question. If I do get 2 fishfinder units do the transducers have to be mounted away from each other or would 6-8 inches apart be sufficient?

 

[Capt Richie]

you cant run two transducers at the same frequency....so I run one at 200 and the other at high chirp..mine ar a good 10' apart..

and I also have a third down/side scan also...so I can run three different transducers at one time if I choose too....all you need is one total scan ducer...