If your boat had no electronics what-so-ever....and you had a 'middle of the road' budget...what would you get if you could do it all over again?....and WHY?

I might be picking up something soon with only a compass attached...:uhuh:

Lowrance HDS.
"Budget" version of my electronics (Simrad).

I dig Navico electronics, they make nice stuff also their customer support has been nothing but helpful for me. Also the sponsored guys/reps they bring to the shows are legitimate fishermen. Not just some guy looking through a manual.

GPS Fishfinder combo with transom mount transducer. I use a Garmin 188C that is no longer made, but works fine. VHF with antenna, handheld back up. Dual batteries.

I bought the lowrance elite5 for
$399 . It is not the latest version which has the touch screen.
Has a lot of nice featutes. Only regret might be not getting the elite7 the next size up, but $200 more
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Ebay- Garmin 498

i guess it depends on what size boat. Like nightfighter i am using a 188c that i am happy with.

If i had to do it over again i would go with something a little bigger screen, and ability to add radar.

right now i'm looking at this
http://www.starmarinedepot.com/Garmin+740s+GPSMAP+GMR+18+HD+Radar+Bundle.html?gcl id=CLH-yJ2gyLgCFa9_QgodvSoA0g

A lot depends on the size of the boat and what you are going to use it for. If I was replacing all of the electronics on my boat I would go with an ICOM VHF and everything else the Simrad integrated system especially including the CHIRP fishfinder.

raymarine dragon fly

I just put the Lowrance Elite 7 HDI with the gold package. Great set up for the money.

I agree with the elite 7 gold package
seems pretty good

I would go with a single all in one unit like a ray garmin or simrad and get the largest screen you can afford and make it fit.

I was this close to replacing all my electronics with simrad dual screen system but I am having second thoughts now. many of the other makers have machted the features and some are better. I thought simard had the best ff but now I like the ray and the new garmin even better and it is less $. It is hard to keep up. I don't know what to do now. Still using my 8 year old system that works fine. But I want chirp and I want 4g radar and I would like sidescan.

Me too. I'm lost

this is true ><>,

I might be upgrading mine this year. Stuff on my boat must be all of 12 years old. Sure I won't catch even one more fish though :) As far as GPS, I use my droid tablet 99% of the time and use the furuno for a back-up. Tablet is infinitely more friendly, and has a 10" screen, and was ~ $200. I keep it in an enclosure so sunlight isn't an issue.

Just installed the Raymarine Dragonfly. I was going to go with the Garmin, but the depth sounder with chirp technology seemed like a great bang for the buck. I'll be heading over to cutty tomorrow to give it a whirl.
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Quite the face-lift you gave that thing. Great job...love the T-Top/Glass console...and the black is so much better than the red.
You turned that thing around in NO time at all!

Good luck out there,

Quite the face-lift you gave that thing. Great job...love the T-Top/Glass console...and the black is so much better than the red.
You turned that thing around in NO time at all!

Good luck out there,
Thank you. a lot of man hours, blood, sweat, and tears. It is sea worthy now, but over the winter she will have the real over haul.
Dragonfly is an ok unit, very user friendly, marks fish and navionics gold is great. Caught plenty of sea bass today.
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Lowrance Elite 7 HDI Gold with 83/200 & 455/800 HDI Transducer
The Lowrance Elite 7 HDI Gold is built around two of Lowrance’s award winning sounders, digital fishfinder and DownScan Imaging, combined to provide you with exceptional fish finding performance. Also included is a Navionics Gold Chart for detailed charting of the Coastal US. Includes 83/200 & 455/800 HDI transducer for depth and temperature.

Probably a lot more than I need for not venturing too far out....but is it really too much for an 18'er? Totally green to this #$%T. Don't mind paying, but don't want to pay for too much more than I need or use. For those of you who've purchased it and have become more acquainted with it....how happy are you?
Wished you'd a given it more thought? More or Less than what you expected or needed? Dummass questions, as I know the decision is mine...but just looking for more input before I bite into one of them.

And what's a good price? Shoot me a PM if you don't mind sharing the info.

Thanks in advance

...and is it "CHIRP" vs. "SONAR"?

Is that the battle with current marine technologies?

Sounds like a mixed group on the replies above. What are some advantages and disadvantages?

...and is it "CHIRP" vs. "SONAR"?

Is that the battle with current marine technologies?

Sounds like a mixed group on the replies above. What are some advantages and disadvantages?

Only disadvantages I know of with CHIRP is the cost and the size of the transducer.

I would go with a Garmin 740 (or 741 if ya got the bucks)... touchscreen, simple, and proven reliability, its like an I-phone version of a GPS/FF unit. having said that, I currently use a Lowrance HDS7- it died after 2 days of use, but customer service was actually pretty good and the new one seems good so far.

Garmin? 498c. For the color chart plotter. I would get a separate fishfinder preferably color. Thats what i have on my boat.

I'll give you my Garmin 188C for the price of a case of high end golf balls, only because I don't have the transducer. I went with another Garmin when I upgraded, because I liked the 188C and I had a transducer I could re-use.

take him on that offer. I have had the 188C for years and love it. That is a very genersous offer, especially if it has the chip. the trandsucers are available...

Chip is there and I won't erase my spots since it's not worth powering it up to go through the process, not like they are all that secret anyway.

I am not kidding, bloo, you should not pass on GS' offer. It is the perfect unit for your size boat, you can run full screen chart, full screen FF, or split the two. Chart clarity and refresh is as good as any other. The FF may not be quite as good as the others you are considering, but it is still plenty good and you will be able to identify bait, fish, etc.. you may not be able to pick up the spars of a sunken schooner, but you will know if something is down there to bite your bait...

Little late on this, just got back from Bermuda.

Thanks GS - give me a day or two to research and compare (if possible) - I'll let you know either way by the end of the weekend.
Tony (Goose), let me borrow his Garmin 176. Is it similar to that model?

:fishin: .....already stole all his wps :D

The boat I bought last year came with the 182C,,, 8 yr. old chip?

I'm steaming back into Barnstable harbor the other night lined up with the flasher at the point and watching the GPS for cans....

Holy crap! What was that that just went by!

The chip is so old it doesn't show a couple of new cans,, missed one by feet! Needless to say I pulled out the spot light that I should have already had out and on... :smash:

Santa's going to get a big list this year

Not sure what size boat you have but I have Lowrance HDS7 on a 23 mako I picked it because of the large screen and low price but I am on the fence about liking I find the menus still confusing after several years it still takes me several minutes to find the right page to change the setting I am looking for. My old garmin was infinitely easier to operate. I have the combo unit with the transom transducer and can not get a clean read there is a lot of noise/debis on the screen not matter how I set the sensitivity. I am guessing it is due to the placement of the transducer but it is in the same spot as the 2 previous ones were so not sure why it is a problem now for this reason I would use the thru hull transducer. I will also say I preferred may previous set up where I had a separate screens for GPS and Fish finder much better in my opinion

For my next upgrade I will likely not go with Lowrance but go back to Garmin

Hope it helps

So where are we finding the best deals in boat electronics these days?

PMs welcome.

Pricing this one (http://www.amazon.com/Garmin-GPSMAP-740S-Chartplotter-Sounder/dp/B003NET0S8) out

Does anyone own the GPSMAP 740s?

If so, did you go with the BlueChart G2 Vision bundle??
Do you think it makes that much of a difference to validate the additional cost if you did/didn't?

What about the transducer? Standard 50/200 w/o temp/speed?
The 1KW is so danm expensive......if you went that route, are you happ(ier)?

:confused: Too new to this to make an uneducated guess...HELP?
Can anyone share any insight? I've read up on some, but experience (most times) far exceeds manuals and ads that sell the product.

I asked the girl working at WestMarine if she could show me the difference with the 1KW, she said it wasn't set up to show the difference??? (50/200 vs 1KW)

50/200 is the frequency not watts.
1K watt transducer or 600 matt is pretty much the standard off the shelf choice.

PM sent, love mine, bought standard mapping and it's fine as is, mine was bundled with radar and I used existing transducer from old 188C Garmin.

Does anyone own the GPSMAP 740s?

If so, did you go with the BlueChart G2 Vision bundle??
Do you think it makes that much of a difference to validate the additional cost if you did/didn't?

What about the transducer? Standard 50/200 w/o temp/speed?
The 1KW is so danm expensive......if you went that route, are you happ(ier)?

:confused: Too new to this to make an uneducated guess...HELP?
Can anyone share any insight? I've read up on some, but experience (most times) far exceeds manuals and ads that sell the product.

I asked the girl working at WestMarine if she could show me the difference with the 1KW, she said it wasn't set up to show the difference??? (50/200 vs 1KW)

I have the 546 with the BlueChart G2 bundle and love it. I have all Garmin on my boat including a GDL40 which overlays weather on my map in real time. Everything is hooked together using a NMEA2000 Network.

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful stuff.

Piemma, the NMEA2000 network, is that just basically T's and NMEA wires? and your obvious GPS screen/plotter right?

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful stuff.

Piemma, the NMEA2000 network, is that just basically T's and NMEA wires? and your obvious GPS screen/plotter right?

Yup. Everything including the fishfinder, which is a separate unit, are connected with the NMEA wires and T's. They then basically work in conjunction with each other and share information.

Got an email from W est Marine saying they have the 740s on sale Friday only for 750.00.

Simrad baby chirp coming out here soon.

Now I'm torn whether I want to install the B164 sitting here or sell it and upgrade to baby chirp.

Thanks Ross... already picked one up along with the G2 bundle package. Sitting in a box waiting to get installed sometime soon.

Simrad just came out with a whole new system for their black box components. I'm sure they are pricy.

Simrad just came out with a whole new system for their black box components. I'm sure they are pricy.

New NSO glass bridge system.
Its disgusting.

Its for the large to superyacht market.
Not baby chirp.

I have been a big simrad fan but I have to say I think raymarine new gear has passed them by. Their chirp unit is better and cheaper. Now they they offer sidescan if simrad does not make a major change in either the price or features I think will see some real pressure, at least at the low end (retail consumer level)

For the life of me I still don't understand why on-board computers are not more popular. With SSD's now available and affordable..that is the way to go...Software is a lot easier to change than hardware...Put un a computer and you could have new software and essentially a new system with the latest technology every couple years if you wanted.

The GPSMAP 740S is on sale today only at westmarine for $750.00 down from a thousand bucks....do not know if that is what U R looking for

For the life of me I still don't understand why on-board computers are not more popular. With SSD's now available and affordable..that is the way to go...Software is a lot easier to change than hardware...Put un a computer and you could have new software and essentially a new system with the latest technology every couple years if you wanted.

Basically they are on-board computers, they just don't run a common operating system and therefore cannot run anything other than custom designed software. You can update the software on most systems through the Mfg's website.

It is not the same...its a closed system, It would be better to separate the computer from the software ala nobeltec. Simrad is not in the computer business.
The user would have a lot more freedom.

It is not the same...its a closed system, It would be better to separate the computer from the software ala nobeltec. Simrad is not in the computer business.
The user would have a lot more freedom.

It could probably be done, but it would be very expensive. 1st of all you need a really robust display to be viewable in direct sunlight. Second you would need a military grade chassis to take the abuse. Finally you would need multiple computers/displays to get the kind of screen size everyone wants. For example, I'm typing this note on a laptop with a 14 inch display, which is just about the same size as the Garmin 2010 chart plotter I have on the boat.

It is not the same...its a closed system, It would be better to separate the computer from the software ala nobeltec. Simrad is not in the computer business.
The user would have a lot more freedom.

Routing software is run side by side with black box networks already.
Welcome to B&G circa almost 20 years ago now!

Pretty much most mfg's mid-high end stuff and up will talk to most of the good routing software with no issues (Expedition/Adrena/etc)

And nobeltec is a convoluted pile of crap that makes everything Microsoft look lean and mean.

It could probably be done, but it would be very expensive. 1st of all you need a really robust display to be viewable in direct sunlight. Second you would need a military grade chassis to take the abuse. Finally you would need multiple computers/displays to get the kind of screen size everyone wants.

SSD in a micropc and you don't need a "military grade chassis".

WestMarine has the Garmin 740s for $699
"TODAY'S RED HOT DEAL"

Decent price, if anyones' looking around for one.

Bloocrab what did you end up buying for a boat?

I see that Simrad is having a big sale on their multi-function units.

I ended up going with a "tricked out" StriperSeaSwirl