Fish finder maps chart plotter ideas for my new boat

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Been on the hunt for this boat for some time. Middle son graduated got a REAL JOB right by home and I got a new boat for all his hard work Hes getting a hug when he comes home from his 10 hour shift today. I waited like two weeks to make it happen that was enough right.
It has as nothing as far as marine electronics and quite a bit of room for display I could have a fish finder and a separate something that does everything else or an all in one. I dont want hard to operate science fiction type stuff but im savy enough to figure out more than basic equipment. Ill be on the ocean in Oregon and Washington and Florida and in the Columbia river in Oregon if that makes any difference. Want to be able to run as safe as possible away from shore and get back home.

 

[dingbat]

Budget and primary needs

 

[Bayou Dave]

If you have the budget look at Garmin 741xs chartplotter/fish finder. They run around $700-$900.You will need to get a transducer also. I chose the GT21-TM from Garmin. They run around $120-$150.

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Well thats a great question. I wont say money is no object but its less of an object than it should be if that helps. Id love to be in them for less than $1500 ish and will do the install myself. I tried to add a photo but me and my ipad are struggling to make that happen on this forum ( I managed to upload a group of pictures of which a couple had personal information that should not be shared. iPads are fical devises. Ill have to figure that out but its a new 262 Wellcraft sportsman. I think what Ill state is my vision is getting worse and worse. So bigger screen is really important. Ill also be boating in a lot of what is new water to me and often far enough from shore I want to be able to find my way home so the accuracy of its maps is probably really important. I havent even looked at anything yet.

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

OK since I still cant sleep. This boat purchase came to light a couple weeks ago and I have not slept through the night since. The boat dealer drove it out for a test run yesterday ( 66 miles) and then he just unhooked it in the boat launch parking lot and took off. Its now blocking my entire driveway I'll make room later. Fish finders and GPS are now scrambling my brain. Theres a Lowrance hds12 gen 2 like new for sale within an hour of me for less than half price ok it will be less a bit less than half price if I buy it. Any thoughts on that. And now Im reading about sonar hub and gofree wifi to enhance everything. Any inputs. I do believe I want at least 12" of display or two usnites with 10" displays.

 

[ondarvr]

Lowrance has many features for the price, but they have terrible customer service, and they might be the most difficult to use due the poor instructions and the non intuitive menu's. Once you figure out how to use it it's not that bad though.

​Electronics don't have much resale value, and the price's drop quickly on new models still on the shelf, so what looks like a good deal on a used model usually isn't.

 

[dingbat]

Theres a Lowrance hds12 gen 2 like new for sale within an hour of me for less than half price ok it will be less a bit less than half price if I buy it.

There is a reason why it's half price. I'll give you a hint...it's not performance and long term support

Fish finder: I've run Lawrence, Koden, Sitex, Furuno and the new Garmin CHIRP units. Koden and Sitex are good units if you can get a deal on one.
Furuno makes the best fish finders hands down. Excellent long term support and quality.

I run a FCV 588 with an Airmar B 164 thru hull transducer. This Spring, I picked up a Garmin Echomap CHIRP 94SV with a GT51M transducer see how well CHIRP performed.

The 94SV has excellent target resolution and separation in the water column but lacks the clean, crisp bottom returns I've grown accustomed to on the 588.

GPS: you can't beat the Garmin GPSMAP series of chartplotters. Install a NMEA 2000 network and the options are endless.
My GPSMAP 4208 is networked with the ECHOMAP 94SV for redundantly, but it also allows them to share data from a fuel flow sensor, remote GPS antanna, water speed sensor and radar dome. loose one, I always have the other to get home.

Size wise, 2-12" screens take up too much real estate unless your running a yacht. I run 2-8" and a 9" display. With all the zoom and split screen options available today, I have no problem seeing the screens working the transom.

 

[MH Hawker]

i just up dated mine to a garman 53 DV it works very well a nice display and tons of features for 350