Looking to add a fuel economy meter to my ciera 2355 with merc 5.7. I have a Harmon 73dv that is not nmea 2000 comparable. I was looking into a floscan 9000 or the lowrance LMf 400 as they both calculate mpg. But it looks like they are both gonna run about 600 bucks. Can anyone suggest any other options?
Howdy,
This question would be best discussed in
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat-...rolling-motors
Maybe a MOD will move it!
I installed a Lowrance LMF-200 in my Four Winns.
You probably understand that you need other "Stuff" to make it work. Specifically, you need to install an NMEA2000 network to include sensors (fuel flow, fuel level GPS, and other accessories) to display "economy"
I got mine when Lowrance was selling the earlier "RED" sensors and network components. Lowrance then changed everything to the "Blue" system. requiring adapters etc.
It was an irritating "bait & switch" because it either required one to buy adapters or change everything over to the "Blue" system.
I also have an HDS-5 GPS/fish finder (Blue) so I needed a few adapters since all the other sensors I had were "RED"
I also have the Bennett Tab sensors so I could display my tab position in the LMF 200. It works intermittently though. Part of that problem was how long the LMF-200 stays in the "calibrate" mode. it's shorter than the time it takes to move the tabs from full UP to full DOWN. so I never get them calibrated! Lowrance never had a fix for that. I think newer LMF gages have a longer timeout selection. There was a firmware update for the LMF-200 and I have that file, but Lowrance never provided a way to update it. It has to be sent to them. I think my only fix is to replace the gage with a newer one.
No matter though, every thing I can display on the LMF-200 can also be displayed on the HDS-5. So I really don't need the gage at all. I like the idea of knowing the fuel flow. You can VERY accurately determine your fuel use.
Now having said all the above, I would still get the Lowrance NMEA2000 stuff since it all interfaces seamlessly with all their other NMEA stuff!
Also, I'll always have a fuel flow gage on any future boat I have!
Regards,
Rick