Evinrude Icon Gauges

Howdy boaters,
I am upgrading my motor to a new etec and am curious to know if anyone has the new Icon pro series digital gauges that came out last year ( i think). If I am understanding correctly how they work, I believe it is the tach gauge that is the main gauge that connects to the computer in the motor and then all the other gauges run off of it? Ive seen some demonstrations where people have pulled up the gauges on their Lowrance Hds. My question is if it is necessary at all to have the gauges if you have a lowrance Hds. Can I save the money ( around 3-400 per gauge) by connecting the motors computer to the lowrance and not purchase the tach or is the tach gauge the necessary link to the etec computer? Just trying to justify a purchase of the new 9" hds and if I can save money on gauges itll be a no brainer for me but I cant imagine it will be that simple. thanks for any input...-bryan

Re: Evinrude Icon Gauges

TheHookUp said:

is [it] necessary at all to have the [ICON] gauges if you have a [L]owrance [HDS]. ...is the tach gauge the necessary link to the [E-TEC] computer?

Click to expand...

Bryan--The HDS connects to the NMEA-2000 backbone. The E-TEC engine connects to the NMEA-2000 backbone. The EMM in the E-TEC sends the data about its engine parameters to the EMM network. The HDS gets that data from the network. It is not necessary to purchase any other instrumentation for this to happen.

(Sorry for the late reply, but I just found this unanswered thread.)

If you want to install Evinrude ICON Pro gauges, the first gauge to install is the RPM gauge (or tachometer). The ICON Pro RPM gauge is the link between the NMEA-2000 network and the other ICON Pro or ICON Accessory gauges. See

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/ICONgauges.html

for more details. The above article is a comprehensive source of information on Evinrude ICON gauges.