connecting fishfinder to gps - why?

As I have been looking at fishfinders, I see that man of them are capable of connecting to a gps (NMEA). <br /><br />I am new to the gps world and I don't understand why this is desired. I have a 16' center console. As a result, my gps and ff are next to each other. If I wanted to know my position, I can look at my gps. If I want to create a waypoint, I can do it directly on my gps. <br /><br />Most recreational fishing boats also appear to have these units next to each other. If it wasn't demanded by the market, I don't think the manufacturers would build in this functionality. What am I missing?<br /><br />Thanks

Re: connecting fishfinder to gps - why?

Bells and whistles, that's all.<br /><br />I've wondered this myself. Ya need the GPS to plug in a NMEA cable, I guess if the display on your GPS is isn't as "sunlight viewable" as say, your new Raymarine fishfinder.........

Re: connecting fishfinder to gps - why?

Fortunately, my gps also passed the "sunglasses" test. <br /><br />Maybe someone else has an idea...

Re: connecting fishfinder to gps - why?

My FF has much better plotting capabilites than my gps. Although it will do the job, the FF will do it way better. So I use the handheld Garmin GPS 72 for hunting, driving whatever, but can put it into the boat and hook it up to the ff. The ff only uses it for the antenna. Also, my gps has anchor drag and proximity alarms as does the ff. But what is nice is that I can set them at different increments. I fish at night, so the gps anchor drag can go off at for example, 10 feet. But if it gets serious, the ff will go off at 20 or 25 feet. Another example is if I will be anchored near a docked barge, I will troll up to it, mark it on the gps and set the proximity alarm. Then I can go to my spot and set the anchor drag alarm on the ff. If I start to move, the drag alarm goes off. But if I start getting too close to the barge, the proximity alarm goes off. When this happens, poles come in real fast in order to rectify the situation!!!! So even though my gps willmap, its nice to have both. Plus I can map all my fishing routes on the ff, and map everything else on the gps.

Re: connecting fishfinder to gps - why?

If you connect the GPS to a newer vhf radio it will enable the distress button on the radio. In an emergency the coastguard will be able to locate you by your coordinates. It automatically sends your GPS info to get you help in an emergency.

Re: connecting fishfinder to gps - why?

All fish finders are not mounted right next to the GPS and so in some cases it is desirable to at least be able to show information from one on the screen of the other. For instance I have my chartplotter right in front of the helm. The Fishfinder is on the other side of the cockpit. I do however continously display my depth, water temperature, and speed through the water on my GPS display. I also show Speed over the ground but it is almost no importance to me when we aren't running.<br /><br />So that's the other side of the coin. I have the GPS feeding the fish finder but I also have the Fish finder feeding NMEA data to the GPS so I can keep up with the information important to my fishing technique of preference.<br /><br />Thom

Re: connecting fishfinder to gps - why?

I think it has something to do with the Patriot Act.

Re: connecting fishfinder to gps - why?

Originally posted by 18rabbit:<br /> I think it has something to do with the Patriot Act.

Click to expand...

That explains it...<br /><br />Thanks Thom for your experience. That makes sense.