What electronics are you running?

Started by David Hall, July 27, 2016, 04:05:26 PM

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David Hall

What brand of electronics do you have and how do you like them?
I found myself shopping for fish finders and suddenly Radars, and now I've decided to get a new MFD, radar, fish finder, AIS, and maybe thermal camera too. 
I'd like to know what you guys are running in your boats and what the pros and cons are.
Thank you

Keta

You are locked into Garmin charts but their menu system is the easiest and best I have used.
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

David Hall

I have been using navionics platinum plus and their 3D bottom view is my most favored feature.
I don't hardly use the fish finder for anything except finding the structure I'm looking for, canyon edges and rock piles, wrecks and such.  I can't live without it, fortunately most of the systems are compatible with it.
I'm hoping someone using simrad will chime in.

Tightlines667

#3
I like the Garmen chart plotters, and Furuno sounders with 1kw though hull Airmar trasducer.  Furuno radars are the best, Simrad and SiTec are a bit more economical.  If you want to mark bird piles on the horizon, go with an open Aray.  

Nice thing about furuno sounders, is the ability to run a black box which can feed data to a computer with software capable of updating custom 3d charts as you fish.  You need GPS data feed as well.  Most systems now days have the Chirp feature which allows you to cast the data to your phone or tablet.  

Nice to have integration capabilities with an autopilot as well.  

I don't like Hummingbird, or Lawerence for saltwater use.  I also steer clear of Raytheon/Raymarine electronics, despite the fact that they provide an economical alternative, and easily integrate with one another.  
I don't find them user friendly, and have heard of many problems surfacing over time (from marine electronic repair guys).

Just my opinions based on use, research, and talking to more knowledgable folks.

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

boon

Lowrance and Simrad are the same company (Navico), the target market is different so they have a slightly different feature-set.
Simrad is more focussed on the cruising/sportfishing market, primarily launches, so the gear has more networking features.
Lowrance is aimed at smaller trailerboat type setups so tends to have a couple more features for the $$ because you're not paying for things like autopilot integration.

The Lowrance Elite Ti range that is just launching is very good for the money, supports StructureScan out of the box, also things like WiFi integration are all included.

On the boat I often fish off, it's running a Lowrance HDS7 Gen2 with LSS-2 for chartplotting and StructureScan plus a Furuno FCV-627 with Airmar TM258 1kw transducer for really pinpointing fish and deeper water work

Tightlines667

Quote from: boon on July 28, 2016, 08:51:54 PM

On the boat I often fish off, it's running a Lowrance HDS7 Gen2 with LSS-2 for chartplotting and StructureScan plus a Furuno FCV-627 with Airmar TM258 1kw transducer for really pinpointing fish and deeper water work

Sound like a good setup there. 

I guess for most real world applications autopilot integration is not really needed anyways.  IlA stand alone autopilot allows you to simply.. set and maintain a course, then plot your progress separately.
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Keta

My Gen I HDS 5 interfaces with Otto well, they are both NMEA 2000 compatible and I would think Gen II and III would be too.
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

MarkT

#7
I have a Humminbird 1198c SI. It came with the boat when I got it.  It also came with thousands of spots from the saltwater tournament bass fishermen I got it from! I added a Navionics 644+ chip covering the West Coast and Hawaii.

I like the 10" display especially when having navigation and sonar on at the same time.

If I needed to replace it I'd look hard at Furuno, Simrad and Garmin. I'd want chirp for inshore.
When I was your age Pluto was a planet!

David Hall

Thanksfor all the input guys it's going to take me awhile to look at all these.  Some like furuno I have experience with.  odd not one person mentioned Raymarine?
I swear my head is going to explode before I finish this.


boon

Quote from: David Hall on July 29, 2016, 06:00:52 AM
Thanksfor all the input guys it's going to take me awhile to look at all these.  Some like furuno I have experience with.  odd not one person mentioned Raymarine?
I swear my head is going to explode before I finish this.



A lot of guys around here swear by the Raymarine Dragonfly units but again they're targetted at more of a small-boat market.

jzumi

I feel stuck with 9 year old Raymarine E80 gear.  I'd love to switch to Garmin but (a) the present stystem works; and (b) switching would mean everything- Chartplotter, radar, autopilot, transducer, FF = big bucks.

It's really a matter of money.  Perhaps a GoFund Me is in order!

John

David Hall

Not a bad idea starting a go find me page, but I tried that when I wanted to retire to a tropical island and buy a bigger boat.  I didn't get any help at all?

I would have been happier if my old Raymarine stuff had kept on working for a few more years too.
I wanted an upgrade but I didn't want to be forced to do it, it's just that everything stopped working now.
it's hard to decipher what brands are compatible with other brands, I have been running raymarine  e120 Classic, with furuno Navpilot 5011 and no problems at all so I hope my new system works with Navpilot.  I don't know yet and if it doesn't that adds another 3k for new AP. Or switch to furuno and I hear there are a ton of glitches with the new mfd. 
the search goes on!

Tightlines667

#12
Honestly... my theory, and I may be in the minority here, is to refrain from overspending on electronics.  I plan to get a good through-hull transducer, and pair it with a quality used Furuno or Si-tec sounder.  Buy a cheap used Garmin plotter with the local bath charts, and sometime diwn the road invest in a simple/rugged non-integrated autopilot.  

Seems to me like now days, there is alot of info, apps, etc.. available for free on your tablet, phone, or computer.  The prices on ruggedized devices have been dropping too.

Just my current opinions.

John
Hope springs eternal
for the consumate fishermen.

Keta

Quote from: jzumi on July 29, 2016, 05:35:05 PM
  Perhaps a GoFund Me is in order!

I was going to sell solar clothes dryer kits (rope and clothes pins) to fund my 2017 AT 5 day trip..... ;D
Hi, my name is Lee and I have a fishing gear problem.

I have all of the answers, yup, no, maybe.

A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.
Mark Twain

David Hall

Quote from: Keta on July 29, 2016, 07:37:06 PM
Quote from: jzumi on July 29, 2016, 05:35:05 PM
  Perhaps a GoFund Me is in order!

I was going to sell solar clothes dryer kits (rope and clothes pins) to fund my 2017 AT 5 day trip..... ;D

Lee I'll take one of those solar dryer kits!

John you are right about one thing for sure and that is all the major manufacturers are essentially turning the marine electronics industry in a new direction, Raymarine calls it the "Glass Bridge". It may be appropriately named!  They have taken the lead from the consumer tablet industry, integrating wifi peripherals and touch screens.  It may not be far off we will just have a hole in the helm and when you arrive to your boat you just stick your iPad in the hole.  Everything else is run from an app and built into the OS or provided by a card.
And like all other consumer electronics they have built in obsolescence.  You buy a new mfd and in five years or less new technology leads to introducing another new one, from that moment the 5 year old model you bought is officially retired, once retired the manufacturer promises to stock parts and offer service and support for an additional five years.  That means your mfd is dead to the manufacturer in ten years. 
So do we just plan that every 8-10 years we are going to purchase all new electronics?  Do you pull them at five years, sell them while they still work?  I want something that I never have to replace!  I haven't found it.