Fishfinder

[mkalink]

I have had them all,Garmin, lowrance, hummingbird, and raymarine just to name a few. I now use Furuno except for my autopilot, it is Raymarine. I have the Nav Net II series 10.4" screen with radar and GPS and I have a seperate fishfinder it is Furuno 620. I love this set up and works well for me. If I were to change anything I would get the Furuno 585 fishfinder. Its the same as the 620 but a larger screen. The Radar/GPS unit was expensive ($4000 +) with raydome and sensor, plus an electronic compass so the radar can be overlayed the GPS. The fishfinder and transducer was around $1000. I did like the garmin unit I had, it was very user friendly. This Furuno equipment is much more difficult to figure out. I spent days at the dock just going through the manual and learning how to use all the features. I also prefer C-MAP charts over Navionics, C-MAP more accurate and better detail. Just my 2 cents worth on marine electronics. There are a lot of deals out there now on electronics. Check out thegpsstore.com, defender.com, tuppensmarine.com, boe.com, just to name a few, if you know what your looking for you can find some great used equipment on E-Bay. I avoid Bass Pro and Cabelas for electronics, great places to purchase tackle but when it comes to electronics they don't have a clue. One more thing I have a good amount of cash wrapped up in electronics, but I did also purchase a top of the line compass and a good set of charts learned how to use them.

[SmilinEd]

Mkalink,

The Furuno 585 looks very interesting. I will call gpsstore tomorrow. What transducer did you go with.? Even though the unit does not have gps/charts. i'm not against 2 pieces of electronics on dash.

Anyone for the pros and cons of have 2 separate units, one fishfinder/sounder and one for gps/charts..?

Thanks for everyone's input.

Best to all

Ed

[gregnwtf]

Mkalink,

The Furuno 585 looks very interesting. I will call gpsstore tomorrow. What transducer did you go with.? Even though the unit does not have gps/charts. i'm not against 2 pieces of electronics on dash.

Anyone for the pros and cons of have 2 separate units, one fishfinder/sounder and one for gps/charts..?

Thanks for everyone's input.

Best to all

Ed

I cant think of any cons but the pros would be , if one doesnt work you still have the other. You dont have to flip flop screens like some units. Some units its hard to get the just right screen that just has all the info right there. two units you can set one up and still be looking at the other. One boat I run has 2 gps and one fishfinder. Only have to zoom in-out. Spend more time fishing and less time playing with electronics. If you are fishing the eastern depths of Erie the sidescanning option would be a waste in my mind.

[ebijack]

I've been running 2 units on my dash for 10 yrs. 3 units now since the raymarine only gets used part time.. see other post. when running around the islands etc I run both as gps with depth displayed digitally on the screen. one zoomed in to 1 to 2 miles the other zoomed out to 8 miles. this way I can stay on track for where I'm going to start looking for fish and make sure I don't get to close to any of the reefs. also when it gets nasty out there. much easier to stay on course with shorter glances at the screens as my eye sight sucks then I switch to fishfinder when I'm ready to start looking for fishable fish.

[wnyguy]

Haha wait until you get to decide on a chip if you are going to go that route, decision time all over again. I put a humminbird 788ci on my boat, first year with it and was happy with it. Also this is my first year on lake erie so not much experience. I also bought the navionics hotmaps, and it was everything I wanted, shows nice depth contours etc, but I do not fish in canada and also wanted some other lakes in ny. I don't think it shows canada? Also I am in the eastern basin. I found it was easy to get yourself too busy trying to find fish on electronics, sometimes you just need to fish.

[SmilinEd]

I think the 2 separate unit gps/charts and fishfinder makes good sense.

After reading up on the different combo units for 2 wks i have to say it was a little confusing. Thought there were many good options.

I think right now I am leaning towards the Furuno 585 and the Standard Horizon CP190i 5" color chartplotter.

Going to give it few days to digest...

Talked with the boat shop today, should have boat home by next saturday.

Just want to say thanks to everyone for their help/advice in this.

Any other last minute thoughts are still welcome.


Thanks again

Ed

[mkalink]

I have always had seperate fishfinder and gps, I really never liked the thought of switching back and forth on the same screen. My brother had a fishfinder/gps and I didn't like it too much (I gave him my Garmin unit and bought a new furuno unit) I like to know where I am going and I also like to watch for fish and different structure as I am going. The best day walleye fishing I ever had on my own boat could have never been if I was switching screens. I was running from north west of rattlesnake and just came around about 1 mile south of South Bass and right in the middle of the Miller Ferry Line I marked a bunch of fish. I shut the boat down and we started casting, 1 hour 15 minutes and 38 walleyes later we were heading back to East Harbor. This was a few years back when the limit was still 10. I always tell this story when somebody asks me whether to buy a multi unit or buy 2 seperate units.
I have a fishing buddy in the marina that has a standard horizon gps with a 10 inch screen, it is a very nice unit and very easy to see and operate. He also has a furuno 620 fishfinder too.
The transducer I have for my furno 620 is the SS60-SLD. The boat wasn't mine 24 hous yet and I drilled a 2 3/8" hole in the bottom of it, but it work great at all speeds. This same transducer can be used with the 585 also.

[SmilinEd]

Boat is home,

Feel like a boat owner now. Bought it 2 months ago, had the upgrades done. brought it home friday night. Just cleared the 10ft door with an inch to spare. lol Told the wife I didnt know what we were going to do when we add the Furuno DRS4A NavNet 3D 3.5' 4kw digital Open Array Radar on the hardtop, lol

I'll post pics next week.

Best to all

Ed