Chart Plotter/Fish Finder

[Bigplumbs]

To go with my new boat friends and family have offered to buy me a chart plotter/fish finder for her. I think the budget will be about £500 - 600. and I would like preloaded charts. I was wondering what you have and what you might recommend

Thanks

Dennis

[mlines]

We have Standard Horizon Kit (Radio and Plotter) and they are all interlinked on NMEA which makes it all nice and integrated. We have had exceptional support from Standard Horizon over the years so are very please.

However they seem to have stopped their low end plotter range and only go for the slightly more expensive medium range.

If I was renewing I would look for something that supported NMEA2000 as more and more instruments are supporting this bus based standard and therefore can talk to each other. For example, because our kit is the old NMEA0183 standard it only does point to point connections rather than bus and we have separate Smartcraft converters to read the engine data and our NMEA2000 compliant Fusion radio cannot connect.

[ColinR]

I have a Lowrance combination. Works well but the menus take some getting used to.

I prefer the setup on Garmin kit.

[sprocker]

I have Lowrance kit, HDS 7 combo chartplotter/sounder, and Link 5 VHF DSC radio.

HDS7, Link 5 and engine are all NMEA networked so I can get engine data on the chartplotter screen.

I found a huge amount of info and support online for Lowrance kit.

[Bigplumbs]

What about this on but I don't think you get the sounder included

http://www.mailspeedmarine.com/garmin-e ... ion_tabbed

[mlines]

Hmm, I agree its confusing about the Sonar sensor itself as the Garmin manufacturer site lists them as both with and without transducers

I use cactusnav as a source of my electronics

They have the 55dv at £417 including VAT but excluding the transducer

[annageek]

When we bought our Fletcher, it has a Garmin fishfinder (and transducer) already fitted. Therefore, I just bought a Garmin 451s sonar enabled chart plotter to replace the fish finder and used the existing transducer as the connections were the same. No screwing into transoms and no fishing cables through the boat... just the power cable and NMEA 0183 to link the plotter to the VHF meant it was fitted in under about 20 minutes.

I see in Gulfstream's video of The Cure from 2012 it has a Lowrance fishfinder... therefore, you could consider a sonar enabled Lowrance plotter so you don't have to shell out on the cost of a new transducer as well (thus using the saving to get a slightly better plotter for the budget). Unless the Lowrance plotters use NMEA2000 transducers (I know many of the high end ones do - but doubt the low-mid range models do) then I would imagine it should work.

Just a thought!

[Bigplumbs]

When we bought our Fletcher, it has a Garmin fishfinder (and transducer) already fitted. Therefore, I just bought a Garmin 451s sonar enabled chart plotter to replace the fish finder and used the existing transducer as the connections were the same. No screwing into transoms and no fishing cables through the boat... just the power cable and NMEA 0183 to link the plotter to the VHF meant it was fitted in under about 20 minutes.

I see in Gulfstream's video of The Cure from 2012 it has a Lowrance fishfinder... therefore, you could consider a sonar enabled Lowrance plotter so you don't have to shell out on the cost of a new transducer as well (thus using the saving to get a slightly better plotter for the budget). Unless the Lowrance plotters use NMEA2000 transducers (I know many of the high end ones do - but doubt the low-mid range models do) then I would imagine it should work.

Just a thought!

Great idea. Believe it or not I have not actually looked over the Cure in any detail yet. When I got her home (stored at my mums) it was dark and raining and since then with the dark nights I have not had an opportunity to actually study my purchase. We are going to do this on Saturday. I will look at the Lowrance then

Dennis

[SpiD]

Begin by deciding what GUI (graphical user interface) you fancy. Lowrance, Garmin, Stadard Horizon etc. Then decide on chart supplier (Navionics, C-Map or Garmin) - their features and options vary. Consider that is Nice to have and what is Need to have for your use.

NMEA 2000 (and earlier NMEA183) are well established standards for communication between marine devices of all sorts. As long as compatible with within these standards you can easily combine makes and models.

That said my recommendations would at all times be to get the largest possible plotter display, running the software and charts of your preference. Personally I find Garmin too 'toy-ish' hence chose Navionics above it. Executed on a Lowrance HDS and combined with a Simrad (same company group as Lowrance) Auto pilot it makes an extremely rugged navigational package, combining all units' info. So the AP makes use of data collected by the GPS (like for deciding rudder activity against speed) and the GPS makes use of the AP fluxgate compass (in combination with the compass data calculated from GPS signals). The AP reads the Lowrance HDS sounder signal to use for steering by depth, keeping the boat away from too shallow waters.

All plug'n'play within NMEA, so pretty simple to install and connect. The operation of course takes a bit of manuals reading..

[Bigplumbs]

I ave decided to go for the Garmin Echomap 55dv which is a combo unit with preloaded charts.

Now to prices (Excl the transducer)

RRP £499

Local marine stores have £429

Mainstream online stores have it for £ 399

Cactus have it for £375

Would you buy from Cactus

http://www.cactusnav.com/garmin-echomap ... 14677.html

Regards

Dennis