Electronics upgrade advice?

Discussion related to commercial salmon trolling, boats, gear, fishing techniques, electronics, marketing, etc.
Post Reply
mattakfish
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 7:30 am
Spammer?: No

Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by mattakfish »

I'm looking to upgrade my sounder and radar and would love to hear some thoughts on going with garmin. Currently, I have an older Furuno Radar (1720) that takes up a lot of space and has limited and/or expensive options to set up a remote display (I want a radar in the pit). My sounder is an older Furuno 667 with a RD30 remote display in the pit. The remote just shows the depth, no picture and it died this summer. Thought maybe it was time to upgrade rather than spend more money on old equipment. Rather than buy separate sounder and radars along with two displays for each, I am considering going with two new garmin chartplotter/sounder/radar combo displays (the 1040, 840, or touchscreen 741xs) along with a garmin radome (either the 18hd or the 18xhd). Looks like I can get an adaptor to plug into my old transducer until I can afford a new one that makes use of the upgraded sounder features. Has anyone used these particular garmin units and what do you think? Anyone hook a new garmin up to an older transducer? Anyone go with the touchscreens instead of keyed units?
Of course, I could maybe find an old 1720 radar and 667 sounder to hook up in the pit...but not sure how long they'll last under my relatively open hayrack.....not much room for another electronics box.
Matt on the F/V Aurora
Trnaround
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 12:56 pm
Spammer?: No

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by Trnaround »

I put a Garmin network system on my boat in 2008. 4212 in the wheelhouse 4208 in the pit(integrated). The radar overlay is excellent, the chart plotter is ok for navigation but not detailed enough to fish effectively although it is a good back up. I use the Nobeltec plotter on a dedicated lap top with it's own Furuno sounder. (redundancy ) The Garmin sounder is ok but the Furuno is better. For navigation the Garmin works well, the course can be set and drives the autopilot (Comnav 1001) and it follows the course perfectly, even better than the 1001 on its own. It has the capablity of video, ais, and xm radio and or weather (which doesn't work in Alaska). The problems I have had have been the power plug connections were poor, maybe they have corrected this but over time the connection would become weak and the whole system would shut down. I had to replace the power cord plug was all but figuring it out was difficult. The downside of a networked system is that potentially you could have all of your systems down at once, not good. Building in redundancy is a good idea. So the Garmin system is good but not everything you need in my opinion. I hope that is helpful Matt.
mattakfish
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 7:30 am
Spammer?: No

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by mattakfish »

Thanks...I definitely agree on the redundancy thing. I plan to continue to using my laptop w/coastal explorer as my primary navigation/fishing device. I am mainly looking for a new radar and sounder with fully functional displays for the house and pit....the chartplotter function will be one of several backups I have aboard (a spare laptop, navionics on the phone, a standard horizon plotter in the house and a little garmin in the pit. Maybe a bit overkill at this point). I was tempted by furuno standalone radar and sounder units....but it's too costly to add the second display for each. Redundant sounders would be nice as well. If I install a 2nd transducer, I will still be able to use my old sounder in a pinch.
Matt on the F/V Aurora
curmudgeon
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 100
Joined: Sat Aug 25, 2012 10:57 am
Spammer?: No

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by curmudgeon »

There was a thread on the Forum last year about the new Nobeltec CATCH program and upgrading to the new Furuno "black Box" network sounder that offers the new CHIRP sweep-frequency improvement in target resolution. Having fished with it now for almost two seasons, I would never go back. It's like the difference between black-and-white and technicolor!
I run the split-screen image (map/bathy and depth trace) out to the cockpit display. For back-up, we have Coastal Explorer running on a separate computer/GPS and an older SiTex color sounder which can be moved from wheelhouse to cockpit if the primary system fails.
Kruzof was crazy last summer, so I'm also interested in getting video and radar back to the cockpit now too!
Trnaround
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 215
Joined: Sun Nov 20, 2011 12:56 pm
Spammer?: No

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by Trnaround »

The thing I really like about this system is radar overlay. There are quite a few systems that accept radar overlay, I think you need a digital radar, but I could be wrong on that. Nobeltec now has a radar unit that is supposed to overlay on their "Catch" program, that would be sweet. I have a buddy that just set one up but hasn't used it yet. It's new, and there may be bugs but that is something to look at. (Not inexpensive ) Love radar overlay.
spike christopher
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:31 pm

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by spike christopher »

I have a new Lowrance system, radar, plotter and fathometer. All the information on the system can be transmitted to a monitor by a ethernet cable, a very simple process. You can watch all three at a time or one at a time. The broad band radar draws very little power and can show objects as close as fifty feet away. All the bells and whistle. To overlay the radar onto the plotter will cost you though.
mattakfish
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 88
Joined: Sat Nov 17, 2012 7:30 am
Spammer?: No

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by mattakfish »

I was looking for that feature......to be able to buy one head unit and have a direct video out so I can just use my flatscreen monitor for the pit. I'll check into that. Thanks.
Matt on the F/V Aurora
Salty
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 2399
Joined: Thu Feb 14, 2008 1:46 pm

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by Salty »

How much Spike?
spike christopher
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 79
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:31 pm

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by spike christopher »

It is not cheap, but cheaper than buying them as stand alone. The one I got is totally water proof and can be in the cockpit with out a shield.
Lowrance unit with the four insturments, radar, fathometer, plotter and insturments abilities...........2300.00
transducer 50 and 200klz 220.00
broad band radar dome to 24 miles this unit has less radiation than ones cell phone and only takes 2 amps to run......1200.00
I was able to install every thing myself althrough the transducer was a headache.
two years old and no problems yet.
Once and Future
Site Supporter
Site Supporter
Posts: 382
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2008 2:59 pm

Re: Electronics upgrade advice?

Post by Once and Future »

Seems like it would be hard to keep saltwater spray out of the ethernet connections.
Post Reply