Boat Electronics

[23mako]

Not sure what size boat you have but I have Lowrance HDS7 on a 23 mako I picked it because of the large screen and low price but I am on the fence about liking I find the menus still confusing after several years it still takes me several minutes to find the right page to change the setting I am looking for. My old garmin was infinitely easier to operate. I have the combo unit with the transom transducer and can not get a clean read there is a lot of noise/debis on the screen not matter how I set the sensitivity. I am guessing it is due to the placement of the transducer but it is in the same spot as the 2 previous ones were so not sure why it is a problem now for this reason I would use the thru hull transducer. I will also say I preferred may previous set up where I had a separate screens for GPS and Fish finder much better in my opinion

For my next upgrade I will likely not go with Lowrance but go back to Garmin

Hope it helps

[bloocrab]

So where are we finding the best deals in boat electronics these days?

PMs welcome.

Pricing this one out

[bloocrab]

Does anyone own the GPSMAP 740s?

If so, did you go with the BlueChart G2 Vision bundle??
Do you think it makes that much of a difference to validate the additional cost if you did/didn't?

What about the transducer? Standard 50/200 w/o temp/speed?
The 1KW is so danm expensive......if you went that route, are you happ(ier)?

Too new to this to make an uneducated guess...HELP?
Can anyone share any insight? I've read up on some, but experience (most times) far exceeds manuals and ads that sell the product.

I asked the girl working at WestMarine if she could show me the difference with the 1KW, she said it wasn't set up to show the difference??? (50/200 vs 1KW)

[Raider Ronnie]

50/200 is the frequency not watts.
1K watt transducer or 600 matt is pretty much the standard off the shelf choice.

[Got Stripers]

PM sent, love mine, bought standard mapping and it's fine as is, mine was bundled with radar and I used existing transducer from old 188C Garmin.

[piemma]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

Does anyone own the GPSMAP 740s?

If so, did you go with the BlueChart G2 Vision bundle??
Do you think it makes that much of a difference to validate the additional cost if you did/didn't?

What about the transducer? Standard 50/200 w/o temp/speed?
The 1KW is so danm expensive......if you went that route, are you happ(ier)?

Too new to this to make an uneducated guess...HELP?
Can anyone share any insight? I've read up on some, but experience (most times) far exceeds manuals and ads that sell the product.

I asked the girl working at WestMarine if she could show me the difference with the 1KW, she said it wasn't set up to show the difference??? (50/200 vs 1KW)

I have the 546 with the BlueChart G2 bundle and love it. I have all Garmin on my boat including a GDL40 which overlays weather on my map in real time. Everything is hooked together using a NMEA2000 Network.

[bloocrab]

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful stuff.

Piemma, the NMEA2000 network, is that just basically T's and NMEA wires? and your obvious GPS screen/plotter right?

[piemma]

Originally Posted by bloocrab

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful stuff.

Piemma, the NMEA2000 network, is that just basically T's and NMEA wires? and your obvious GPS screen/plotter right?

Yup. Everything including the fishfinder, which is a separate unit, are connected with the NMEA wires and T's. They then basically work in conjunction with each other and share information.

[nightfighter]

Got an email from W est Marine saying they have the 740s on sale Friday only for 750.00.