Thank You for the reply. I went to the West Marine in Brick New Jersey. Karl walked me through several things and I'm liking the 943xsv combo with the radar. He showed 56UH transducer. Was considering a 943 next to it if space allows to separate the gps and radar when running. I read somewhere that the CL7 can also show anything from the linked units. Is that true?
I don't have a CL7 but everything I read says you can use it like a 7607 and run charts/sonar/radar on the garmin network.
I reasearched everything Garmin recently for my upgrade.
West Marine has not been competetive on price. Check out Hodges or GPSstore online.
943 is new model and not discounted. You may still find 942xs
Plus discounted to use as 2nd mfd???
943 has "better" screen, full sonar with added UH frequencies (xsv instead of xs(no sidevu)), SD card moved to back, added J1939 port (942 does not have J1939 for yamaha connection)
Consider a 1243xsv if you can squeeze one in. You can split screen when need but still have a huge screen when needed...
Price is less than two 943s.
Again, you might still find a discounted 1242xsv
Plus. This is nearly the same as a 1243 and has a J1939 connector and Yamaha screen (at least thats what my owners manual says...)
A GT56UH will do fine for coastal fishing. It is a lower watt unit though as are all the "UH" transducers.
It will be great out at the reef sites. Get out of that bay and explore. You'll be running 50 miles for bluefins in no time.
If you get two, don't get a second MFD without sonar. The difference is maybe $150. With another sonar you open up the possibility down the road of adding a 1kw thruhull like a B175HW