All New Electronics Package ?

[Ky Grady]

Thanks for all the input so far. I am strictly a recreational fisherman and as I said in original post, I don't think I need a high res. sounder as long as it can find the bottom and show me bottom structure as in sunken barges and old concrete pilings that make up the fishing reefs and such off the coast that I'm in search of for bottom fishing.

I like the Garmin 5000 series with the touch screen and have one of the Garmins for the car that's a touch screen and it preforms great. I have a friend in Fla. running a 3000 series all-in-one Garmin and he is happy with his setup.

Heading to the boat show in Charleston, SC the end of Jan. and last year the Garmin rep. was there so I will be hunting him down this year and will be bending his ear with questions galore. I'll also be placing a call to Jim @ BOE and get his take on these choices and see if ther are any issues I need to know about with either setup I'm considering.

 

[gradyfish22]

I'd go with Furuno , northstar and Simrad as best quality, then Garmin, then Raymarine. Raymarine has excellkent units but they have been having lots of issues, missing updates, water damage, screens having issues. They are very functional, but from the problems I've seen not worth the money. I work in the boating industry and my roomate installs marine electronics for a living...most of his work is installing Furuno, with Northstar GPS's. Simrad is next up, and then Garmin just for gps....no radar, and Raymarine last. Raymarine was very popular but took a huge nose dive lately in installation requests with his company...just poor products lately.

For GPS your best unit is a northstar for quality, ease of use go with Garmin, middle of road between ease of use and quality is furuno. The best radars are by furuno and raymarine...but raymarine screens are having issues so I'd lean towards furuno, northstar radar's aren't bad but pricey I think for what they are, and garmin is just ok...but any radar is better then no radar. As for plotters...furuno all the way or simrad if you wish to pay with your first born baby and then some...they are pricey.

I know fishing may not be your main purpose so you may only need the equipment for navigation, but for resale, putting better stuff on helps, if you put on lower quality stuff you get nothing because it will all need to be replaced and will have no value to a buyer...just a tip.

 

[Grog]

I wouldn't put too much emphasis on resale (assuming you keep the boat a few years). 4 year old electronics are classified as old and on the replace list.

Garmin does make a nice plotter. The software is very similar to the avionics versions. They are very easy to use but how "pretty" do the sreens have to be to tell you where you are?

 

[Hookup1]

Electronics

A friend of mine just upgraded to all Furuno NavNet 3D on a 56' Ocean. 1 x 8" and 2 x 12" screens, High Def Radar, black box fish finder and XM weather. Really nice displays - FAST scrolling, great images but expensive. Furuno is just now getting all the chart areas delivered.

On my GW Islander I'm running a Garmin 3006C chartplotter, weather, black box fish finder. My radar is an older Furuno. I'm also pleased with this setup but would like a larger display if I could fit it somewhere.

Another friend on a 36' Welcraft did an all Garmin setup. 4212 chartplotter, radar, weather, black box fish finder. I don't find the system to be as quick to navigate as NavNet 3D the menus or as expensive. All chart areas are available. Excelent images. Overall a great system.

Given your needs I would take a look at an all Garmin setup. The cost of a 5xxx is 50% more then the 4xxx chartplotters for the touchscreen capabilities. That is your call.

And forget resale - when I was shopping for boats it didn't seem to matter what they had on them related to the price.

 

[jfmagana]

I'm a big fan of Furuno and second the above suggestions for the NavNet hardware. It's not cheap, but, IMHO, it's the best quality, most rugged stuff you can buy. Furuno customer service is absolutely legendary. Check forums like The Hull Truth and you'll find many testimonials to their excellent service. Furuno tech support is great too...I have the Washington number on my Blackberry and have called them for installation and technical questions (hey, I'm an engineer...I'm lazy...why read the manual when I can just call and somebody gives me the answer).

I have a all in one unit and a back-up display. I also have a Furuno autopilot which has performed flawlessly since day one. It has a cool self-learning feature that enables it to maintain an accurate course regardless of the conditions. I also like the fact that I can simply move the cursor to a point, press "go to cursor", engage the autopilot and I'm on my way...total no-brainer.

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[Jerseyboy1946]

New Electronics

JiminGA,
Where did you locate your VHF ? I have a 226 and will be flush mounting the Fishfinder and GPS in the electronics box but need to relocate the VHF which is currently in the electronics box.

Thanks