Garmin GPsMap 943xsv &their Captain app real world feedback

[BlueFlu15]

Hi all- I’m looking to update my boat’s 15+ year old electronics. I was planning on updating the existing Garmin fish finder / transducer this year and hopefully add radar next year.

I really like the idea of mounting 943xsv and having the kids use an old ipad with the captain app (navigation, fish finder, etc) on the deck. It’s finally on sale at WM. I know it’s risky but the kids are starting to get into fishing.

Any current users with feedback in this specific Garmin and the captain app?

Any insight is greatly appreciated!! Thx in advance.

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

I use the ActiveCaptain App now for many years and it does it's job as supposed.
You can plan routes, see your waypoints, update your devices and has the screen mirroring feature.
I used screen mirroring in the beginning on the tower on my Venture 34 on a 16" tablet, but it was too complicated and unpractical so i bought a 7xx unit for there.
As far i remember when you activate the screen mirroring then it disable the use of the main screen, but that was back in 2017 so that may have changed.

Regarding the 943xsv, i had two older 7" versions and they did the trick, but are limited as budget models.
Depending on what you want to connect you may choose a more expensive GPSMAP unit.
Radar on a 9" unit is ok, but only when full screen, if you share screen with Charts or depth sounder you will not see a lot on the radar window as too small. If radar is a requirement i would buy a second 9" mfd to run radar only, a older model would work fine as it's only a display, as long it has a network port to connect the radar.

Chris

 

[Mustang65fbk]

I've got the same setup, it's a Garmin 943xsv on my 2004 Grady White 228 Seafarer and I really like it. Some on here seem to think a 9" MFD is too small, or that you need dual screens, of which I honestly don't think you do on a smaller 22' boat. Especially when you've got an iPad that you can mirror the screen on. I think it's priced decently and has all the features I need, without spending double on a larger sized MFD just for the sake of spending extra money for no reason. I have no complaints with mine and would recommend it to someone who is looking for that size of an MFD, especially one that is strictly touchscreen and doesn't have any buttons on it. I've also got a Garmin GT56-UHD transducer on my boat.

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

I think that having radar and map on a 9" screen makes the size of the radar screen too small to see small targets, thats why i would prefer to have two, or if feasible to run radar only on the 9" screen. I had it and i found it too small with two screens on 9" screen if i need to rely on the radar screen for safety reasons to avoid collisions under low light or fog/rain conditions.
Radar with map overlay would show both but i hate to have the radar screen cluttered with waypoints or other stuff as it makes detecting radar targets harder and hypothetically to become overseen.
Chris

 

[Hookup1]

Active Captain with a iPad is great tool. They can bring up the helm screen and do anything you can do at the unit. Sunlight readability will be problem. It’s also how you install maps and updates.

 

[SkunkBoat]

You did not mention which unit you have now. and which transducer? Will you be keeping that as part of your setup?
What size boat? where/how do you fish?
Will you have radar?

The GPSMAP 943xsv is IMO the best bang for buck on a smaller boat. It has most of the features of the top of the line GPSMAP units.
I have the 1243 and IMO the 1243 is worth the extra $. Cheaper than two 943s and you get usable split screen size.

I use the Active Captain for all of the software and map updates over wifi. It takes some learning to get the hang of that
I use it on my phone when I'm away from boat to look at the Relief Shading maps and find new places to check out.
I also rename new waypoints that I made the last few trips so they aren't just a bunch of sequential number with the same symbol. I delete waypoints that were just marking bait...
It all syncs with the 1243 when I get back to the boat. .Its nice to be able to do that away from the boat.
I don't ever use the mirror functionality.

 

[Ekea]

I think that having radar and map on a 9" screen makes the size of the radar screen too small to see small targets, thats why i would prefer to have two, or if feasible to run radar only on the 9" screen. I had it and i found it too small with two screens on 9" screen if i need to rely on the radar screen for safety reasons to avoid collisions under low light or fog/rain conditions.
Radar with map overlay would show both but i hate to have the radar screen cluttered with waypoints or other stuff as it makes detecting radar targets harder and hypothetically to become overseen.
Chris

cant you overlay radar on your chart? that way you have both full screen on the same screen

 

[Mustang65fbk]

The GPSMAP 943xsv is IMO the best bang for buck on a smaller boat. It has most of the features of the top of the line GPSMAP units.
I have the 1243 and IMO the 1243 is worth the extra $. Cheaper than two 943s and you get usable split screen size.

Two 943xsv's are usually the same price, or sometimes even slightly less than a single 1243xsv. Currently on the Garmin website they've got a sale, I'm assuming for Black Friday, of which a single 943xsv is $1,299 and a 1243xsv is $2,799. Their normal MSRP, at least for the Garmin website, is $1,499 for the 943xsv and $2,999 for the 1243xsv, or the same price for two. I haven't seen it where the 1243xsv is cheaper, or at least significantly cheaper, than two 943xsv's, but I guess it's possible if you shopped around and found them on sale where the others aren't. Regardless, it's all a matter of preference whether you want two smaller screens or one larger one. I prefer two smaller sized screens so that you can separate out radar on one screen and mapping on the other, but that's just my preference.

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

cant you overlay radar on your chart? that way you have both full screen on the same screen

Yes i can, but as i wrote, then i have the radar screen cluttered with waypoints and other stuff what makes it harder to detect smaller targets, and those are what i need to look for when boating at night what i love.
I prefer to have the radar screen black and showing only targets, nothing else on my 12" 8412xsv, on a smaller display it would be even worst.
As i wrote, if radar is used for safety reasons, if radar is used for finding birds or just to detect large targets then it can be switched between the full screen pages, run two pages side by side or use radar overlay.

In Costa RIca i had a 7410xsv and found it uncomfortable to have radar in a two window screen, but thats me.

Chris

 

[Sardinia306Canyon]

I prefer two smaller sized screens so that you can separate out radar on one screen and mapping on the other, but that's just my preference.

Yep, thats what i prefer too, also for redundancy, but needs more space. Two 8" units give a much better view than one 12" one and may be cheaper too.
On my RIB with a small console i had the 7408 dash mounted and added later a 8410 on top of the dash and that worked great for me and the top mounted 8410 was not blocking my forward vision, but that depends on dash top height.

Chris

 

[Tuidawgs11]

Just bought my second 943XSV for my dash remodel on my 228, keep in mind if your running other devices (Radar) on the network and you would like the two units to interface you will need a network port (GMS 10) as the 943's only have one network input. The GMS 10 is $200-$250.

 

[Recoil Rob]

I have 2 943's on my 180. Some may say it's overkill, but when looking for small spots on the bottom of Long Island Sound having both is a real help.

They were the best bang for buck units I thought.

They are network together with the simple network cable. I have one in hall transducer and another transom mount.

One-day a connection got loose somewhere and one of them powered down. I used the other one in split screen to keep fishing, nice to have a back up.

I've only used the active captain for updates. Works slow, but it works.