I have a Lowrance 5" color combo unit that really works out well. Again, for a smaller boat, a less expensive option that works makes sense. You can spend many thousands on Raymarine and Furuno electronics, and for a bigger boat I'd probably go that way. But for a coastal boat the simpler units and smaller screens are fine.
Lowrance has an excellent reputation for customer service and easy to use, functional, and dependable units. My boat had the display unit mounted but nothing else. I put a transom 'ducer on so I could have temp readout, and because they're cheap. BTW, it was suggested that I mount a piece of starboard with 5200 and two screws to the transom, that way I could mount as many units as I wanted without drilling a bunch of holes in the boat. That has worked out really well. Anyway, once I got the transducer connected I realized the head unit had quit, so I sent it back to Lowrance and they replaced it without question and without any documentation. I thought that was pretty good. They are super easy to deal with and stand behind their product 100%. It has worked flawlessly for the last two years now.
Last year I found a GPS antenna on ebay for $150, and the Nauticpath chart chip for $80, so I was able to get that part of it working too. You can get a 5" color combo display unit for $500-$600. The accessories do come up on ebay and you can save some money that way. I'm well under a grand for the whole setup: finder with temp, 50-200mgz ducer, gps, and chart pack.
I also have a Garmin handheld unit I bought when I had a 15' RIB. They work well in tandem, plus it gives me a backup for GPS nav. I put a velcro strip on the helm and use the handheld for the navigation rose to a waypoint, and put the chart up on the Lowrance. When I get to my fishing grounds I have a nice color finder to use, with temps, fish marks, and lots of detail.
While the combo unit will display a split screen, the two panels are awfully small on a 5" screen. I wouldn't plan on using it much that way. Also, when it's rough, it's very difficult to run menu's and such on any of them.
I don't have radar, but if I was doing much night work offshore, or if we had a lot of fog then it would be a must. For some shorleline fog and long-distance navigating, the GPS works out really well.
My preference would be to flush mount my combo unit with my Icom 502, but the electronics box is so darn handy for storage. There isn't much storage handy on the 208 helm, so it would be a real loss.
Let us know what you decide on and how it works out.
