Electronics - wants vs needs

[Bill Roosa]

Barry!

Sorry if I caused the thread to become hijacked. The bottom line is it's your boat and you need to get what you think you need.My two cents is the following make it easy to sail (but know how to be safe with out them): in order of importance all the USCG safety devicesa magnetic compasspaper chartsa VHF that is usable and hearable at the helmdepthREALLY BRIGHT nav lightswind directiona 12 volt 3x10^9 candle hand held spotlight for those night approachesknots (through the water) GPS without a plotter as you already have to buy the paper chartsradar mounted as high as practicalAutopilot (with wind sensor if possible)wind speedWhen buying all this stuff try and make sure the language they all speak is the same. While most will speak NEMA it is not a good networking language unless you get the NEMA 2000. Seatalk by Raymarine is an excellent language

 

[Rob Hessenius]

Barry

Barry- You might find a better price on Lowrance 332,334,337 or 339's out there. If that is your brand choice. I will say that the two common problems that seem to plague Lowrance units are bad card readers or loss of antenna signal. When I have sent them back for repair, the turn aroud is about 10 days. I think these units should meet your requirements. Screen resolution is something only your eyes will deem satisfactory. I dont think its really that big of a deal, but being able to see it in sunlight is most important. I really like the Lowrances screens, bright, great color contrast and viewable from all angles. They all have NEMA outputs now and should simply match-up to your VHF. My only comment about Standard Horizon radios are that they been around for a long time and have produced some good products in that time.I will say this that I am a Garmin fan. I like there simplicity to run feature. The processing speed is much quicker too, but Lowrance has the screens. Rob Hessenius

 

[RAD]

Here's what I did,

Barry, I have a 32 ODay centercockpit with a shoal draft keel and when I bought it the depth sounder was a no name unit with the transducer mounted right under the cockpit so replacing that system was on my to do list,I already had a Garmin 182 chartplotter and every time I needed to look at the depth someone was sitting in front of it so I bought the Garmin sounder that gives me depth right on the GPS screen thats mounted at my Edson steering post and what a pleasure its been.(it also shows me where all the fish are)The new sounder transducer was mounted at the bow of the boat so if I'm feeling my way around I'll have a little more warning than the old system which I'm leaving alone for backup.I also have the Standard Horizon with the RAM mic so I have a radio in both the main and aft cabins,the main radio is within reach of the helm and its hooked up to my gps showing position on the radio.