Need Electronics - Help

[Pagoda64]

I am in a 25' Parker WA. Most fishing will be in the Chesapeake Bay. Stripper, flounder, spade, cobia, trout, etc.. I have been looking at Raymarine, Furuno, Simrad, Nortstar and Garmin. I had a Garmin 2006c in old boat. Not happy with Fish Finder. With the new boat, I will be adding Radar and autopilot either now or later. Garmin has an interesting unit, but I have to take the new boat in the next few weeks. Dealer is giving free install. With your recommendations, I am looking at in hull, with concerns on thick Parker Hull or transom mount. I would like to see better Fish Finding than on the 2006c. I never knew what was bait, beer cans, fish or whatever else. Looking at $2500-$4000.00. Will come back with radar and autopilot in the next few months. Mainly looking for GPS, Chart and Fish Finder to start. Please HELP!!!

 

[Outta Here]

IMO, Furuno has always been the leader in marine electronics. Go to any working marina and look at what the commercial boats use.

I have a Furuno 600L which has been pretty much the class of the field for years. Now, 2 new Furuno "digital" units get even better reviews. The Airmar Tilted-Element transducer works great, and is now able to handle up to 1000 watts (although I doubt you would need that much in the Cheaspeake).

Do a search at THT and Florida Sportsman. Although other brands may have more "gee-whizz" features, look at how many fail. By the way, "By Owner Marine Electronics" at THT is a great place to do business (best price and service of anyone I have ever dealt with). They did have some super deals on Furuno GPS/plotters.

 

[JWL]

In the price range of which you speak, Furuno is probably the best made IMO.

 

[CHASINGTUNA25]

I PUT A RAYMARINE C80 ON MY PARKER 2520 LAST SUMMER. IT WORKS GREAT, YOU MAY WANT TO LOOK INTO IT. IT WAS VERY EASY TO INSTALL ALSO.
GOOD LUCK,
SCOTT

 

[stonebuster]

I had the 600L Furuno on my last Parker and loved it. Have a C-80 now and am very pleased with the FF, as well as the chart plotter and radar. If you get the c-80 you can add the radar later if you like and save some space too. I kept my old Furuno GPS on dash for redundancy and so I could go full screen on c-80 while using Furuno GPS at times. The c-80 is now flush mounted on my XL.

 

[Porkchunker]

I have the older Raymarine L755RC 7" grayscale fishfinder with chart, and the RL70CRC color radar with chart displays. They are linked via SeaTalk, HSB2, and NMEA to a 4kw radome, WAAS GPS antenna, and ?? depth/speed/temp transducer. I got both with chart capability so if one display ever failed, I could move the C-MAP+ chip to the other display for map data. I have the NMEA wired so that if the WAAS CPS antenna (on SeaTalk) ever failed, I could attach my Garmin GPSMAP 60C handheld for position data.

I've found that you don't need color radar, so I move the radar display over to the grayscale FF unit, and then do split-screen on the color unit with chart and FF.

Works great.

 

[pelagic2530]

wouldnt go anywhere else but furuno :wink:

 

[Parker 28]

I'm on my third boat and have had Raytheon, Sitex, Interphase, Raymarine, Lowrance and most recently Furuno Navnet. I'd go with Raymarine or Furuno IMHO.

 

[Porkchunker]

Here is a pic of the way I mounted the transducer on the transom...on a starboard plate. The plate is mounted once, permanently with 5200 in all screw holes. Many transducers can come/go without ever punching another hole in the transom.

The pic also shows the Cobra plates.