upgrade's on boat
 

ok guys i'm going to put some upgrade's on my boat was going to put trim tabs and jackplate but i think i am just going to go with the jackplate and put the trim tabs on later......i also am going to get a chartplotter i know everyone is sold on garmin (including me from the handhelds) My question is what series is the best for the money. I have been looking at the 420s how much better are the upper series and is it worth the extra money. I mainly fish big lake but i do fish alot at toledo so would won't something that is good on both

thanks
adam

damn 26 views and none of yall have a chartplotter....i thought yall were all 6 figure salary people that work at nasa.....i guess everyone is just as poor as me

AFENCE, good choice with jack plate and I second the Garmin but,,,, personally I would check 2cool for used before dropping new money. They have a ton of people that love to upgrade every year and their loss could be your gain.:smokin:

:*****: :*****: :*****:

Hell, I done forgot what I was gonna say, now.

Looking to get one also Adam. I haven't really started to research them yet, I still have a couple more things to get before that. Maybe toward the end of summer. I do have charts and GPS along with depth/fish finder. I have a friend that has a Lowrance Plotter, not sure of model, with the gulf chip in it. When he asked me to wire it up for him, I convinced him to wire it up with a power plug which I did. (Now I can use it if I need it.) and I do like useing it. Even when I go to Big Lake. You Know where the terrain changes are.
The Tabs are nice if people tend to move around in your boat, or if your ice chest gets heavy and it's on the side of the boat. But they take a little while to get use to them too. But once you do, you can have the attitude of the boat where you want it. I am still trying to get use to it. Da#%, there's just too many additional things to look at for a boat these days. I guess it gives me a good reason to keep working for the man...

i was looking for a good GPS also... I have an offshore huge chartplotter that came on the boat. If anyone is interested in buying this... its fer sale $100 and its urs.... Have all wiring and the antenna.

Adam, sorry for hijacking the thread !

I want it Jordan, but this is Adams thread, he has first shot at it. Other than that if it works it's sold.

its yours i'm looking for something in the smaller range ( not much room on my console) .......I have a handheld i use i just haven't been able to find the chip that will work in it to make it like the garmins those things are neat

I would get the 540 series by Garmin. My uncle has one and it is nice. I have a Hummingbird lower end model 383C; however, the only issue I have with mine is that it is kind of hard to see the screen on a very sunny day. My next one will be a Garmin.

We have a lorance it's very good ,has just everything. Only bad thing is you will spending about 800, what are you look to do with it? Just simple stuff?

what does the Sounder do on these models?

listens to the fish talking ?? :*****:

Now Jordan...how is this information helpful to Adam?

I would get a Garmin 441S it comes pre loaded with the coastal maps,very nice unit http://www.thegpsstore.com/Garmin-GP...ion-P2170.aspx

ok .... what does a sounder do ?

i want one that they wont discontinue in 4 days....

Exactly what I was thinking

I have the 540 series on my boat and have had no problems with it. Installed it myself and was not that hard. It also doesnt take up alot of room on the console.

if i'd upgrade my boat in any way.. i'd be getting a powerpole =D

but.. i don't work at nasa either lmao

what is the advantage of the 540 over the 421

im not familiar with the 421 but i think it has more options and more views for the maps and charts. Is the 421 in color?

yes I went to garmins web site but I can't find a difference I'm sure it is the 421 is 100 cheaper

yea, also does it have built in antenna? That is something else to look at if that makes a difference to you.

The built in antennas are nice but if you have a cover it can block the sat. signal leaving you with a pretty screen to look at but no information. When I borrow my buddies from him, I have to put it in front of my wind shield or drop my biminy top. Just something to think about. Adam, I don't know if you have a t-top or cover above your console but you could use a handheld gps to see if your cover is blocking the signal. also DELORME (EARTHMATE) has a hand held unit that has plottchart and land /roads. It's about $250 and is small, but you can take it out of the boat easily (hand held) and goes with you regaurdless what boat your in.

Good point. I know the 540 does have a build in antenna.
My father-in- law also has a Garmin not sure the model but I remembered he paid well over $500 for it on Ebay a few years ago and it did not have an antenna.

i have a lowrance dont remember the model but paid over 800 for it and im not very impressed with it, now the customer service has been good. I have been having problems with it just freezing up and to fix it you have to reset it which if your waypoints aren't stored on the sd card they get lost. Not a major problem but still a problem, also have a problem with the screen having what i am calling "noise" on the depth finder. Have been told by a lowrance rep to try a few things like using a seperate ground instead of using the one off my terminal, and try rerouting my wires.

Personally I prefer Lowrance ... I have an older model LCX-15CI works great...it's a combo gps/sounder color unit.... the new Lowrance HDS are something to look at with a lot of options and there new Lowrance StructureScan
http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Mar...-Chartplotter/

I have a garmin 3010 chartplotter. Its discontinued just like any others that are over 2 years old, but I love it!!! big screen, radar and xm capable, and more options than you can keep up with. It is not a combo, so the sounder module is separate. They are pricey though(1800+) the only reason I have it is because it came with the boat.

furuno

i have a garmin 440 s on my boat an i love it....it is real easy to work and read

I have the 4208 garmin. thing is awesome. The only thing is it is big,but thats what I wanted. I had a 476c? before handheld. Had it mounted on the dash,but couldnt see the screen that good while I was underway.

yeah the only man two problems we had with ares is that we got the built in attena an we have it mounted in front the wind shield if some one is sitting in front the console it will cut out the signal also we had a problem with it cutting off out of no were an like you say yo lose all your points we thought they had some sleep mode but we called them up an said they did not, we fount or or what we think the problem was before we had it going threw a switch on the console, those switches went to the starting battery an the dropping of volts the system would cut its self off, so now we ran it straight to the trolling battery, but if we do get another one i would say get the external attena makes life a lot easier

Me 2.....the 420 series ONLY has inland waters on it. The 440 series has coastal waters
The maps are preloaded, no upgrade needed.......I got mine at west marine awhile back on sale for 400 bucks........but guess what!!! The transducer does NOT come with it, costs and extra 70 bucks......but I can't complain at all, this plotter is the best money I've spent on the ol. Cape horn........Tim

alright got my funding together i have found some good deals online but would like to buy local in case of problems....I'll be in lake charles tom. gonna go to academy and is there any other places i need to check that would carry the chartplotters in lc...

also as far as my jackplate southside welding across from dhp is going to build me one and put it on for 260. i thought that was a pretty good deal. i bought one for my 25 and it held up and looked great

I am absolutely amazed with the lowrance structure scan. from what i hear, the garmins are the easiest to use, but this new lowrance technology is sick!!

was originally going to get a garmin in my new boat, but now i am getting the lowrance hd5 with structure scan. sick, sick sick!!!

west marine

where is west marine at

mike- how much are them things they look awesome but most of the time awesome is out of my price range

west marine is in front of target

lol - you and me both, but this dang haynie is sending me to the poor house anway.

the HD5 with structure scan is $1200. structure scan alone is $600...

good that is one of my wife's stops target (glad i can't walk a whole bunch)

i went all over lc today noone but west marine had what i wanted in stock guy was very helpful just 100 bucks higher. ended up ordering one online. i got the inland version and will probly just by the coastal chip if i start going out anyfarther than it covers.

this is what i got
http://www.gpsonsale.com/garmin/prod...utmk=223438235

got them in
 

got my jackplate put on today and my chartplotter came in.....now i got to figure out how to get the transducer wire to the back of my boat. Any suggestions

Well it all depends.
If you are lucky, there is a spare wire not tie wrapped you could use to pull it.

If not, then look for an existing wire or cable that is not tie wrapped in the hull. Use it to pull 2 wires in thru the hull leave one and use the other to pull the new line plus the existing line back thru.


If they are tie wrapped in the hull. The it's a matter of trying to snake a fish tape thru. If this is the case you probably need 2 people one on each end. Have the other person move the cables around to help make room for the fish tape to go thru.

with my luck im guessing this is what i'll be doing....

What they said is the way I did mine before.

It looks like the throttle and shifter cable may not be tie wrapped. It is not very hard to disconnnect one of those and use.


However, I'd try another wire first.

I have Garmin441S. Just got it last year. It has fishfinder and gps. I love it. Paid like $500 for everything. And I have trim tabs but I broke the switch and can't find a new one. I just pulled them all the way up.