Greetings. I am buying a new boat soon - 23' cc. My family loves to fish and we're upgrading from our previous Pamlico River haunts to Bogue Banks. So gone is the bowrider, in with a new cc. I have been boating all my life but these new fancy electronic devices are not something I've kept up with.
So I know I want a big fancy 10" combo electronic device with sonar and GPS and all that good stuff. But I'm ignorant as to the details and have some questions:
1. What kind of transducer do I want/need? What are the considerations?
2. Laugh if you want but I want an auto-pilot and I want to be able to tie it into a GPS course. I chartered a trawler with this combo once and was blown away by how cool it was.
3. I want to be able to see weather but short of a radar on my boat. Is there no service that provides weather radar images via satellite?
4. With these new fancy devices that appear to provide User Interface for all of these functions on one 10-inch screen (amazingly not touch-screens - what the heck), why do I see so many boats with multiple electronic devices mounted on the dash? Seems to me like one is more than adequate - they all even support split screens in any configuration you wish...
5. Lowrance vs Garmin - any functional difference versus just brand loyalty and user interface?
Any general thoughts given my intended use, which is general boating, fishing, with the goal of moving to off-shore trips at a comfortable pace?
So I know I want a big fancy 10" combo electronic device with sonar and GPS and all that good stuff. But I'm ignorant as to the details and have some questions:
1. What kind of transducer do I want/need? What are the considerations?
2. Laugh if you want but I want an auto-pilot and I want to be able to tie it into a GPS course. I chartered a trawler with this combo once and was blown away by how cool it was.
3. I want to be able to see weather but short of a radar on my boat. Is there no service that provides weather radar images via satellite?
4. With these new fancy devices that appear to provide User Interface for all of these functions on one 10-inch screen (amazingly not touch-screens - what the heck), why do I see so many boats with multiple electronic devices mounted on the dash? Seems to me like one is more than adequate - they all even support split screens in any configuration you wish...
5. Lowrance vs Garmin - any functional difference versus just brand loyalty and user interface?
Any general thoughts given my intended use, which is general boating, fishing, with the goal of moving to off-shore trips at a comfortable pace?