combo or stand alone gps //sounder

[handline]

Hi all,Only seem to be online when I have a problem, but doing shift work has its drawbacks. I have a 5.2 Stebercraft with a recon 115 johnson motor.94 model. Want to spend about $1200 on gps and sounder.Have received good and bad vibes about combo units.Mainly split screen makes everything smaller. I do not want to go overboard on money because we want to buy a bigger boat with a newer motor that is more easy on fuel. I fish in sheltered waters but have just got 150 ltr tank and all safety items ,so will be crossing the local bar and venturing about 30 mile return trip . 50 mtres depth at most.Seems a little trivial problem but it all helps said the old woman as she peed in the sea

[the baker]

Handline

go with the best you can get with what ever unit you get if you go a combo unit get at least an 8 inch screen one other issue is if there is a problem and it needs to be sent away then you dont have any

Dave

[Noelm]

this is a bit of a never ending debate, there is good and bad in both ideas, 2 seperate systems requires more space, and usually more dollars, an "all in one" saves space and dollars, but there is a trade off (isn't there always?) in split screen mode, it is smaller, but is that really all that much of a pain? and as mentioned if one buggers up, the whole unit is at the shop, being an older boat, electronics space on the dash would be limited, so that being the case, it almost requires an all in one set I would reckon.

[oldboot]

I don't think anybody would argue.....that if they could they would have two seperate units.

But in the words of the philosopher

You cant always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find, get what you need.

You would realy have to look at the screens and the different units too.

with two units you may get away with smaller screens......how good is your eye sight?

and what do you expect from the units.

I was looking at a small plotter a while ago......I could have had the combo unit version for $50 more.

It is a harder question than it appears, when you actualy get to buying something.

cheers

[Wayne_Red]

A few months ago I bought separate lowrance 5" HDS units because I like them separate, bought them at the Sydney boat show at a pretty good price. Both units cost me $1650 + $300 for the chart. A combo unit was $1350 + chart. Not sure about other brands but your $1200 budget might sruggle, certainly the combo units will be cheaper than singles if your budget is tight.
Regards Wayne

[Micadogs]

Hi Handline, if you cant decide and dont have the funds available, you could always buy a combo unit to start and then purchase a standalone sounder or GPS/chartplotter and use the combo as the other single in the future. I use a combo unit and i'm quite happy with watching one function at a time or using the smaller split screen when required. Like what has been said above, it would be great to have sepearte units if I had the $$'s and space, yet the combo unit does everything that I require. Regards Adam.

[Razgo-]

you can get the new high def lowrance for just over over 1200 http://www.huntsmarine.com.au/lowrance

thats the 5 inch combo one. I have considered these units simply because they have the latest technology at reasonably prices.

the other brands should follow suite soon?

whilst a larger screen might be easier on the eye most of us will drive around all day with our small 2 or 3 inch GPS in the car and happy with them, but when we go out fishing all of a sudden we want huge screens that a land based fisho could see and we will only look at for a small amount of time

If i had money to waste on huge screens i certainly would but otherwise they are hard to justify. for practical use though the 5 inch hds5 seem to be really good value.

will they get even cheaper before xmass with the dollar value being so good?

[gaz066]

Handline , my 2 cents

Spend $1,000 on a decent sounder and a seperate $200 ( Garmin GPS 72) and you can't go wrong.

A quality sounder ( minimum HDS 5 ) is worth it's weight in gold and a Garmin GPS 72 ( with power hardwired and a RAM braket ) will do everything you ever want to do in a GPS , no maps though but I haven't missed them. My little GPS out performs some much more expensive brands regularly , just got to become familair with using them

Everyone will be different

[Razgo-]

what actually defines a decent sounder? dont they all pretty much do t esame thing? read depth, show structure, show fish?

i know HD is much clearer definition but does it matter in the end?

I have often wondered what to spend preferred money on like a good chart plotter and an average sounder or vice versa.

[gaz066]

Razgo , it's all about the pixel count . The higher the pixel count the better the definition = display

640H x 640V is quite good , if you look at the cheaper sounders they will have much less

Get at many pixels as you can afford for a sounder /fishfinder , when it comes to a GPS pixels mean nothing, go for functions instead

[Razgo-]

sounds fair to me