Raymarine a78 combo with GPS/chirp/down vision

[MEG-A-BITE]

Any one running one of these new A78 units. Would like to know what you think of it? Specs look good.

[chocolatemoose]

the a78 sure isnt new. pushing 2 and a half years old. that being said its still a pretty decent little package. with the updated "and updated....and updated" lighthouse 2 operating system. it works A LOT better than when it first came out.
here is a little bench test video i did a while back on the a78.

pros : feature packed out of the box (minus side scanning technology)
heaps of conectivity options
multitouch screen
priced pretty well

cons : response rate
build quality

[Spaniard_King]

Moose are they NMEA 2000 compliant?

[madmaskbass]

I have this unit and I love the extras that it comes with in comparison to the dragonfly 7" (not just the touch screen)...I love the wifi capabilities(well the missus does with the Ipad when sitting at the front of the boat) and will one day spend the coin to hook it up to the motor for extra logistics but Raymarines cabling system is bloody expensive!

The major negative is that mine is in an open tinny and does get a bit of spray which makes the touch go crazy...I think this would happen with any touch based model though and I will have to fix with a splash protection...It means that when cruising out to the reef I have to stop and wipe the screen if following a track even one drop of water sends it crazy..which is very annoying..(maybe i need to adjust the touch sensitivity)

I especially love the dual sounder mode..I love how one makes up for the others weaknesses and together the clarity is impressive.

I think that this is a great unit and would recommend it to any one its basic operation is very easy but there is huge range of things to play with if your that way inclined.

I also did not like the bundled Navionics card issue which is crap because it cannot be updated until you pay an extra 180 to get Navionics + ( which does look like it may have some useful extras) but this is a consumer trap...

Anyway hope this helps

Cheers