New combo help. I need educating please.

[SeekerAZ685]

Hi I have been a keen reader of this forum for a while and have bitten the bullet and signed up. It seems to be full of helpful people who offer genuine advice. Below is a slightly edited version of what help I need. Thanking all who take the time to respond in advance.

You probably get this a lot but I am after some advice/help on selecting a new fish finder/gps. I live in the Shark Bay region of WA near Steep Point. I have joined the ausfish forum and read a lot of threads. The nearest town that sells any sort of marine electronics is at least 400 km away. So mail order would not be a problem as I have no local boat shop as such. I went to the Mandurah boat show a few weeks ago and spoke to a few people and left more confused than when I started.
I have a 1996 Haines Hunter 585 SF fitted with a 2010 Evinrude etec. What I am after is a reasonable combo to replace my current units both Furuno and from the look of them every bit as old as the boat.
I have a budget of around $2500 for everything. I will tackle the install myself. I don't care about being able to add on or network with anything else and don't need a second/back up unit. I would like a reasonable sized screen and something that could be seen with polarised glasses. I would also prefer buttons over a touch screen as I like the positivity of pressing a button. The only function that would interest me later would be the ability to run engine/ fuel data through the device. This is not a deal breaker though.
The sort of fishing I mainly do would be around 70% on the sand/ weed flats in the Shark Bay gulfs looking for scattered coral and gravel patches in 4 to 12 metres of water. The coral is usually say about 12 pieces of coral varying in size from about as big as a microwave to the size of a dishwasher spread over the area of the average house. These hold pink and black snapper. The gravel patches are basically like gravel with some bigger rocks once again spread over the area of the house. The next 20% is in 20 to 40 metres of water off the cliffs of Steep Point and Dirk Hartog island trying to find ledges, rocks coral etc. The last 10% would be in the deeper water off of the island around the 70 metre mark.
I have tried tuning my current sounder but have never really had any joy in being able to differentiate the bottom let alone having a reading on a fish. If I had a unit that I could read the bottom with the last 10% of the fishing in the deep water would probably be moved to the shallower 20 to 40 meter water near the island. For no particular reason I have taken a liking to the Garmin 1020xs I know they are discontinued but for all the positive feedback there seems to be out there would it be worth trying to track one down.
The gps side is not as important as the sounder as anything will be surely better than what I have now. The colours are terrible, it only holds 200 marks and does not have any navigation markers on it. The only part that is a little interesting is the one that updates the chart or makes your own as you go over the ground. Also only interesting but not important but having the ability to put a mark on a spot as you review ground you have gone over on the sounder.As we have a lot of shallow water. Sorry about the length but hoping you can help with some advice in simple terms.

[bugsytwoshoes]

Hi mate, if you have a look in the electronics section you will find a similar question I posted last week it is titled'" looking for sounder/gps combo" or something like that. There is a reply there by Moose with two excellent videos and other replies by members as well. You could also use the " search' facility which could help you out. Happy fishing.

[SeekerAZ685]

Thanks for that I had read it but not watched the videos. I wanted to see what the extra budget got me. I have no idea and see this has the potential to go very wrong. I really don't know what to get. I was on the Facebook page of Moosemarine and saw the picture of the same ground on the same sounder but with different transducers and there was quiet a difference. I have googled this subject almost to death and always end up back at this forum. All advice on all posts seems genuine I think having to pay to post keeps certain people away which helps lift the quality of info.

[stevet]

Hi - given your physical location I would be phoning 'moose' and speaking to him direct.

he ships and is very price competitive

cheers

stevet

[chocolatemoose]

i just fished 18 hours for 3 squid
sorry just had to vent a little

howdy seeker... . REST ASSURED!.... your part of a large "Sometimes far apart" brotherhood of confused people just wanting to enjoy your hobby...

for 2.5k there is A LOT that will tick your boxes. the magic number a lot of the times is 50mt.....
50mt and less is considered shallow.. spite it being a long way to dive down to rescue sunglasses. so dont feel as if you are fishing for the titanic and need crazy power.... thats not true (...read on...)

power does help.. it puts more energy on a target and in effect a louder "echo" coming back for the elements to turn into pictures on your sounder... however.....

CHIRP...<-magic word im sure you have come across

because CHIRP sonar is a spread spectrum "Starts at a lower frequency and works it way to a higher , then repeats" its sending power out for longer. "LESS POWER +TIME = STRONG RETURN SIGNAL"

what im getting at i guess is.. a lower powered good quality* CHIRP transducer/system will perform as well if not better than a more powerful system (yes yes i know there are exceptions, but this is a good place to start)

ok.. so with that in mind, lets look at some options

firstly screen size.. Big is beautiful , larger screens do make it easy to see stuff... easier you can see it, the more likley you are to act on it.. so.. biggest you can afford and ticks the box.
futureproof - like you mentioned, wanting to network engine and fuel data in the future is something you like... so.. something that wont make you feel like an old tit down the track, and still feel current is important
easy to use - this.... well this just makes sense. if its easy. you will use it.. if its hard, you will swear at it

so with those in mind, and where you are fishing

the systems that match up are

Garmin 95sv CHIRP
simrad S2009+tm150m transducer + lowrance hds7g3 +network cable

ok... so.. they are two pretty different set ups

the first.. Garmin. is a pretty bullet proof, idiot proof, fish proof, dollar saving option. paired with its GT52HW 250w high frequency wide beam <(wide is good in shallow water) it produces GREAT sonar arches.. whilst also giving good side and down high frequency imaging. better still. it does it all very easily with great build quality , navigation, nmea2k futureproofing...................and leave you with a grand or so in the pocket

now the other option takes up all that cash. but it does give you a VERY powerful futureproofed quality semi professional non touch screen 9" sounder "in the simrad s2009" with a 300w medium frequency chirp transducer "similar to the gt52" plus a HDS7 GEN3 TOUCH/BUTTON unit as a mapping system that "Can soon" network with the simrad to share sonar and waypoint data. as well as accept all kinds of good stuff. such as Engine NMEA outputs, 3d sonar, radar, autopilot.. that sort of thing.. down side. it will take you over the 2.5k by a few dollars.

.............i know it sounds crazy. but they are two very well thought about systems that will fit your requirements

feel free to shoot me a message, call. fax ....wait no dont fax its not the 90s..... or shoot me a message over on the Fb's

Moose

[SeekerAZ685]

Thanks Moose I will give you a call next week. So many questions so little understanding. I was going to get this for Christmas but today's announcement over on Facebook has me wondering about the 1022.