MPFit Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 Hi guys! I currently have a Garmin gpsmap 498 on my boat; an oldie but a goodie. A friend just got a humminbird Helix 7 with side imaging. It's almost cheating it's that good! We saw fish up to 100ft from the boats side! That being said, as with my old humminbird he lost depth on plane. My garmin does flawless with depth reading on plane. The map is mediocre but good enough considering our boats draft and my fishing locations. I have one house battery. My question is does anybody run a dual setup with a gps and a separate fish finder? Or does that draw too much battery? Or does everyone just use a combo unit? I'd switch but losing depth on plane was a frustration on my old humminbird and occasionally on my old ray marine even with constant movement of the transducer location! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whichwaysup Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 MPfit - I use a combo unit and love it. Losing depth on plane is a function of a misplaced transducer, not the unit itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bamaskeet Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 I ran two 7" Lowrance units for a long time. They worked great. i replaced them with a HDS 12 Lowrance. While I really like the HDS 12, running two machines is easier than switching screens back and forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryH Posted December 4, 2016 Report Share Posted December 4, 2016 On a large boat or yacht, multiple individual screens/equipment makes total sence. Even redundancy is probably smart. I had seperate gps and sounder on my Mako 23 but heck that was almost 20 years ago (crap I'm old) For a flats boat the combo units are the ticket. Imo I went withThe Garmin 94sv. Very happy. And I like that it's not touch screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPFit Posted December 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 4 hours ago, whichwaysup said: MPfit - I use a combo unit and love it. Losing depth on plane is a function of a misplaced transducer, not the unit itself. That's not exactly always true. Had a raymarine rep try for hours to get my old boat with dragonfly 7pro to read while on plane. Turned out to be a bad transducer itself. Swapped it and got it working. I like the combo units for sure, and I agree LarryH that I'd go without touchscreen also. Was just curious if anyone has run dual units. Sounds like it's an option. Don't know if I have the console space for em though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whichwaysup Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 1 hour ago, MPFit said: That's not exactly always true. Had a raymarine rep try for hours to get my old boat with dragonfly 7pro to read while on plane. Turned out to be a bad transducer itself. Swapped it and got it working. I like the combo units for sure, and I agree LarryH that I'd go without touchscreen also. Was just curious if anyone has run dual units. Sounds like it's an option. Don't know if I have the console space for em though! Fair enough - you are definitely right - there are other potential causes, my point was only that it may not be the unit itself. BTW, not sure what you are running this on, but for my MA, having the unit on a Ram mount was critical - that way I can flip it around and see it when I'm fishing in the front of the boat. LOVE that thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPFit Posted December 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 Yea I hadn't thought of that. Current garmin is on a ram mount on the console top (hewes 18 RF). And it is very easily visible from platform- and can be turned around to be visible from front while trolling as well. I think I'll spring for the combo unit: just seems to make more sense.. now gotta keep my eye out for a deal. I liked humminbird but the unimap isn't any good- never had a lowrance but heard great things about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whichwaysup Posted December 5, 2016 Report Share Posted December 5, 2016 I have a Lowrance HDS Gen 3. I absolutely love it (the side scan is spectacular). I have generally had Lowrance products, but the boat I just bought came with a very nice Humminbird 898 side scan unit. I am impressed with it, but definitely like the menu navigation of the Lowrance better - that is probably just a function of being used to it. To be honest, the HDS is probably overkill for what I'm doing. The Elite TI is a lot cheaper and it seems to have a lot of the same functionality. I haven't had any direct experience with it, though. Unlike the HDS, the TI uses an all-in-one transducer, whereas the HDS has both a downscan and a side scan transducer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPFit Posted January 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 About to pull the trigger on a Helix 7 SI. Final question for those that have a higher power demanding unit; I have a single battery on board for motor and electronics. It's got the current garmin, the motor, and recently installed powerpole. Would the newer units put me in danger of draining battery if trolling (a separate 24v system) with the Humminbird on and the draw from the powerpole without the engine running? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPFit Posted January 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 If I'm reading correctly the Garmin says it draws 14watts while the humminbird says 800mA.. does this sound correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hurricane Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 mA and Watts are two different things, I would guess the 14 watts is the output and the 800mA is the current draw. But just turn the unit off when the engine is off, or go to stby if it has a stby mode. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smilemaker Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 simple comparison watts=volts X amps this will give you a rough idea to compare with. In use the voltage will vary depending on battery and thus watts and amp may change in use. as to original question I prefer 2 units rather than a large unit running split screen. In the old days running two different brands would give more options with transducer freq but todays displays give all the freq ranges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPFit Posted January 5, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 Thanks smilemaker. By the math it would seem the humminbird actually draws less at around 10watts. Should be fine in that case (electrical while I enjoy soldering and all is a weak part of my understanding) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fin-addict Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 I'm old school, love two units, ran for years. now run combo on split screen when needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Headhunter Posted January 5, 2017 Report Share Posted January 5, 2017 45 minutes ago, fin-addict said: I'm old school, love two units, ran for years. now run combo on split screen when needed. I am with fin. I run two garmin 740 on the pathfinder. One s and one gps unit. The maverick has a garmin 7607 and I'd really cool but maybe a little over kill on a flats boat. I do love the quick draw feature though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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