Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
Well, daily on-topic post.

I'm thinking about redoing the electronics on the Ranger to something
all-in-one - radar/GPS/fishfinder.

Anybody have any experience with small boat electronics that might
have some advice?

Two problems with all in one units. First, if one function fails, and
it must be returned for service, you loose all those functions, not
just the one that failed if you had seperate units. And second, should
someone come out with some new feature, you can't just replace that
unit, it's all or nothing.

John

On 5 Oct 2006 08:47:11 -0700, "Capt John" wrote:

Two problems with all in one units. First, if one function fails, and
it must be returned for service, you loose all those functions, not
just the one that failed if you had seperate units. And second, should
someone come out with some new feature, you can't just replace that
unit, it's all or nothing.

All true, but on a smaller boat (and some larger), there is just not
room enough for a full suite of electronics. If you buy quality such
as Furuno there should be minimal down time.

"Capt John" wrote in message
ups.com...

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
Well, daily on-topic post.

I'm thinking about redoing the electronics on the Ranger to something
all-in-one - radar/GPS/fishfinder.

Anybody have any experience with small boat electronics that might
have some advice?

Two problems with all in one units. First, if one function fails, and
it must be returned for service, you loose all those functions, not
just the one that failed if you had seperate units. And second, should
someone come out with some new feature, you can't just replace that
unit, it's all or nothing.

John


Not sure we are talking the same thing, but my boat has a Raytheon system
that integrates a radar, a chartplotter (GPS), a depth finder and an
autopilot. The main unit is basically a color monitor. There's a second
monitor on the upper station. All of the dedicated units (GPS, etc.) are
tied to the monitor for display. The monitor controls allows adjustment of
the settings to each unit and programming of the GPS tracks and waypoints.
The central monitor and upper slave allow multiple (split screen) displays
of any or all functions, but does not actually perform any of the dedicated
unit functions. When I got it I received different opinions ranging from
purchasing stand alone, completely dedicated units with dedicated displays
and controls to a fully integrated system. As it turns out, the system I
got has worked perfectly for 5 years and can be upgraded with newer
dedicated units, if desired.

Our older boat (36 Grand Banks) is set up with individual units and
displays for each function. This winter we will be updating it with a
current model of the Raymarine or Furan integrated system.

Eisboch