electronics?

[confederate]

Hello everyone this is my first post on the site. I am Hotrodmarlin's father.
I am upfitting a 32' Albemarle and can't decide what electronics to put on it. I have a Northstar GPS,Raytheon Radar,and furuo colorscope now but I am looking for a unit that is all in one. Radar,colorscope,Gps,etc. I would like a unit that user friendly. (so an old guy like me can use it) Can anyone give me some suggestions?

[LuckyLady]

Hello Confederate! I have fished with your son before down in VA Beach, very nice guy you raised there!

Any I am a total fax of Furuno, Its fairly easy to use.

Northstar 6100 units are real nice with the platnium charts

Raymarine is great but one wrong button and with a split second you can accidentley change a setting and it will we a real pain to figure out. Not to mention who ever installs it must know what they are doinf 110% or you will have problems for life. Plus nothing is covered under warranty and their out of warranty rates are the highest in the industry!

Garmin has some real NICE displays out now and its scarey to call them Garmin when they look the way they do now. Their radar was crap but they have since updated it and seems to be really good now. Garmin has a boat down at the MA500 this week that has a setup on it that I will stop by and check out. Its supposed to be real nice!


If you have any questions you are more than welcome to call me 609-713-5540. I can build you package start to finish

[hotrodmarlin]

It's got to be REAL USER FRIENDLYbecause he is still trying to figure out how to use his cell phone

[Water Damage]

garmin 4212 plotter and then furuno navnet sounder/radar would be my preference. Garmin's new open array radar is a huge improvement over their old unit. If I had to pick just one unit, it would be the garmin for overall quality and ease of use.

[hunt4fish]

It's got to be REAL USER FRIENDLYbecause he is still trying to figure out how to use his cell phone

Welcome Aboard Confederate,about time you signed up.You might actually learn something.

[captcl]

Welcome aboard Confederate. I have a Lowrance DF 335(smaller unit) that works great once you learn to use it. I know they make larger units for the bigger rigs and they have their own radar that can be added to just about any of their combo units. The learning curve was a little thick but i don't think any of the units pop out and run themselves. The other thing about Lowrance is service, starting up i went through some transducer issues, Lowrance factory techs talked me through the troubleshooting and replaced parts fast and quick. No questions asked after the troubleshoot, don't bother to send the bad unit back, we'll send you a new one. I'm going to add the radar after I put the t-top on. The price was pretty good too.

[Wild_Blue]

There is absolutely nothing easier than the Nortstar products. The 6100i would be an awsome system for you. The chartplotter and weather system are untouchable in the industry. Unlike all other weather sytems, the SST overlays on top of the chart so you can visually tell where the water is. The new digital radar is as good as if not better than other multifunction units in the industry. As far as the sounder goes is is also as good as the other multifunction sounders on the market. To get better results you would have to go with a stand alone Furuno 1100 or Furuno's stand alone 8012? radar. Walk the docks at any top end tournement, these guys can afford whatever they want. There are many combinatons of Furuno and Northstar, but the only contant is that EVERY BOAT HAS AT LEAST A NORTHSTAR PLOTTER. That is no coincidence. Not one has Garmin or Raymarine, unless they are sponsored by them. Good luck with the decision.

[anthony]

I'm going to agree with Wild Blue, walk the docks and look at the all the top rigs and you will see one thing in common on electronics...they pretty much all run Furuno or Northstar or some combination thereof. I am a big Furuno fan so that's what I run but I have used Northstar plotters before and liked them as well. I will say I still like seperate units, don't ask me why...maybe I am worried about losing everything if I have an issue with the one screen. One of these days I may change.....

[dubb]

Is this boat an express or flybridge? I just did a complete upgrade on a 32 express.

[hotrodmarlin]

Is this boat an express or flybridge? I just did a complete upgrade on a 32 express.

Express- He is doing a complete upgrade too(everything) He's been down there working on the boat the past few days so he hasn't been online. I'll try to get him to post some pics.