Boat sounder with gps or without.. what do you think?

[Nolongeramember]

On 12/10/2017 at 9:15 PM, Stanton44 said:

Hey all!! 

long time inbetween drinks.. Im back up and running in the fishing scene after ditching the ski boat. Ive got my hands on a 4.6 glass runabout with a 2000 70 Jonno. treating it as a project to bring it back to new and just had the floor strengthened which brings me to my question.. 

who has a sounder with gps and really how often do you use the gps side of it (not just up on the screen.. actually using it)? I had a lowrance 7 combo in an old boat. For the new I was looking at the elite 5 combo ..but now I'm tossing up weather to get the gps one or not for the extra cash.  I guess it's good for reefs and to view previous spots/drifts.. 

whats your view?

My fishing is syd harbour, hacking, and south coast with the trip outside the head when Mother Nature is playing ball!  

 

Tight lines

Hi. I just came across this topic. Having GPS is a no brainer for sure, but I like to have a seperate unit to the sounder. That way you can use full screen on the sounder   all the time which is important and the bigger the screen the more you can see and assess. Also, no changing back and forth between the 2. 

[Busy-livin]

3 hours ago, Scratchie said:

You could opt for the cheaper unit and have navionics app on your phone/iPad. Works for me!  

But I only ever use my boat locally and know the area like the back of my hand. 

Some good advice about especially the safety aspects! 

Just giving you an option! 

Cheers scratchie!!! 

 

3 hours ago, zmk1962 said:

Yup again.... I mentioned at the start of this post that's exactly what I am using - but I loaded my Navionics onto an iPad Mini - I like the larger screen size to zoom in on the sonarchart ! 

Cheers

Zoran

Hey guys in regards to the iPad option.. it sound great big screen and all! How does connectivity work? Do you hot spot to you phone and use mobile data ?

[Busy-livin]

Just downloaded the free trial.. unreal!! Looks great and user friendly.. just have to sort the data out but I guess I can turn on when I need it 

[raging]

What do you mean sort the data out? If you mean 3G data, you don't need it, you can download the maps to your device so can run offline. If you want to use an iPad just make sure it has a gps chipset, not all those do, I think it's only that shipped with 3G has the gps chipset.

I rate the app, takes a while to get use to, some of the UI is a bit quirky.

ive put in some 12v USB phone chargers in my boat to keep the phone charged.

Edited October 18, 2017 by raging

[zmk1962]

Took me a while to work it out. You need an iPad with the GPS chip inside to get the GPS navigation to work - my research basically concluded the models that had a SIM card also had the GPS chip. 

WiFi only ipads (no SIM) have very basic navigation capability by pinging off WiFi towers but they don’t work offshore. I tried hot spot to my iPhone - still did not work. In the end I sold my WiFi model on gumtree and bought a SIM model also on gumtree - all working now. 

I run with NO SIM card installed and no hot spot - so there is NO mobile data usage when boating. When home the iPad is on my WiFi network and I do all the map updates, sync etc  

Cheers Zoran

Edited October 18, 2017 by zmk1962
Added content

[Busy-livin]

1 minute ago, zmk1962 said:

Took me a while to work it out. You need an iPad with the GPS chip inside to get the GPS navigation to work - my research basically concluded the models that had a SIM card also had the GPS chip. 

WiFi only ipads (no SIM) have very basic navigation capability by pinging off WiFi towers but they don’t work offshore. I tried hot spot to my iPhone - still did not work. In the end I sold my WiFi model on gumtree and bought a SIM model also on gumtree - all working now. 

Cheers Zoran

Sweeettttttt how good!! Looks like a good app( free trial )