extra display

[Bloggsy]

I currently have 2 Lowrance HDS Live units mounted on the dash one for fishfinding and one for mapping but am considering mounting another one at the rear of the boat at the baitboard for fishfinding only so as to be able to keep an eye on the bottom when fishing over reefs. Looking at not spending too much can any one tell me other than live or carbon units which other displays can be networked with the live units. And is there an alternative to the Lowrance ethernet cable looking at prices the length that I will need is as much as a display will be.

[JonD]

Can't you see the head units on the dash from where you fish ?

How wet does the back of your boat get ? most boats will be pretty wet and even though these units are supposedly made for this environment  you will soon find water inside the connections and memory card door.

Personally I think its mostly those who are sponsored who promote having these all over the boat. Not sure about the Lowrance but my Garmin  is easy to connect to my phone or to a tablet but even though I can and have to try it out I don't bother on the water.

My head unit is a Garmin 8410 and the usable screen is actually very small, like you I did have two units on the dash but dropped back to just one. For general running offshore I use a double screen, half traditional sonar and the other half chart. When I reach an area I plan to fish I dived the screen to three, tops half sidescan and the divided bottom to traditional and chart. When I find decent structure (even along the shelf using 260khz) I then drive over the spot using the two screen again to see if there are any fish holding the area.

What Ive recently added is a dash mount for a Garmin 67i. This is not only a backup for when I do my remote trips but its a way of getting weather forecasts and two way communication anywhere there is sky above me (saves setting off an epirb if I have any sort of failure offshore).
I have to say this is the best piece of fishing equipment I have ever owned when it comes to finding fish in shallow water and has paid for itself over and over while skippering a commercial abalone boat. The screen may be small but Im able to drop my main fish finder head unit to sonar and sidecan only or use the panoptics. The electronic compass in the handheld will instantly show true heading and leave a track for my drift, which is all I need when fishing on the fish.