looking for info on radar combos

Hammer1970

New Member
Nov 30, 2019
26
brick nj 08723
Boat Info
2000 SEA RAY AMBERJACK 290
Engines
5.7 EFI
we do alot of fishing off the coast in nj 5 miles out max we just purchased a 1990 amberjack 270 electronics on it look like the came with the boat when it was new. any help on what you think best would suit our needs would be helpful. also the boat is twin stern drives was told had to use a through hull transducer is that true?
 
I see you are new here, so welcome aboard. You’ll find there is a lot of stored knowledge here as well as people who are happy to help. In general, learn to make use of the search function. That may save you a lot of time.

Ok, for starters you have to first of all give us an idea of your budget plan. For example, do you want to start with a core system and add to it over time, or are you ready to drop whatever it takes to get the ultimate redundant system?

what have you got? If you have 1990s state of the art electronics you would have a vhf, a compass, depth gauge and a collection of NOAA charts. If you have more then that then tell us, it might be upgradable. If you can’t ID it, take pictures.

On the transducer, what is the purpose? Just depth so you don’t rip a drive off, or hardcore fishing?

What do you mean by must use a through hull? If you mean as opposed to an external transom mount, then yes because it’s pretty hard to find a spot without turbulence with twin sterndrive.

Here we use the convention that a transducer that requires a hole cut in the hull is a through hull. One that sits inside the hull mounted in a liquid container is termed a shoot through, or in hull. If you meant you can only use a transducer with a hole drilled in the hull, the answer is no. You can use a shoot through. I had both on our previous boat. But if you do, you will be limited to the lower end of the spectrum for fishing features.

So get back to us with some details. And good luck with your restoration project.

H
 
Some more info on how you want to use the equipment would be good.

Transducer. You could likely make a transom mount transducer work. It depends on what kind you want how the back of yo boat is configured. Some of the more advanced functions like side scan are most readily accessible (affordable) in transom mount versions. If you want “traditional” sonar for finding fish, a thru hull model is going to give you the best performance. 5 miles isn’t very far so I don’t know where things start to get deep on the coast. Transom mounts may or may not have the power for the depths you fish in.

Radar. What’s your objective and how do you want to use it? Navigating in weather and at night? Super accurate bird finding? Do you want the ultimate in accuracy, adjustability and tweaking to the nth degree, or something that takes the guesswork out of it? (Eg, are you an Android guy that roots the phone OS, or an iPhone guy they just wants it to work.). Most radars are no longer stand alone and run through the chart plotter. You’ll need to have a system that you like for the other functions as well.
 
good morning my budget is 3k it does have have everything you mentioned but it all seems very old. going to use it mostly for fishing and navigate in bad weather and at night. im an os guy as far as phones go
 
I'm a Garmin guy myself...I bet you could pickup a GPSMap 742 along with a radome and a transducer for $3k. Assuming you self install, of course. A quick google just popped up a $2400 set, sans the transducer. Buy it! ha.

For your budget you'll end up in the 7" +/- display size category if you're planning to go new. The bigger displays are wicked expensive. If you're patient, however, you can probably find a decent used set on Ebay or CL with a bigger display, older tech.
 
Hammer,
What is your level of experience and knowledge with marine electronics?
Are you familiar with:
AIS, VHF, MMSI, Radomes/Open Array, GPS, NMEA 0183 vs 2000, transducer types for side scan?
Read up on this stuff before your drop thousands of dollars to find you could have gotten something more to your needs.
The guys on this forum are great. They will not misguide you. You just have to be knowledgeable enough to ask the right questions!!!
 
Hammer, welcome to CSR. The members want to help but really need more information before we can start recommending what direction to go.

Your profile doesn't list where you live so just a hint, fill it in completely. You may find a fishing buddy right in your neighborhood.

I'd suggest that you contact a marine electronics business near where you live and ask them for their recommendations. They won't steer you wrong and will be able to answer the many questions you have.

Good luck.
 
Hammer,
I was looking on BOE earlier today as part of my own electronics upgrade and noticed they have several Garmin MFD/radar packages that might fit into your budget. The MFD's come with built in GPS & charts, built in sonar capability (you still need a transducer), capability for AIS tracking (if you have an AIS receiver). That brings to mind some unrequested advice; If you have a limited budget put your first purchase into a GPS chartplotter/MFD and VHF that has MMSI/DSC, as well as AIS reception capability.

Radar is great and very useful, but it can be added later. And while knowing where you are going and being able to see in fog/darkness is great, having the capability to reach out for help when needed is well, lifesaving.

H
 
I have no experience with all this and was gifted a 390 express that the gps screen is gone and is old anyway. I don't mind being a generation behind but have a worry of non working older electronics. What would you look for brand wise? I am in northern florida southen georgia
 
I have no experience with all this and was gifted a 390 express that the gps screen is gone and is old anyway. I don't mind being a generation behind but have a worry of non working older electronics. What would you look for brand wise? I am in northern florida southen georgia

There are going to be dozens of opinions here. Sort of the Ford/GM/Mopar thing.
My opinion, I manage a small fleet of boats 28-45 feet being operated by 10 different operators of varying skill levels. I had to pick a reliable, user friendly, intuitive system that will fully integrate radar-AIS-chart plotter overlay and connect with VHF. We also have duplicate screens on our larger boat. We went with Garmin due to the simplicity of the menus. Our previous Raymarines, while good, were a little less intuitive.
I am not saying one brand is better than the other. (They are probably all made in China anyway.)
You should go try display systems to see which ones are easiest for you to use as a place to start.
 
I have no experience with all this and was gifted a 390 express that the gps screen is gone and is old anyway. I don't mind being a generation behind but have a worry of non working older electronics. What would you look for brand wise? I am in northern florida southen georgia

I am partial to Garmin. The way it works makes sense to me. Generally speaking, it’s easy to use, has a very good to excellent feature set, is reliable, has a range of sizes for different boats, and uses open standards for communications and cables.

As a comparison Raymarine uses proprietary cables / protocols that make it harder to connect to other systems.
 
My opinion: you may want to increase your budget to closer to $5K and start an e-mail conversation with Jim here at BOE (jim.maier@gmail.com). Jim won't steer you wrong, is competitively priced and he stands behind what he sells.
 
I have to agree with Brad. I recently added a Garmin mfd (at a great price from BOE) to replace the old Volvo engine display, and it is much more user intuitive as well as simple, basically nmea2000.

I’m in the process of replacing old nav systems and unfortunately I’ve got reusable RM stuff (autopilot, ais, HD radar) that makes a complete swap out overly expensive. If I didn’t have as much usable existing stuff I would seriously consider Garmin. That said I haven’t researched Garmin’s autopilot offerings for the fly by wire system required for the Volvo IPS pods.
 
Hammer1970 - If you might desire pre-owned I have two Raymarine E120's and two Raymarine Pathfinder 4' open array radar's that I'll offer up at a very reasonable deal. My boat has been completely upgraded; these were removed. Let me know.
 

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