Electronics Upgrade recommendations for 2006 340DA

[estoltz]

As the title says I'm looking for recommendations for a possible electronics upgrade on my 06 340DA. I currently have the northstar chartplotter/radar system with the SystemView screen in the middle of the dash. Here are the things I know I like. I like the touch screens but prefer the hybrid model of buttons or touch. After playing with vesselview 7 I like it but I wouldn't be opposed to putting a small MFD in place of the Systemview if it were less expensive. I don't know anything about radars so I am not sure where to start as far as that goes. Thoughts?

 

[Mike Blake]

Get the latest and greatest. Because in 2-3 years it will be outdated.

 

[Jeremygavin]

Here is what I have done and we have the same helm.

http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/58925-2005-340-DA-Helm-remodel


I really like the vessel view 7. I bought the gps unlock antenna for it so I have 2 completely separate mfd/gps systems in case one fails. I like Raymarine products and once you I have them set I think are very easy to use. I use my knobs on the hybrid touch all the time especially in rougher water. the touch screen is very difficult to be efficient with it in rough water. I think Garmin is a little more intuitive and easier to set up. HD color radar is awesome but I would go with the new quantum if I was starting over again.

 

[onthejob]

I just installed a Raymarine a97 and the Raymarine Quantum radar in mine and I am very pleased. Installation was fairly straight forward. The difference is amazing. I was playing with the radar last night on the lake is so much better than the green screen I had before. I was able to buy an adapter for the exsisting transducer so I didn't have to replace that. The only real incompatibility I ran into was it was not worth it to interface it with the auto pilot.

 

[estoltz]

I just installed a Raymarine a97 and the Raymarine Quantum radar in mine and I am very pleased. Installation was fairly straight forward. The difference is amazing. I was playing with the radar last night on the lake is so much better than the green screen I had before. I was able to buy an adapter for the exsisting transducer so I didn't have to replace that. The only real incompatibility I ran into was it was not worth it to interface it with the auto pilot.

Thanks for the info. One of the things I'm finding here at my marina is that other than straight forward installations there isn't really much knowledge on compatability of systems. I think I'm probably going to check the major vendors out at the boat shows in annapolis to see how I'm going to put this together. One question I'm trying to figure out is do the sc1000 gauge work without the sc5000 screen or do the depend on it as some sort of gateway?