GPS--how useful?

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SilentShooter

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I love my HDS Gen II touch. But it is on the higher $$ side. You can get it without the fish finder included.

Just remember you will also probably need the point1 GPS antenna. The Baja version comes with the required cables and power injector. If you don't buy the Baja antenna you will need a Lowrance n2k starter kit as well to hook up the antenna.

If you don't want the larger touch screen you can get one of the lower units. The older hds7 will give you a larger screen then the 5 just not all the features of the newer unit. And many say the older elites are the best bang for the buck. They do not use the new crazy accurate point1 gps, but do include a passive external antenna.
 

Bigg50

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I've been very happy with the unit The Macf posted. Simple and it works. Plus it's cheaper than most other units.
 

SilentShooter

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I don't know about the best, because that's up to you and your needs.

I'll be ordering this one:

Amazon.com : Lowrance 000-11176-001 Elite-5M HD Plotter with Navionics Gold U.S. Charts : Boating Chartplotters : GPS & Navigation

Any lowrance that's listed as a chartplotter will work. Make sure that it has an internal GPS, otherwise you have to buy the $250 baja point 1.

Actually the Point1 does not work with the older units. You can buy the older GPS external for the Elites and its only about $80 and does not need to be powered as its not a N2K device.

Also the HDS units do have an internal GPS, but most find the common mounts have it so far inside the cab that external GPS makes sense so you do not drop signal. Once I went with the Point1 I have never lost signal unless in a tunnel or cement garage
 

justuspost

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Thanks for all the info guys. I'm a guy who likes the biggest and the best. It looked like the elite 7 has a bunch of features for the fishes. Was hoping there was a unit that skipped the fish bits and had extra road bits. I'd really rather have it built into the exiting nav, but I'm not sure I have time to reverse engineer the thing. Lol
 

m3dragon

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m3dragon

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It is a good unit. I like it as I can see my maps at a glance but it is also not so big that it block my vision. I also posted up a DIY on how to mount it the way I did.
 

m3dragon

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that is the outlaw / RPG style mount. I would go to them direct as price is the same and you support a Forum Vendor.

My 2 cents is see those mounts in person. They take up a lot of rel-estate but are the standard most people here use.

There is also a no drill option from Ram Mounts. I was looking into this but went with the stock lowrance install. Here is the no drill site. http://www.rammount.com/
 

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