horizon gps chartplotter 400/

[sdexcalibur]

The boat came with a chart plotter made by horizon model 400, No maps so no detail just a large areil view, Online maps run about 195.00 even though I haven't seen one for this model, Can anyone recommend A decent gps/ fish finder for saltwater for a good price. I was thinking about dumping this unit and also a bottom line fish finder, I don't have the manual for the fish finder. and really don't know how to use it, I want to get a more receint models, as these are about 10 years old. so any suggestions

 

[Boatist]

Re: horizon gps chartplotter 400/

Older units likely not color but can work as good as newer units. I have a Furuno Loran C and a Lowrance fish finder that are both 27 years old and work just as good as units today. In fact my depthfinder has features that no unit has today and it one of my favorite features and why I have not upgraded to a Color unit.

Saltwater units pretty hard to find a perfect unit.
First question in how deep will you be fishing?
200Khz 20 degree trandsucer is good to about 200 feet max.
Also for Salt water you need a lot more power. I would go with 500 watts RMS or 4000 Watts PEP or more.

Important you understand Manufactures statements like depths for up to 900 feet. When I see that I say will see fish to 113 feet. Manufactures will have a disclamer Like depth depends on water conditions.
Also what they mean is you can see a big flat hard rock at 900 feet in crystal clear fresh water.
If you want to see a fish built like a stealth fighter that will refelect very little signal straight back up to the tranduces and in salt water then devide there numbers by 8. 900 feet is really a fish 112 feet deep in salt water. Salt water is a lot harder to get a signal down and back up.

If you fish deeper than 200 feet I would get a dual frequency unit.
Both Lowrance and Garmin Dual frequency tranducers have a narrow cone angles which will help with deeper salt water. Lowrance uses a 12 degree 200 Khz tranducer and the 50 khz unit is 37 degrees. This means the transducer will work better in deep salt water. Garmin is about the same. The single frequency 200 khz transducer is 20 degree cone angle and good out to about 120 feet with 500 watts RMS.
Most manufactures today are useing PEP power so need to know that 4000 watts of PeP power is the same as 500 watts RMS.
PEP power divide by 8 = RMS power, Or RMS power times 8 = PEP power.

When fish Deeper waters then resoultion becomes very important. More resoultion means more detail and more small fish seen. If you fish 250 feet or more get a unit with at least 480 vertical resoultion.
If you buy seperate GPS and Fishfinder that is great but takes more room and more expense.
If you get a combow unit then very important to see how the unit splits the screen in split screen mode. All I have seen split the screen in half in the widest direction. Example a Lowrance unit 640 wide by 480 High would split the screen so GPS would be 320 wide by 480 high and the sonar would also be 320 wide by 480 high. This gives the fish finder 480 lines of vertical resoultion still.

Units like Garmin that are taller than wide like 320 high by 240 wide also split in the middle so the GPS is on top and 240 wide by 160 high and the sonar is on the bottom and 240 wide by 160 high. This means your fish finder now has a very poor resoultion. This is ok in shallow water but unacceptable in deeper water if you want to see smaller fish.

GPS unit and maps. Lowrance units base map are much more detailed than garmin base maps. They include all the Buoy and light data.
Garmin sell many units today with preloaded detail maps, these have water depth very much like a chart and may have a 3 D view and ariel view.
Lowrance also sell units with preloaded detailed maps loaded on a built in hard drive. These also have water depth, current and tide stations and lots of digital information like where to find a gas station, food or hotel.
If you have all the data turned on it adds a lot of clutter and makes it harder to see your waypoints. Personally I like the map to have conture lines for sholing and maybe a 100 foot conture line. Also the names of creeks and points or fishing areas. All the lowrance I have compared to garmin redraw faster when you make a turn or change course.

If you want the 3D view I think Garmin is the only one that has it.

In water out to 300 feet I would choose Lowrance then Eagle with high power and then Garmin.

Most of your fishing Over 300 feet of salt water then I would choose Furuno.

Take your time and list what is important to you then pick a few unit in your price range and go to a store that has both so you can compare side by side.
Check screen brightness and if you use at night if you can dim the screen.
Check how fast the unit redraws the screen, very important if you use in track up or course up mode and make turn in a narrow channel or approching your fishing spot.
Check the map details in a area that you know all the buoys and shallow water and see if it has the detail you want and also how much clutter.
If the decision comes down to price I would get the unit you want even if have to wait a while because they last a very long time if you take care of the unit.