Graph/GPS combo options?

[jparrucci]

16 foot boat, tiller with a 60 hp motor, autopilot in front. Currently have just a junk old Lowrance at the rear. I am looking for a 7 inch or bigger screen gps/graph with down imaging for at the tiller. I already have a older lake master chip. I want to be able to network this unit with another graph only in front for now. Is this an option? It is hard trying to figure out what exactly talks with what on these new units from Lowrance and Hummingbird. I want the gps/graph in back to send sonar images to the graph in front. What 2 units would I need to do this? Will the gps lake chip data talk between the two if I get a second gps unit up front, or will I need two chips?

Cabelas has the Lowrance Elite 7 gps/DI/sonar with the chip for 400 on black Friday. From what I can gather online, this unit will not communicate sonar/DI to another unit. Gander Mt tells me it does. Can I hook this unit up to another graph for sonar data only? If I decide to buy two of these units and find a way to run a trolling motor transducer with my minnkota autopilot V2, will the two transducer get interference from each other? Lots of questions, sorry!

[CaptainMusky]

The elite 7 was the exact model I would have recommended. Depending how old your current lowrance unit is you may be able to link then two via Ethernet connection. The cable is cheap. Like $30. If I was in your situation that is the route I would go.

Look at the chirp units too. Sweet sonar images that previously were out of the price point for normal anglers. Not anymore.

[delcecchi]

Why do you feel the need to network the two units? Networking capability often seems to be a feature that puts you into the premium price units.

[gunner55]

Check out Pro Fishing Supply,they can & will answer all your questions.Might even pricematch.At least they can tell which units to look at for what you want.

[jparrucci]

  delcecchi said:

Why do you feel the need to network the two units? Networking capability often seems to be a feature that puts you into the premium price units.

I want to network the units to avoid having to run 2 transducers, and two lake master chips. Avoiding having to add a trolling motor transducer would be great.

[h8go4s]

"I want to network the units to avoid having to run 2 transducers, and two lake master chips. Avoiding having to add a trolling motor transducer would be great."

Personally, I'd rather have my bow mount unit reading the water underneath my trolling motor rather than underneath my transom 16 feet away. It's not hard to rig a trolling motor transducer; rigging the ethernet system means running cable from the transom unit to the bow unit, which is not easy in some boats.

With the exception of the new Onix line, I don't believe Humminbirds allow you to network GPS cards, so you'd need two cards with those anyway. Your "older" Lakemaster card won't work in Birds, and it may not work in newer Lowrance units either. Check the specific version of the card you have and call Lowrance to be sure.

[h8go4s]

On your question about interference, it's situational. The signal goes out in a cone. If the cones from two sonars overlap and they are running at the same frequency, you will get interference. It looks like rain on the screen. Modern units have settings to filter out the interference. It's not the end of the world. This site has a very good explanation:

http://www.biggeorgiaspots.com/boats-and....html?showall=1

[lawman]

Thru a lot of trial and error I have found keeping the front and back units separate is the way to go. I want that depth and structure reading to be right on and reading a transducer 16 feet away is just not accurate. The older chips don't work in newer units and that is either Lowrance or the Birds. I have the old chips in my sock drawer to prove it.