Fishfinder/Chartplotter advice
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: General Forums
Forum Name: The Boat Shed
Forum Description: Discuss all things boating.
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=95920
Printed Date: 02 Jun 2026 at 7:00am
Topic: Fishfinder/Chartplotter advice
Posted By: Kevin.S
Subject: Fishfinder/Chartplotter advice
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 10:24am
| I picked up the new (new to us anyway) boat last weekend and it is fitted with a Furuno GP1850WF fishfinder/chartplotter unit. To me this seems really flash, as I've only had black and white units before, and only with very basic base maps. The thing is it has the Whakatane to Whanamumu c-map card in it, which doesn't cover the area I fish in. I have found that marine Deals have a whole of NZ card that will fit, but it's $350. The question is whether it's worth spending this much on this unit. As I said it looks amazing to me, but I'm aware that I'm probably easily impressed. Can anyone tell me, in basic terms, how good this is compared to current units and what the advantage would be to putting the $350 towards an upgrade instead of maps? |
Replies:
Posted By: flyfisher
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 10:42am
|
Great basic fish finders, a bit lacking in pixel resolution, and the chartplotting is very dated, and darn right horrible compared to Garmin and Lowrance etc to be honest. Charting was never Furuno's strong point until now. Those cards are expensive as they are quite old now. That model can take 600w or 1kw (switchable via jumpers and using an MB1000 matching box), in standard form with the 600w, they are good for 250m, a bit more in good conditions on 50khz. They are also quite complicated to use I think, especially compared to a Garmin which is super easy to use. hope this helps. If it was me, I'd think about selling instead of investing more $$$ into an older unit, despite being LCD and getting a Garmin or Lowrance Elite, HDS etc. The 1650 and 1850 we're never that great in direct sunlight either. ------------- https://www.youtube.com/user/troutboynz |
Posted By: Kevin.S
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 11:10am
| Thanks, that helps a bit. Perhaps a compromise would be to use it as just a fishfinder and upgrade the Navionics app on my ipad and use that as a chart plotter. I have a gps receiver and waterproof case, so this would not be as expensive as the chart card for the plotter. The card did seem expensive for what are fairly basic charts, I could buy the Navionics platinum for that kind of money for a newer plotter. |
Posted By: Olfart
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 11:50am
|
Yeah, that's what I would do Kevin. Lowrance chart plotting is real good but the sounders leave a wee bit to be desired. Have you managed to get on the water yet in the "new" boat? ------------- Semper in excreta sumus, solum profundum variat.... |
Posted By: Kevin.S
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 2:51pm
Not yet, but the forecast is looking good for the weekend at the moment.
|
Olfart wrote:Posted By: Olfart
Date Posted: 12 Nov 2013 at 3:55pm
|
Yes it is...I am hoping to get out on Thursday and beat the weekend rush. Down your way it is indeed looking pretty good for Saturday:  ------------- Semper in excreta sumus, solum profundum variat.... |