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.

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?

Yes it is...I am hoping to get out on Thursday and beat the weekend rush.