gps combo

[Newbie25]

I made up my mind and bought the Raymarine A70D with cartography and the 50/200khz transducer. I bought it off of Defender during their huge sale and only paid $1,200.00 for it!!! I also found out by one of use about the $500 rebate by Raymarine so it seems as though it just gets better and better.  

I already ordered the Platinum+ charts for it and I will post what I think about it in a few weeks. I wanna use it for couple outings to give it a fair and balanced review. I currently have a Raychart 425 and humminbird 718 that this unit will be replacing. I love the Raymarine products because there very durable and professional. The humminbirds to me look like something you would use on a freshwater lake and the screens tend to fog up. Not a big fan of my 718 because there is way to much clutter on the screen. As far as Lowrance goes I know 5 people who own HDS displays and they have/had nothing but issues with them and Lowrances attitude is "whatever". Just my .02 cents.

When it comes to electronics its like boat brands everybody has their own opinion. To me Raymarine is like an Aquasport and Humminbird is like a Bayliner. (My own personal belief)

[DOCREED]

To me Raymarine is like an Aquasport and Humminbird is like a Bayliner.


Here Here!!!

[wrightex]

Newbie, you say you bought it "with cartography". Does that mean you bought the unit with pre loaded US coastal charts?

Is that necessary if you are going to use the Platinum + charts?

I'm not familiar with the newer units, but I was thinking of getting it with "no charts" and using the Platinum + for my location.

Keep us posted on how it performs.

Thanks

[Newbie25]

Wrightex, I purchased the unit with the US coastal chart because I plan on taken the boat down to the Outer Banks and Florida keys eventually so I figured why not get the unit that would cover everything. I also am ordering the platinum+ chip for my area because it seems to add a whole different dimension to the chart-plotter. Defender had such a great deal on the unit with the built in mapping that I decided to pull the trigger finally. Before the sale I was thinking of doing what you plan on doing because the price difference would pay for the Navionics chip.
The unit is currently on backorder so Im holding off putting my boat in the slip till I get the unit and install it. I will definitely post A LOT of information about it because I know how hard it was for me to pick the right unit and how it was hard because of peoples opinions. I will list all negatives and positives of what I find. I hope there will be a lot of positives  

[wrightex]

Did you ever get the unit? It's been almost 2 months since you said it was backordered.

[Newbie25]

wrightex: I've been swamped with my business...but I did receive the unit and have used it about 8 times. The unit  will not disappoint anybody. There are a lot of settings so I didn't have a chance to play with all of them yet. This thing is amazing though. The screen quality is great as well.