North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

Hi fellow fishes, just looking for some feedback / advice on how necessary these units are. I have a 7 inch HDS Touch model Lowrance chart plotter / sounder. These have an inbuilt standard GPS that seems to do the trick. I see plenty of other boats with the external module in addition to their internal one and have been told that they make the units more accurate and more responsive. I see that they sell for about $200 inc freight on EBay. Any thoughts on whether they are necessary?
Cheers, OB

From my experience, my hds was very quick until i face flush mounted it. Once flush mounted, it turned to poop, because the antenna was hidden behind too much metal with no view to the sky.
got the point 1 antenna and it was even faster than before. You wont regret it

One of my mates is using a point 1 external antenna, they are good! The arrow on the screen of your gps will allways be pointing the same way as you bow, great for anchoring on marks ect.

From memory it updated your location a lot more times per second than the inbuilt antenna, I love mine.

Yes a massive improvement . I ran my HDS7 for years without one
it was good but there is a lag in info. The Point one updates 5 times
faster and always has the bow point in the right direction on screen.
It has made anchoring sooooo much easier , instant info.
Best money spent, you should get that price or better from In & outboard
Marine,,,, Go for it

Same as Nomad,my HDS 10 is flush mounted in a half cab heaps quicker once
External antenna fitted.

Right, thanks guys... No more excuses, time to break out the warped, overused credit card again! Looking forward to giving it a crack. Cheers, OB.

Let us know how you go mate...Might get one if its only 200 bucks

Second what Jeffish said, Michael at I&O always gives a great deal.

I cant fish with out the external. The up date is sooooo much quicker. Needed to hit your fishing marks quicker and safer to follow track lines back up a river. If the up date is slow you can run off the line with out knowing it and its all over before you know it!.

I Installed a point one a few weeks back but haven't been out since to try it out. It seems though that because it's connected to the backbone that has the rest of the gauges networked the point one will only be powered when the ignition is on. Is this the norm? Is there a way to have constant power to the antenna while the sounder is on?
Chris.

Not sure how they wired mine up ,but it works on the drift
with ignition off . Just turn on the sounder in the drive way
and swing the trailer 45 degrees the cursor should stay true
to the bow direction.

The gps is wired into a nema 2000 network that is basicly a can bus set up. Its quite simple though backbone has its own power up cable to power up everything that needs it through the system. So quite simply if you want your gps to work at all times wire that power up wire to your sounder switch or bus bar. Only issue with doing it like that os some manufacturers require this gps for SOG for digital gauges so then the gauges will power up and be on as well. Or you split the backbone which is the way I recommend, one backbone for everything sounder related and one backbone if needed for gauges, one issue with this is the nema engine data cable can only run one and most people need it to gauges and want it to sounder so has its benefits and drawbacks. Just remember im talking about a specific manufacturer here so yours could be different. If you need a hand let me know
Also I run a external simrad gps and wouldnt go without one now

I have a Lowrance HDS and also have GMI 10 gauges. I don't particularly want the other gauges being on all of the time. Maybe I'll have to separate the networks as you've said. I don't mind too much if I can't display engine data on the sounder as it's all on the GMI gauges anyway. I guess the decision then is either leave ignition on while drifting etc, or forfeit engine data on sounder?