Best Chartplotter (surface mount) for 2023 AR190?

[halcyon100]

Hi jet boaters! I'm looking for some advice for the best in-dash chart plotters you may recommend. Thank you for your advice.

- We live inland in the midwest, so lake and river support is our most important application.
- I've been looking at displays that would *fit* in our boat dashboard flush. (7"?)
- I know Yamaha doesn't have jet integration for NMEA 2k. That's okay, but curious if anyone has found a way around this.
- I'm concerned about usability, performance and longevity from some of these. I've read that Garmin support doesn't last, as an example.
- I am open to getting 3D sonar for better bottom visibility - curious what others think about this.

Here's the top of my list so far. Thoughts?

Axiom+ RV | Chartplotters | Raymarine

Axiom+ chartplotter displays with RealVision sonar built in

www.raymarine.com

GO7 XSR with C-MAP DISCOVER, No Transducer | Simrad USA

7-inch chartplotter, includes C-MAP DISCOVER chart, echosounder and radar support.

www.simrad-yachting.com

I'm curious if these would fit - have to get boat out of storage come spring:

SIMRAD® NSX™ Chartplotter & Fishfinder

Packed with amazing features the NSX™ comes with an integrated Sonar, full Radar and Autopilot systems compatibility and more... With a handy Setup Wizard tool, you'll be up and running in no time.

www.simrad-yachting.com

NSX® ULTRAWIDE

SIMRAD® NSX® ULTRAWIDE is a modern widescreen chartplotter, built for pontoon boats, wake/surf rigs, cruisers and center consoles.

www.simrad-yachting.com

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Hi jet boaters! I'm looking for some advice for the best in-dash chart plotters you may recommend. Thank you for your advice.

- We live inland in the midwest, so lake and river support is our most important application.
- I've been looking at displays that would *fit* in our boat dashboard flush. (7"?)
- I know Yamaha doesn't have jet integration for NMEA 2k. That's okay, but curious if anyone has found a way around this.
- I'm concerned about usability, performance and longevity from some of these. I've read that Garmin support doesn't last, as an example.
- I am open to getting 3D sonar for better bottom visibility - curious what others think about this.

Here's the top of my list so far. Thoughts?

Axiom+ RV | Chartplotters | Raymarine

Axiom+ chartplotter displays with RealVision sonar built in

www.raymarine.com

GO7 XSR with C-MAP DISCOVER, No Transducer | Simrad USA

7-inch chartplotter, includes C-MAP DISCOVER chart, echosounder and radar support.

www.simrad-yachting.com

I'm curious if these would fit - have to get boat out of storage come spring:

SIMRAD® NSX™ Chartplotter & Fishfinder

Packed with amazing features the NSX™ comes with an integrated Sonar, full Radar and Autopilot systems compatibility and more... With a handy Setup Wizard tool, you'll be up and running in no time.

www.simrad-yachting.com

NSX® ULTRAWIDE

SIMRAD® NSX® ULTRAWIDE is a modern widescreen chartplotter, built for pontoon boats, wake/surf rigs, cruisers and center consoles.

www.simrad-yachting.com

I have very limited experience as I’m a first time boat owner, having said that I have a Humminbird Solix 10” and am very happy with it. You buy the lake master charts that cover your area which have good detail and some good functionality. I see quite a few guys running Lowrance units here as well.

I think your wanting to flush mount the unit is going to limit you in several ways, the biggest is the size of the screen. I use a RAM mount for my set up and that allows positioning it in various ways, I’ll have it set differently if I am fishing as opposed to cruising, and I can even flip it around to see it when I’m in the bow.

And definitely get down and side imaging so you can see the bottom.

 

[MilesPrower]

I second everything @FSH 210 Sport said.

Plus, IMHO...

The GO series is incredibly old and outdated, and it was already retired by Simrad (Navico) once, but when they had so many problems with the launch of the NSX series, they had to bring the GO series back from the dead.

I had a GO7 XSR and Active Imaging 3-in-1 transducer on my kayak for a couple years before I replaced it with a newer Lowrance (also Navico) unit, and on my second kayak, I went with a Simrad NSS7 evo3 (which I bought for $725 on eBay) — because the GO7 was such a dog. My 255 FSH came with a GO12 XSE, which I use only as a sonar display, while I added an NSS12 evo3S as my main display for radar/chart overlay, etc... because the GO12 is excruciatingly laggy.

The NSX series is new for Simrad, and it's Android-based, so it's more "modern." Unfortunately, third-party map integration is sorely lacking for your use-case. (Florida Marine Tracks, StrikeLines, and CMOR are the only third-party maps that NSX supports, and none of those will do you any good on Midwest lakes & rivers.) Therefore, I personally would not buy an NSX — at least not yet.

Navico owns C·MAP, so the NSX does support the new X-generation of C·Map charts. If you go to the online C·Map ChartExplorer, you can see how much detail is available for your lakes and rivers:

C-MAP Chart Explorer: Zoom in to see the rich detail in our data.

Although my Simrad units came with C·Map charts, I rely on Navionics SonarChart maps instead. Their ChartViewer is here:

Navionics ChartViewer

In the Navionics ChartViewer, click on the round Navionics logo in the bottom left corner, then choose SonarChart.

I did a cursory exploration of the Illinois River and Goose Lake, and I found better detail in SonarChart than in C·Map X. In my area of the Redneck Riviera, C·Map's coverage is so poor that it's unusable for inshore navigation. With that said — you should do your own comparison of C·Map and SonarChart for your specific lakes and rivers, while keeping in mind that NSX doesn't support Navionics charts.

BTW, Navionics has been owned by Garmin for many years, but only recently did Garmin offer Navionics charts on their own MFDs. My other boat has a bajillion dollars of Garmin electronics on it — I won't bore you with the details — but I much prefer my Simrad/Navico system on my 255 FSH over the far more expensive Garmin system on my other boat.

 

[halcyon100]

Wow! Thank you for your incredible replies @MilesPrower and @FSH 210 Sport .

Great to understand the product histories on some of these. My top contender is still the Raymarine Axiom Plus with Navionics. (I have some friends who highly recommend Navionics, as well, based on local experience - so glad to see you recommend it, too.). I hate to be greedy with your time, but any thoughts about this unit? https://www.raymarine.com/en-us/our-products/chartplotters/axiom/axiom-plus-rv

 

[MilesPrower]

Wow! Thank you for your incredible replies @MilesPrower and @FSH 210 Sport .

Great to understand the product histories on some of these. My top contender is still the Raymarine Axiom Plus with Navionics. (I have some friends who highly recommend Navionics, as well, based on local experience - so glad to see you recommend it, too.). I hate to be greedy with your time, but any thoughts about this unit? https://www.raymarine.com/en-us/our-products/chartplotters/axiom/axiom-plus-rv

I don't have any experience with Raymarine electronics, but the Axiom+ series looks supercool! I love how Raymarine is offering an Augmented-Reality feature that works with cameras. I have night-vision cams on both of my boats, and the AR-overlay looks like it would be really useful for navigation in channels and harbors.