First Boat - Adding additional HDS Unit

[Kyholm]

Hey Everyone,

Recent purchased my first boat (98 Hydroports 171) and am pretty unfamiliar with GPS/Sounders ect. It came with a HDS5 Gen 2 on the helm mated to a shoot-thru that was just plopped into the bow storage area unmounted.

I'm looking at picking up a HDS8 Gen 2 locally for $500(CAD) and putting it on the helm mated to a transom mounted skimmer transducer(to take advantage of the side imaging), then moving the HDS5 to the bow and running a TM mount transducer on it.

I understand I can link the two via ethernet to share waypoints and transducers.

The boat will be used for relatively shallow water bass angling.

Questions I have:
- Will the HDS units be sufficient for what I'll be doing?
- Is $500CAD too much for a used HDS8 Gen 2?
- Do I have better options available?
- Can I still get Navionics(great lakes, ontario) chips for these units? (My biggest fear as a new boater is running shallow at speed)

Thanks BBC!!

Kyle

[NoCAL]

HDS 8 Gen 2 was a great unit. Will it be "sufficient"? Only you can tell that. It doesn't have most of the new tech like built in StructureScan, Wifi, or Touch screen.
No idea about CAD. In the US $500 would be too much for a Gen 2 HDS 8
There are always better options. I'd at least get a Touch screen.
A Navionics chip will still work in a Gen 2 unit but I'd discourage you from using it for shallow running. The maps are only updated infrequently and would not be my choice to protect my investment or family.

NoCAL

[Kyholm]

HDS 8 Gen 2 was a great unit. Will it be "sufficient"? Only you can tell that. It doesn't have most of the new tech like built in StructureScan, Wifi, or Touch screen.
No idea about CAD. In the US $500 would be too much for a Gen 2 HDS 8
There are always better options. I'd at least get a Touch screen.
A Navionics chip will still work in a Gen 2 unit but I'd discourage you from using it for shallow running. The maps are only updated infrequently and would not be my choice to protect my investment or family.

NoCAL

Thankyou for the reply NoCAL. I guess "shallow running" might be the wrong terminology - I'm just looking for help understanding how to stop running aground (other than never taking the boat over 10mph, lol). I have nightmare visions of happily skipping along at 60mph in 25ft of water and suddenly find myself high & dry for any number of reasons. I was hoping having some onboard navionics might help me stray wide of skinny water.

I barely understand how to utilize the features on my current HDS5, so I'm reasonably confident the HDS8 should do everything and more - Just concerned about unknowingly buying dinosaur technology. Like I said, very green to this all.

[nightcaller]

Would the two HDS Gen 2 units need a structure scan module in order to link and share waypoints?

[NoCAL]

They both have Ethernet ports. Connect them together. Ethernet existed way before Structure! I had my LMS unit connected to my first HDS Gen 1.

NoCAL