Long time lurker, but I have a question. I've been reading up on this, but I want to make sure I'm on the right track. I'm looking at putting fish finders on my boat, but I want to be able to incorporate engine monitoring if I can. This is on an Xpress AWD 18 with a Yamaha F70 tiller stear duck boat.
So, if I go Lowrance, I was thinking about doing the Elite-7 TI in the back so I can have side scan, not sure what I would put up front but I would want something with down scan. Basically my understanding is that I would need to get the NMEA 2000 starter kit which would have 3 hookups and the Yamaha cable. Would this allow me to get RPMs and such on the 7 TI or am I completely not understanding how this works? Would I also be able to network to the front finder via the NMEA 2000 setup or does Lowrance use an Ethernet cable?
If if I were to go Humminbird, I guess I would have to go with a Helix 7 SI GPS G2N in the back and a Helix 7 DI GPS G2N up front to even be able to network with Ethernet. From there I would still have to buy the Humminbird dongle and the NMEA 2000 starter kit and the Yamaha cable correct?
To me it seems like the Lowrance setup would be more cost effective in the long run would it not? This isn't anything that needs to be rushed. I'm just wanting a fish finder up front and a way to have one incorporated with engine monitoring in the back. If you have any other suggestions, I'm all ears.
Thanks,