Lowrance carbon chart plotters

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Dan McNally

New member
Any one have experience with the Lowrance carbon 3d bundle chart plotters? Are they worth the money and are they reliable? I have looked at them and I am starting my research for a new chart plotter. It would be my navigation brain for the inside passage next summer so what ever I purchase it needs to be dependable. I like the fact that you can tie all your systems in to the unit so that you have a back up viewing area for tach,temp,speed and radar ect.
 
Journey on has 3 ea Lowrance units: a Hook fishfinder, a gen 2 display and a 3G radar, complimented by a Point 1 compass to give radar overlay and connected by their NMEA 2000 bus. I've used this for several years and have enjoyed it, especially the radar overlay. Both displays are 7". I use the MFD to set the course and Judy uses the Hook to micromanage it. Saved my ass several times. The radar feeds an ethernet hub, which allows me to run the radar on a PC as well as on the Lowrance display.

No problems after the loose ethernet connections have been secured. Use c-map chips, but the internal maps got me through Lake Powell. Got a new depth sensor since some external rubber covering was disintegrating. Called customer service, always got a reasonable answer.

So, I'd recommend Lowrance.

Boris
 
Dan,
All of the major manufacturers have very reliable Multi Function Displays (MDF). As I understand the "Carbon" it is designed mostly for the fisherman, where you can have transitional sonar, CHIRP, Down Scan and Side Scan, without any additional "black boxes". Any of their standard type HDS displays will do the traditional sonar, Radar, and chart plotting. For engines which have NMEA 2000 output, they will also monitor all of the perimeters. (This goes back almost 10 years). Problem is that if you still have a 2005 Honda on your 22, then it will not interface with any of the MFD, and for an alaska trip, I would rather have two MDF, so you can watch: large scale chart and small scale chart, Radar and sonar (traditional depth finder). We cruised AK with our Cal 46 long before chart plotters were available--and even rarely used traditional depth finder (mostly when in uncharted areas, or some very narrow passages, with 6' draft).

The down scan, side scan and CHIRP, are good for certain types of fishing--and can also give some good information in anchorages, but for 99% of AK--not necessary...
 
This seems to be the tend these days. There is a lot of attention paid to sonar imaging and fish finding capability. None of which I'm interested it. I just want a good chart plotter with a decent sized and resolution screen for a decent price (personally I don't care for Garmin). As far as the sonar thing goes, I just need it to tell me the depth. All the multi frequency sonar stuff doesn't interest me and is not something I want to pay for.
 
Thank you for input, always nice to hear from the experienced users while I do my research. I mostly use the boat for salt water fishing and it is nice to have good bottom reading capabilities with the chart overlays for navigation.
 
The down and side scans are mostly useful in fresh water and depths of less than 150 feet. Chirp will be helpful in getting a better discrimination of the fish, a school of bait fish vs one larger fish for example. But all of the manufacturers have CHIRP, Down and Side scan now.

One good way of "research" is to go to a boat show where all of the instruments are side by side, and factory rep is there to answer questions, and explain why their unit is "Best".

I had Lowrance on the Tom Cat 255. For the most recent 22, I had all Garmin, The 25 had one fairly new Raymarine, so I decided to go with all RayMarine--outcome is all about the same. In my opinion Garmin is easiest to use. I am a little put off by their handling of Active Captain, but there are factors beyond their control (EU privacy laws). With Garmin you are stuck with only their charts--with RayMarine, the proprietary "Lighthouse" , C map and Navionics are available. Lowrance, seems to be stuck with C map currently. Look at the maps, and see what format, level of detail and features you like.
 
Dan McNally":qq41qlw2 said:
Any one have experience with the Lowrance carbon 3d bundle chart plotters? Are they worth the money and are they reliable? I have looked at them and I am starting my research for a new chart plotter. It would be my navigation brain for the inside passage next summer so what ever I purchase it needs to be dependable. I like the fact that you can tie all your systems in to the unit so that you have a back up viewing area for tach,temp,speed and radar ect.
Click to expand...

You can still get a Lowrance Gen 3 7 inch for a good price. The carbons are a little expensive for my blood but I've had a two Gen 2 and just bought my first Gen 3. Looking forward to the dock to dock autorouting for charting out routes quickly when loading the family, and using the autopilot when far from land and traffic.
 
The carbon 16 chart plotter is here, need to find some time to hook it all up and test it. I will post my thoughts on how easy "Plug and Play" is after it is installed.
 
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