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GPS and Wavve Question

Glava2876

Glava2876

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I'm a newbie. We have a family camp pontoon, that I use maybe 2x -3x a year.
My wife and I decided to purchase our own and ordered a 2021 LFB23, which is the new ID for the SXP Fastback?
No pictures yet, since we scheduled a May 2021 delivery.
We are also getting a place on the St Lawrence, near Ogdensburg NY and will have more questions, regarding dock set ups etc., but right now I'm looking at the navigation.
We get a Garmin Striker 4 fish/depth finder with GPS, but looking around I also found the Wavve app.
It looks great for $20.00/ year -would you recommend getting it too?
Thanks,
Glen
 
Hi Glen -

I don’t live up your way but have fished the St Lawrence many times. I know for me I would want a real good base set of maps given all of the rocks and other hazards on the river there. Not to mention certain sections are just plain confusing given all the islands especially in low light conditions or fog.

Have you considered opting out of the Striker and upgrading to a true chartplotter? And if you don’t want to spend a ton, then maybe spend a little more on a Garmin Echomap44 which does have the charts and appears to have a similar profile to the Striker and may fit in the same molded area? The advantage there is with the Echomap you can then download ActiveCaptain for your iPhone or iPad and have all of your base maps synched. I use mine to chart routes and get estimated trip data for distance and fuel considerations.

I’m sure the free or low cost nav apps are adequate, but just throwing out another option. You can see from my phone screenshot that the level of detail is quite good. There is also a lot of information on marinas, mooring locations, hazards et

Good luck!

82029E22-58E2-45B9-9A26-D96D7D471CC7.jpeg
 
You might also think about upgrading to SIMRAD from factory. A little salty, but cheaper than toon repairs after hitting a rock, plus 10 year warranty to boot!
 
Plus 1 on the Simrad with the 10 year warranty
 
Potomacbassin’ said:
Hi Glen -

I don’t live up your way but have fished the St Lawrence many times. I know for me I would want a real good base set of maps given all of the rocks and other hazards on the river there. Not to mention certain sections are just plain confusing given all the islands especially in low light conditions or fog.

Have you considered opting out of the Striker and upgrading to a true chartplotter? And if you don’t want to spend a ton, then maybe spend a little more on a Garmin Echomap44 which does have the charts and appears to have a similar profile to the Striker and may fit in the same molded area? The advantage there is with the Echomap you can then download ActiveCaptain for your iPhone or iPad and have all of your base maps synched. I use mine to chart routes and get estimated trip data for distance and fuel considerations.

I’m sure the free or low cost nav apps are adequate, but just throwing out another option. You can see from my phone screenshot that the level of detail is quite good. There is also a lot of information on marinas, mooring locations, hazards et

Good luck!

View attachment 28074
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Thanks, that definitely looks very helpful!
 
Ok, I am looking into this more and since our 2021 23Tritoon (Old Model SXP23) won't be built too soon for the spring delivery, I want to be sure that I have the factory options clear. I have the Garmin Striker 4 Fish/ Depth Finder with GPS in the build. The recommendations that have been provided in this thread are the 7" Garmin or a 7" Simrad -I really am not sure, but need to understand, if I need one of these to do charts on the St Lawrence??
 
I would recommend going to a West Marine, Cabelas, Bass Pro etc. and seeing in person all of the different options. West Marine would be better vs a Bass Pro as WM will likely have the Simrad models amongst others. There is no replacement for touch and feel. The last thing you want is to find out after the purchase that your selection was inadequate so measure twice and cut once.

I fished Ogdensburg and it seemed to be a fairly straight and clean part of the river - if you stick to the channel markers and pay attention to hazard buoys then you should be fine. But if heading up to Massena or down to Alex Bay then me personally, I would want a better chartplotter.
 
If you are considering the Simrad then please consider the G07 rather than the smaller G05. I have made this upgrade and I am very pleased that I did. Besides the larger screen the G07 allows you to have an external alarm. The internal Simrad alarm is soooooo quiet I couldn’t hear it unless I was at idle. I use the depth alarm frequently due to the rivers I run in central Florida.
 
I started out with a simple depth finder. After half a season of running around the inland bays I decided I needed a little more help and upgraded to a chart plotter. Since I do fish I was happy with the better quality sonar but I was very happy with the mapping. As I have now relearned the area, with the help of the unit, I don’t depend on it as much, but it’s always there if I need it. When picking which unit to buy, I say get the biggest you can afford with the options you want.
 
That is exactly what I have been thinking -after all of the great feedback from everyone on this forum, I’m going to call my dealer on Monday and see if I can get this changed in the build!
 
Was actually able to call today and made the change to the Simrod G07. I like the fact that is also changed dash so it fits right in front of me and also has the engine gages etc. thank you all for your input.
 
Glava2876 said:
Was actually able to call today and made the change to the Simrod G07. I like the fact that is also changed dash so it fits right in front of me and also has the engine gages etc. thank you all for your input.
Click to expand...

You’ll love it, and you will absolutely find it very practical for your chartplotting needs. We just have the GO5, and would LOVE to have the larger one. They just didn’t do them as an option back in 2017.
 
The GO5 is perfect in our dash. I just wish the Simrad would read depths at speeds over 18mph.
 
BigKahuna said:
The GO5 is perfect in our dash. I just wish the Simrad would read depths at speeds over 18mph.
Click to expand...

I like it for sure, but I wouldn’t mind it being a few inches bigger. Hey, get your minds out of the gutter. I’m talking the Simrad.
 
I had a 5” screen many years ago and it was fine, but you end up zooming and pinching a lot more frequently to get the level of detail you want which is a pain while driving the ship. Probably a little less safe too.

I now have a 10” and it’s like being at a movie theatre. Like Viking mentioned you will definitely appreciate the extra few inches - good choice! Also the unit may only come with the base maps, so consider getting a Navionics chip for your area if you want the extra detail/info it provides.

Kahuna - you should be able to have depth reading well above 18mph with a quality chartplotter, for example mine reads fine up to about mid-30’s. Transducer location is critical to getting readings at higher speeds so I suspect it’s either too high/low, not level or in some location that is very turbulent. Interesting that you lose it right around planing speed. If SIMRADs are truly limited to 18mph I would be quite surprised and similarly disappointed.
 
BigKahuna said:
The GO5 is perfect in our dash. I just wish the Simrad would read depths at speeds over 18mph.
Click to expand...

If you lower that transducer 1-2.5” inches below the pontoon (if you can do that and wont break it on a lift or trailer bunk), you should then get readings up to WOT. The Simrad/transducer are natorious for this when mounted at the normal “flush” level of the bottom of the pontoon when getting up on plane.

Michiman lowered his transducer a couple years ago and it worked great for him. I held off due to my old lift bunks. Now that I have Sea Legs, I just need to remember to lower it, or hook up an new bracket and lower it, this upcoming season myself. I am hoping to lower it 2 inches below pontoon bottom.

FYI: I said the same thing last season, and never took the time to lower with it all season, so who knows. I swear the more minor a job is, the less likely I am to actually do it. :confused:
 
I have moved that transducer so many times it's not funny! With the same results. I'll try it again at the beginning of next season. I was told that it needs "clean" water.
 
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