Topic: New boat means new sonar

[Tjo]

Guess I should introduce myself. I'm a retired soldier living in the Ottawa valley. Used to tournament fish bass but no longer have the drive for tournaments. Just enjoy getting out on the water fishing or taking the kids tubing or wake boarding explains my boat choice. Well just put my deposit on a new Lund Crossover 1875. Will be ready early April. Hope the snow is gone. I still have 6 feet on my front lawn.
Rigged the new boat with two 899 ci HD si. Having one bow mounted and one in the cockpit. As well I have a MinnKota terrova 80 lb 24 volt iPilot with iLink. Had a 898 unit on my old boat that I loved so no brainer to move to the two 899 units. I've asked them to make sure to network all three devices.
I found this site when I was trying to figure out how best to have them rigged. Any advice would be appreciated at this time.
Only bummer is that I fish in Canada and the Lakemaster maps don't cover the lakes I fish. Really looking forward to spot lock. Should make fishing alone a lot easier. Now if they could only make it so the boat would launch itself.

[Humminbird_Greg]

Welcome to the Humminbird Side Imaging Forums Tjo.

To connect all three devices you will need two (2) of the AS-EC-QDE Ethernet Adapter cables, a 5-Port Ethernet Switch (AS-ETH-5PXG) and two of the AS-EC-XXE cables.  The AS-EC-XXE cables come in different lengths and will be used to connect the 899 units to the 5-Port Ethernet Switch.  So replace “XX” in the cable name with the length.  They come in 2,  10,  15,  20 and 30 foot lengths.  So a 15-foot cable would be an AS-EC-15E.

[Tjo]

Greg thank you for the info.

Cheers Tom

[ITGEEK]

Tjo:
First of all.  Thanks for serving.
It's guys like you that allow the rest of us to relax and fish.

It looks like both the 898 and 899 units can use the Navionics Hotmaps Premium chip, and it is available for Canada:
The below link will show you what Canada lakes are available:
http://www.navionics.com/en/hotmaps-premium

I'm not sure if the spot-lock feature only works with cetain map chips, or
if it's just hooked in with the GPS coordinates.  Greg could tell you.

Good Luck.

[Humminbird_Greg]

Spot-lock does not use the map or GPS from the unit, so it will work if you are using a Navionics Premium mapping card.

[Tjo]

Thanks Guys.
Looks like I will need to update my map chips as well currently have the following:

Hot Maps Premium Canada MSD/Prem -C6 vol 22

East great Lakes NE/1G901XL3 Dec 2004

Will I need the same map chips in both units or can I share the chips across the two 899's

Thanks for all the info wish I had found this site sooner great info on here. Plan to master my electronics this summer.

Cheers Tom

[ITGEEK]

I seem to remember in the past, that two or more units can
share Waypoints, Tracks, and Route data (something the user has created),
but each unit will need it's own separate map card.

That may have changed with new networking software.
Greg will know for sure.

[Humminbird_Greg]

No, both 899ci HD Si units would need thier own mapping card.

[Tjo]

Ok thks for the info.