Not ready for a new boat? Then upgrade the one you have and enjoy incredible new capabilities with today's latest tech.
by Lake-Link Staff
Higher interest rates have put a damper on boat sales this year, with most boat builders reporting sales declines for 2023. But the other side of that has been a surge in sales for electronics manufacturers, as anglers put aside that new boat purchase and choose instead to upgrade the vessel they already have. So we've seen a number of new fishfinders and multi-function displays (MFDs) flood onto the market in recent months, boasting more amazing capabilities than ever. Here's just a sample of what you're going to see at this winter's boat and fishing shows.
If you've got the dash space for it, Humminbird's Apex 19 Mega SI+ CHO MFD has what Humminbird says is the clearest sonar imaging on the sharpest 18.5-inch HD touchscreen display ever. MEGA Imaging+ and
Dual Spectrum CHIRP sonar come standard, along with a dedicated sonar channel for accessory 2D CHIRP transducers up to 2kW.
Garmin's new GPSMAP 1243xsv MFD boasts a high-resolution 12-inch display that's ideally sized for a wide variety of freshwater fishing boats. It comes with an ultra-sleek design for easy bracket mounting, built-in ultra-high-definition SideVü and ClearVü scanning sonars, and it supports traditional 1kW CHIRP sonar as well as Panoptix LiveScope devices. It comes preloaded with BlueChart g3 coastal charts and LakeVü g3 inland maps, and supports both Garmin Navionics+ or Garmin Navionics Vision+ digital charts.
For those who want the big picture, Garmin's all-new GPSMAP 9000 series displays offer 4k resolution on a true 19-inch touchscreen that's readable in direct sunlight while wearing polarized glasses, and 7x faster processing speeds than previous models. The displays are fully networkable and can work with multiple sonars and cameras at once for unprecedented situational awareness and complete whole-boat connectivity.
Lowrance
Lowrance's HDS PRO brings full networking and bow-to-stern boat control, including full control of trolling motors, autopilots and PowerPole shallow-water anchors to an exceptionally compact unit with a 10-inch SolarMAX HD touchscreen. There are two new chart overlays for ActiveTarget Scout mode and Ghost 360, as well as full compatibility with Active Imaging HD and ActiveTarget 2 Live Sonar technologies. Pre-loaded C-MAP charts cover thousands of lakes in the US and Canada.
For anglers on a budget, its Hook Reveal 9 TripleShot comes with CHIRP, SideScan and DownScan sonar imaging and FishReveal, which makes fish easier to see by combining the benefits of Lowrance CHIRP sonar and DownScan Imaging on a single screen. Its 9-inch high definition SolarMax touchscreen display fits most boat dashboards or mounts easily on a bracket without obscuring driver forward visibility.
Raymarine
Raymarine says its Axiom 2 Pro RVM is the most powerful MFD yet with a six-core processor and its fast LightHouse 4 operating system to combine CHIRP DownVision, SideVision and RealVision MAX 3D channels that all benefit from the faster ping rate and tighter beams, delivering exceptionally clear imagery of the ocean bottom, fish holding structure, and the position of fish relative to the boat. The high frequency CHIRP sonar channel also boasts 600-watts of output power, significantly expanding the depth range to 1,200 feet, and greatly improving the clarity of fish targets detected throughout the water column. Screen sizes from 16 to 24 inches render an enormous amount of info in one space.
Raymarine's Element HV 12 features HyperVision 1.2 megahertz CHIRP sonar for higher resolution, a 12-inch sunlight-viewable display with integrated GPS/GNSS receiver, built-in RealVision 3D, a quad-core processor for fast operation and an all-in-one transducer that combines HyperVision, DownVision, SideVision, RealVision, and conventional CHIRP sonar channels into one simple installation for easy rigging.