emergency nav advice

I got a clearance deal for a 7" HDS gen3 this past spring. I wanted the 9" but they were sold out and i didn't feel like spending an extra $2K to get the carbon. That buys a lot of gas and other accessories! I agree though that having the E-net option is good so you can do radar as well as multi units. I hooked up my old HDS5 gen1 to it and put it on my rear helm, awesome setup for something that did not cost a lot to do.
The 7" screen is not that bad unless you have pretty bad eyes. if you are split screening then yes its pretty small but i only use the chart when i am in the cabin station anyways. I used the savings of the 7" to also buy the point-1 so i can do radar overlay. The overlay option is pretty awesome. In the back I use the HDS5 for the chart and i have a 551DV garmin fishfinder for the sounder. Works for me.
You will need a hub if you connect more than one device on the E-net. you can spend 400$+ on a NEP-2 or you can do what i did, and just use a Netgear Prosafe GS105 for about 40$ (though i had mine lying around the house so it was actually free). It works awesome and is 12V out of the gates. Just has to be somewhere dry, which inside my cabin it always is.

Just my two cents!
 
Whatever you buy IMO you will need a map chip to get descent bathymetric detail. Need for RADAR depends on where you are boating. From what I have read on the Hull Truth forum Lowrance/Simrad has the worst support out there. I'd also see what brand came with or had the option on the best CHIRP transducer - you don't need more than 500 watts of power.
No substitute for big screens Instead of split-screening I'd look for a unit that toggle between fish finder & map easily. DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!
 
simrad nss7 evo 3 - its awesome. get a gx2200 standard horizon vhf/ais radio and nmea 0183 to the simrad. no radar required for ais.
 
Ericl is right you only really need radar if you consistently fish the west coast such as Port Renfrew, Barkley Sound, Nootka, etc. which have consistent fog, especially at this time of the year. It does have other benefits though, such as finding piles of birds out of sight distance which can find you fish (takes a bit of practice to make that work) as well as finding Hali spots, such as if you see a boat anchored and you see that they are into fish and want to try the spot in the future, then you can accurately put a marker on the overlay where they are(only works with overlay and therefore a heading sensor).

Big screens are certainly nice but usually come with a significant price penalty and usually dont offer anything more than a bigger screen. Many units now can do mirror on a tablet, so if you were dying for a 10 inch screen you can mirror on your ipad or android tablet for way way less than the delta price to the next size up. Stay within what you can afford.

AIS is not a substitute for Radar in low visibility conditions, though it is a nice add on for sure, one i'd like to do in the future. Only ships of 150 tons or more or carry more than 12 passengers are required by law to transmit AIS, and those are not the idiots that you need to worry about in thick fog.
 
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