Saw a post on here late last week about this topic, but can't seem to find it.

What is the purpose of networking 2 lowrance units? I understand that you can add fuel flow sensors, temp sensors, speed probe, and all that jazz, but where does the true beauty lie?

I liked one guy's input that 2 gps pucks are better than one...makes sense, anyhow.

But what are the pros and cons of doing this???

Wow......well worth the effort, I assume?

I can not find many pros. Was mis- informed that they could share map data.

WRONG. Have to have 2 map cards. The only thing Is that you only drill 1 hole to share pucks. The 2 puck idea sounds good but why be in 2 places at once. And which Unit do you believe to show You are in the right Spot.Plus or minus 15 feet You should be able to graph to the right spot.

My 332 is networked with my 25c. The 332 is up front and it shows status at + or - 14'. The 25c shows +or - 21'. And puck is mounted in back. Can't figure that one out. I personally do not understand this term "Networking"

Hmmmm......interesting.

Now let me ask this....if I hae a card reader (from mapcreate), cn I "burn" copies of my hotmaps for my front unit?

No, you can't Chad.


The reason for having 2 pucks instead of sharing one.

While you are fishing, you are looking at your unit at the front of the boat. You are literally standing within a foot of where the puck and therefore the GPS coordinates actually are. If your puck is on your console or at the back and you are sharing it, you are looking at info that is several feet old.... In other words, your Fish Finder transducer and GPS antenna are in the same spot, therefore it just makes more sense, you see a brushpile on your fishfinder and mark it with a GPS antenna that is essentially in the same spot.

It just makes sense to have the fish finder transducer and the GPS antenna physically as close to each other as possible. One in the back, one up front.

When you mark something on the GPS while fishing and/or see something on the screen, you'd like to be able to drop your line down and know you are right on top of what you are seeing.

A good example of why you would want them spread out as far as possible:

you're coming up close to a spot you marked, you put the trolling motor down and start getting really close, as soon as you see it, you throw out a marker bouy. As a quick double check, as the back of the boat and your other GPS antenna passes your bouy, you should see that same waypoint. Now you just marked and verified an exact spot with 2 different antennas and having them as far apart as possible just makes it a little easier.

I have the same set-up... 332/25c and you are ccorrect as far as I can tell about the map sharing. I'm really starting to think I got "sold" something that really does nothing...

The dual pucks make sense. Is there somethng that I'm missing about the map sharing that might make that work?

Fortunately both units came with a puck. I was hoping that I would have much drilling to do.

I completely understand the pro's of having 2 pucks. At the same time, I've been around electronics enough to feel comfortable with my ability to find what I'm looking for. Get me in the right area, and I can pretty much find what I'm trying to find.....it's the getting there that's going to help me the most.


Question-

Will I need a speed/temp probe to see my mph on my screen? I don't think my buddy's boat has one, and he can see how fast he's going. I thought the puck served as a reference point as to how fast you're going???

Chad, the GPS unit will display your MPH ground speed. It is much more accurate than a speed sensor. Temp/transducer/GPS antenna is the only thing I would personally bother hooking up, but that's just my opinion.

Your opinion is appreciated.

I think that with the help of:

1) Hotmaps
2) GPS
3) WAY better electronics

I should be able to find what it is I'm trying to find. I'll worry about the details of what I'm trying to find once I'm on top of it.

I talked to the Lowrance rep today and he said we should wait until end of January to see new updates on networking (supposed to be able to share more info between graphs, etc.) He said no need for two pucs... stop your screen , scroll bck to the structure you wissh to mark, put cursor in middle of structure and mark waypoint that way (gps will take you to that spot, much more accurate)
Hope this helps.

If you're puck is 8ft from the xducer, you're still going to be 8ft off if you come in from a different angle.


TXAN777, you work with graphs/GPS? We need to talk shop, I've figured out a way to make the iWay 250c an amazing lake unit that might interest you.

Chad,
I saw a setup that the pucks were mounted to the units via a piece of aluminum. It was just big enough to hold the puck and attached to the unit. The attach point I didnt pay attention to at the time. I know that the aluninum flange was bent and attached to the back or to the mount.

I networked my units so they run off of one puck. Didnt realy see an advantage. Only only feature is that the front unit will read GPS when console is shut off.

Lowrance said that some of their units are haveing trouble with the pucs mounted too close to the unit, causing some sort of interferance. My LCX-19c works great with the puck mounted directly to the top of the unit (which by the way means no drilling and I can transport it)

Thanks but I don't mess with the iway units. I'm kind of an info sponge so wouldn't mind knowing anyway.