smartcraft-Lowrance

[Wesley Bowker]

I'm starting to get prepared for the off season and one upgrade that i'm looking to put on my Z-9 is a Smartcraft gauge for my 250 Opti. I got the idea of adding this gauge from a well trusted mechanic, and he told me it would probably pay for itself in one season in fuel efficiency. This past weekend i was in a tournament with a guy who i know does alot of research on this type of stuff, and he told me that my HDS-7 would do the same exact thing only the Lowrance plug in cost about 80 dollars as compared to around 380 for the smartcraft. I haven't researched either of these items much and would like to know if anyone has experience or just an opinion on these 2 items

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

I sure would like to know how it is going to pay for itself? Do you mean by watching fuel economy while running? Possible tip off to blowing motor? Electronics that pay for themselves are a new concept unless you use side scan or such to win more $$ in tournaments.

 

[Baja 252]

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think you can plug a Smartcraft cable directly into an HDS unit.

 

[Wesley Bowker]

The HDS units have a page that shows all your gauge read outs just like looking at the gauges on the console, to make these gauges active, you plug a 70-80 dollar widget into your engine, and i have been told that it will show your fuel efficiency, usage etc, which is also some of the info that the mercury smartcraft gauge will show. The smartcraft runs about 350-375 dollars, and it is a separate system that reads through its own gauge and doesnt plug into the sonar unit at all. The way that this will pay for itself is to run it in the efficiency mode, saving fuel and oil. I know the smartcraft gauge relays this information and is very accurate and costs more than the Lowrance system. What i dont know is how accurate or how much info is relayed through the Lowrance system

 

[Mini]

The SmartCraft gauge will add idle control via the buttons on the gauge. You can idle higer ot lower for trolling or long no wakes. Nice feature.



The Lowrance will show everything else that the SmartGauge does but in order to utilize any of the fuel management stuff that involves storage of data (fuel used for season as an example) you will need the data sorage sensor for the NEMA network.



If you get a Lowrance gauge (LMF-400 or LMF-200) the storage is not needed as the gauge has it built in.

 

[Eric Aasen]

YOu are on the right path but a little off. Mercury Smartcraft run off a proprietary system that is NOT compatible with NMEA 2000. Yamaha and Evinrude can both connect directly to a NMEA 2000 network with a cable that does cost about $80. To get data on an HDS from those engines you just connect the cable to the motor and the other end to a NMEA T that is connected to a powered NMEA network. It's like a phone line running through your boat. You can connect multiple instruments just by adding Ts to the backbone. To get Mercury information on an HDS you need to purchase a Level 3 System Monitor from Mercury. They are quite expensive but they do have a NMEA 2000 output. This is new for Mercury. In the past they did not have this capability. So you can have the System Monitor showing RPMs and the HDS can show fuel flow, temp, etc. You can also have the System Monitor show speed from the HDS GPS. They are quite slick but not very cheap. Mercury decided back in the day to go with their own system while the other manufacturers went with the industry standard.



NoCAL

 

[Baja 252]

It is expensive to get it all going, but it works great. It has already saved me once. My WP dropped for just a moment while coming off a plane, indicating a problem with poppet valve. I would have never noticed it with just a WP gauge. The HDS info screen has several layouts and you can customize what info is in what spot. Here is a photo and a screen shot of mine.

 

[FLsportsman]

Is that a MercMonitor on the right and was it factory installed?

 

[Eric Aasen]

That is the Level 3 MercMonitor that I was describing in my post. It has NMEA 2000 connections to output data to any NMEA 2000 device, like an HDS unit.



NoCAL

 

[Baja 252]

The Merc Monitor was not factory installed I installed it when I installed the HDS 8. Electronics are something that you can save some money on by doing it yourself.

 

[FLsportsman]

Hey Baja 252

 

[Baja 252]

Doug1003 Like you I wanted a bigger screen and I wanted it in the dash. Nothing against HB, I went with an HDS 8 because it was the biggest screen I could fit in the dash and keep the factory look. With what new Mercury engines cost I will never have one with out a Merc Monitor. If your dealer is rigging your boat, buy the Merc Monitor cable and have them run it through the rigging tube while they are installing the engine. It will save you some time. Be sure to measure what ever unit you get several times to make sure it will fit. I modified the dash of my Z7 a little to get it to all work, feel free to email me and I can tell you what steps I did to make it all fit. [email protected]