Does anyone have their ETEC connected to their Garmin through a NMEA 2000 network? I'm looking at an ETEC 40 and Garming 441S. It looks like I can get RPM, Fuel economy, engine hours, and some other data on the Garmin. I'm just wondering how it works in the real world.
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I have a 115HO networked to a Garmin 740s. It also has the iCommand gauges which also are NMEA 2000 based. There is a bit a extra electronics, like the engine has a fuel memory module, fuel tank sending unit, etc depending on your priorities. I keep 4 little data boxes on my gap screen including speed, water temp, depth and mpg. MPG is the only one that gets engine info. I have to push several menu choices to get to the screen that has engine info - fuel flow gph, rpm, engine temperature, etc. I generally get this info from iCommand only. I set it for engine temp, rpm, water pressure which displays all the time, and trim pops up when I hit the trim switch. So, unless mpg is really important to you, iCommand may be best for real world use. Otherwise you will spend all day punching on the gps to switch views around.
It is very dependent on which FF/chart plotter unit you have. Humminbirds have 3 preset view buttons down to the 700 series. You will need NMEA2K backbone, ff/ chart plotter, and the HB NMEA interface. You could set one preset view button to engine data. Also, on HB's you can hide views so you do not have to rotate through views you do not use. HDS 8 and 10 have soft keys that can be used in a similar way as the HB prest view buttons. The HDS 5 and 7 do not have this feature.
My goal is to keep it as clean and unobtrusive as possible. Maybe the I command and a separate GPS/sounder is the best route. I've been on a Copperhead and SUV with two people and each had a 40hp. Both seemed to have sufficient power for my needs.
