[CA11] Es78 w/audio system multiple questions

[Jimmorock]

Excuse me for the newby questions , been trying to find the answers without success. I recently bought a 2004 maxum 4200sy, with no radio and an outdated garmin 3210 installed. I want to refresh the electronics and I have bought a es78, seems to be perfect for my needs and price was good enough to try it without too many questions. Now I have few questions i hope you guys can help me with!

I don’t fish at all, I will travel mostly on lake Champlain and the Great Lakes during the summer, plan to head to Florida during the winter.

1- unit bought new without a transducer. I guess it’s inoperative without one? I planned to use the unit primarily for charts, do I need a transducer? I already have a working depth finder with the garmin.

2- would prefer not making holes in the hull, but if I have to do one, which transducer should I buy? Is there any that can give forward vision/detection?

3- I see they can pair to my audio controls, I was looking for either a clarion cms4 or a fusion head, I saw on raymarine website the Rockford fosgate seemed to be prefered, but I haven’t found any distributor for them, and frankly, the product doesn’t appeal to me. Any suggestions? Should I go fusion or something else? If fusion is the good choice, do I have to invest in the Apollo série or the regular units are easy and friendly enough?