Rigging a new boat

[Skysoldier]

I've been using another brand for some time now with what I consider marginal results. Obviously the side scan function on the unit didn't have enough power output to get a real good picture of what was in the water - along with the screen being almost too dark to see. Anyway, I'm getting a new boat in the fall and looking at Ray Marine MF displays.

My fishing style is to troll along looking for groups of fish, marking them and then running back over them with the trolling motor and hope to get some strikes. What I would like to do is to have a Side Imager/Chartplotter on the console to navigate and watch for groups of fish, marking them on the chart plotter to go back to. On the front of the boat, I"d like to have a Down Imager/Chartplotter for slower boat movement moving from target to target. I"m looking at the eS displays with the transducer to the Side Imager on the transom and the transducer for the Down Imager on the trolling motor.

So here are my questions:

1. Does the eS series MFDs require the CP100 and/or CP200 in order to function as a fish finder?
2. Can two eS series MFDs be networked together whereby you can target locations on one and it will write the target on the other one as well?
3. Instead of using the internal GPS antenna for each unit, can a single puck be used to provide GPS to both units? In other words, can a single puck output be split to two displays? A puck mounted between the two MFDs would preferable for accuracy's sake.

Thanks

[Chuck - Raymarine - Moderator]

Q1. Does the eS series MFDs require the CP100 and/or CP200 in order to function as a fish finder?
A1. The eSx8 MFDs feature internal 600' CHIRP (conical) sonar / DownVision sonar sounder circuitry and as such do not need to be interfaced to a CP100 to function as a fishfinder. It is possible to interface an eSx5 MFD to an eSx8 MFD via Ethernet to share system data and hardware (except for NTSC/PAL video). A cost savings is then achieved by not having to have a second MFD with internal CHIRP/DownVision sonar circuitry. Interfacing a single CP200 to the system will add SideVision sonar features to both MFDs.

Q2. Can two eS series MFDs be networked together whereby you can target locations on one and it will write the target on the other one as well?
A2. As indicated within the response to Q1, all system data and hardware are shared within the networked system.

Q3. Instead of using the internal GPS antenna for each unit, can a single puck be used to provide GPS to both units? In other words, can a single puck output be split to two displays? A puck mounted between the two MFDs would preferable for accuracy's sake.
A3. Yes. The Data Master MFD and Raystar 130 GPS Sensor may each be interfaced as spurs to a powered and properly terminated SeaTalkng backbone. The other MFDs will receive GPS data via its Ethernet interface to the Data Master MFD.