Garmin with HDMI? TV's on a boat?

[thill]

Just saw a video where a guide connects a 22" LCD TV to his Garmin so his customers can see no matter where they are in his boat.

Which units have HDMI, and are any of you using this?


Along with this, what do you think of having a TV on a boat?

We have a pontoon boat for summertime family recreation, and we love cruising, tubing and grilling food while out there. At the last boat show, a number of new pontoons come with pop-up TVs, some with really big ones. It seemed a bit crazy at the time, but while out on the lake one evening, a family in a nearby boat was watching a classic movie together while eating dinner. A number of other boats were hanging out nearby, watching too. People were smiling and laughing, and it was surprisingly nice. Suddenly, TV didn't seem so crazy.

One Sunday afternoon, two older guys were in a @17' boat, wearing camo and crappie fishing at the bridge. They were watching a football game on a TV while fishing. Again, other boats nearby were hanging around, trying to see. Again, it was surprisingly welcoming and cordial, with guys commenting and trash-talking about the game while catching fish. (Fishing was good that day, and everyone was catching)

And a good friend who likes to catfish says he ALWAYS watches the game while waiting for a bite.


So, what do you think of having a TV on a boat? At first, I thought it was crazy, that it would interfere with the joy of being out in nature. But now I'm considering bringing a TV on the pontoon and using it so others can see the livescope from a distance, and maybe even for looking at movies after dinner. Still, I haven't quite committed to the idea. Thoughts?

[DockShootinJack]

Now the speed boat guys will have something else to watch as they blast by full tilt in the dead of night running on their GPS units

[slowhand]

A quick search on Google shows Best Buy's waterproof TVs from $1400 - $10,000.
I go to the Outdoors to get away from the World and people. Surely wouldn't want anything that drew more people to me.
That's why I don't catch a lot of fish. On purpose.

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[Les Young]

Seems like it wasa gps map they had in that video. I wouldn't care to have say a 16 or 18 inch outdoor tv setup strictly for live scope myself if i had a unit with hdmi capabilities. The video i saw said he gave a little over 200 bucks for his tv.

[Grainraiser]

I would put one on a pleasure or pontoon boat for the family. I think it would be pretty cool to grill and watch a game while on the water. I would not put one a fishing boat unless I was catfishing at night. It really boils down to personal preference. I fish by myself mostly and I miss not having a radio on my boat. I would never watch TV while fishing.

[slowhand]

I have no life, so I searched Amazon. They have 22 inch waterproof TVs starting at around $400.

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[Jman5626]

I suppose it all depends on what you want to get from your outdoors experience. I liken it to having a radio on your motorcycle or a cell phone while you are hunting. Sure, it gives you one more thing to concentrate on and pass the time, but it distracts from what brought you out here in the first place. Can’t say I wouldn’t try it, but I can defiantly see why it would not be everyone’s cup of tea.


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[thill]

Now the speed boat guys will have something else to watch as they blast by full tilt in the dead of night running on their GPS units

Now this is interesting. I posted the same question on a boating forum, (not so much fishing) and the consensus is very positive. Some guys there say they have 2-3 TV's, but some of them live aboard their boats or have larger cruisers.

They make clear protective covers for outdoor TV use. $400 is a lot for a small TV, but if it's really waterproof, that's probably not too bad.

Personally, I see it like having a stereo on my boat. It spends 95% of the time off, but every once in awhile I will crank it up and enjoy it.


I still haven't found a list of HDMI units, but saw a GPSMAP 12" that had it. I think that's what the guy in the video was using. My nephews like the idea of the big screen so everyone can watch, but they like anything they don't have to pay for, ha ha.

[rnvinc]

I think you’ll find that sunlight viewable monitors cost more than buying another depth finder ...

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Rickie

[ezgoing]

I would not have a tv on my pontoon to watch football games, movies or tv programs. If you want to watch tv, stay home. Don't bring your noise pollution to MY lake where I am trying to have a QUIET, relaxing day of fishing. But I would love to have a large screen to use as that guide was using it!

The unit is the Garmin GPSMAP 1243xsv. This was the unit that I planned to buy to replace the 126 unit that was stolen from me. Now that the stolen unit has been returned I don't know if I will buy this or not.

But can you imagine having a 32" computer or tv screen hooked to your livescope unit as your secondary display screen?

I was planning on hooking up an older laptop with a 17" monitor to the 1243 unit as a secondary screen for the second chair on my pontoon. So the left front fishing chair would have a 12" screen and the right front fishing chair would have a 17" screen to watch. Since the wireless modem and hard drive is shot on this laptop I would not care what the water eventually did to it.

I had a 15" Humminbird on my previous pontoon. It was a huge improvement over my current 12" Garmin screen so I can only image what a 17" or 20" monitor would look like displaying livescope.