Marine Electronics Forum - All digital gauges vs analog

I am thinking about going all digital, and wondering what I won't have vs analog.

I already have the NMEA 2000 Lowrancenet on my boat. I am repowering w/ Etecs and will have them hooked up to the network. I plan to get an icommand gauge just to show the Evinrude faults, & maybe another LMF 400/200 or two. I have a LCX-113 & just got a HDS5 - thinking it will be good to use for its custom gauge display.

Things I am not sure I can get:
- engine trim/tilt
- Battery voltage from #2 & #3 batteries (ones not used for network power).

Are those #'s available on the NMEA network, and what else would I miss in not having analog gauges?

It would certainly make the installation easier using the existing network.

Thanks.

I did just that. 2 LMF-400's + hds5. Depending on your engine (I have the 90hp) you will either see the trim or not. The larger engines send trim, the 90hp doesnt :( You can get an nmea2k trim sender though if you want.

It will not show your other battery voltages, but I'd suspect you can get a sender for that too :)

I have a couple spare LMF-400's I would sell cheap if you are looking for some. Make me an offer ;)

I've used both type over the years. I prefer analog gauges.

Digital gauges must be read to be understood. The brain must do a little work to translate the numbers into meaningful information. It takes longer to read and understand digital gauges. That's one reason digital watches are no longer popular.

Analog gauges are easily read and understood at a glance. Proper gauges will have the needle at about the center of the gauge when the gauge is reading at the normal or expected level. It becomes instantly understood.

Some users turn the gauges in the dash so the needles are just vertical when reading a normal signal.