# Simrad GO9 XSE on order, future home of FMT chips



## RunningOnEmpty

Let us know how it works out.


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## sjrobin

Should be a good set up Mike. Wish I could use FMT on the Raymarine e78.


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## Snookyrookie

I am very interested in the GO9, I really like the features, package, and pricepoint. It covers all the bases for what I was looking for, my only concern is the totalscan transducer fit in the sponsons- anybody running totalscan with sponsons?


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## bw510

I have the FMT on my go7 
I can see all the detail I need for running and exploring. 
It's great! besides the fact that I live on the divide between the north and south card.


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## Jfack

bw510 said:


> I have the FMT on my go7
> I can see all the detail I need for running and exploring.
> It's great! besides the fact that I live on the divide between the north and south card.


are you in bradenton by chance? I'm in the same delimma of wondering if i should go with the go9 for more detail. I'm not worried running around here in bradenton and sarasota but i often fish ozello more north and that place gets sketchy. Have u found it to be pretty spot on following tracks?


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## bw510

I live in Sarasota and really only use it for the images so I can see the shallow spots,oyster bars and contours for fishing. 
I've used it maybe 5 trips to the Everglades but I always take the tracks off because you can see the bottom so well. my boat runs very shallow so I don't have to worry too much but if I had a bigger boat I would use them in unfamiliar areas for sure.
What's so great about it is how you can see it in full sun vs the I phone maps which are very hard to see mid day


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## MariettaMike

bw510 said:


> What's so great about it is how you can see it in full sun


i'm looking forward to seeing it in my own skiff. Especially because I once ran up on that bar between Lot 5 and Georges Bar at Mosquito Lagoon while trying to look at my iPhone with a towel over my head. Had to get out and drag my skiff off that bar. The rocks over here on the Nature Coast are not so forgiving.


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## Mani

MariettaMike said:


> With 3+ years of unexpected power downs on my Garmin Echomap 50s due to a poor connection cable design I am switching to Simrad. It was nice for Garmin to offer me another warranty replacement unit this morning, but I am confident the problem is in the connector design and my frustrations with power downs would have just continued. I can't help but feel that if the design was good they wouldn't have changed it on the newer models. Though I will miss the Garmin Blue Chart app on my iPhone for storing my data via WiFi and serving as a back-up GPS chartplotter. The Simrad apps act like wireless remotes while on the boat with the main unit running, but don't hold any data to operate independently. My old Garmin may ride along as an emergency back-up for a while because I could never sell it in good conscience while knowing it powers off when the going gets rough.
> 
> Special thanks to Captains Clay Shidler (Simrad) and Dan Clymer (Garmin) from Crystal River for their honest opinions, and standing offers for technical assistance. It is no wonder these guys are booked solid for months ahead.
> 
> According to FMT a 7" unit is too small for satellite maps, and according to the size of the console in my Super Skiff a 12" is too big. So I'm going with the new 9" touchscreen GO9 unit.
> 
> It comes with the foot long Totalscan downvue, sidevue, voodoo, Chirp transducer that I don't need for flats fishing, but may come in handy on cloudy days for chasing alternative species.
> 
> I've reached my personal one screen limit for a post and will stop here. Other opinions and/or advice welcomed.


Do you have a release date for the GO9?

Thanks!

Mani


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## MariettaMike

Mani said:


> Do you have a release date for the GO9


West Marine pre-order shows November 8; FMT is shipping maps this week, and I bought a RAM ball mounting base that will cover the hole where my Ritchie compass currently resides.


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## Limp Shrimp

Almost every Garmin I owned and every one my friends have owned shut down in rough conditions, just kind of figured that is how they are...


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## MSG

I have the FMT chip and the 7" simrad. It works well - but no doubt - bigger would be better. There are some b stock deals on the 12" - if there is any way you can make it work - I would do it. The 12" screen is obviously bigger, which is a big advantage, but it is also a higher pixel count screen than either the 7 or 9 - which means you will get much more information on the screen. If I had it to do over, I would have tried to have my console modified to get the 12".


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## MariettaMike

MSG said:


> The 12" screen is obviously bigger, which is a big advantage, but it is also a higher pixel count screen than either the 7 or 9 - which means you will get much more information on the screen. If I had it to do over, I would have tried to have my console modified to get the 12".


Thanks for the info. I'm mounting mine with a 1-1/2" RAM ball mount on top my console so I can spin it around when fishing on the TM. Putting 7# of weight with the 12" NSS on it concerned me as compared to the 3# weight for the GO 9. Throw in $2k more costs for the 12" and it just didn't make sense. (not that $1800 for the GO9" and FMT maps does either, but that's what I paid for a new lower unit last year.)


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## fsae99

Snookyrookie said:


> I am very interested in the GO9, I really like the features, package, and pricepoint. It covers all the bases for what I was looking for, my only concern is the totalscan transducer fit in the sponsons- anybody running totalscan with sponsons?


Not sure what skiff you have but here are some potential issues. 
If you want to have depth while on plane then the transducers needs to be mounted fairly low. This will act as a trim tab and if you only have 1 transducer 1 side of the boat will be jacked up. This is what happened with my Humminbird transducer on my Sea Squirt with sponsons. Also for side scan to work well in shallow water it will need to be below the bottom of the sponson.


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## MSG

You can buy the 12" b stock for $2k. The ram mount will work for the 12" - Glenn from FMT has the 12 on a ram mount


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## Egrets Landing

The North FL Florida Marine Tracks detailed video is now published on Youtube and their Facebook page along with an update to the previous S. FL video as well. Both together are about 3 hours of viewing so there is plenty of provided example coverage.

https://www.facebook.com/FloridaMarineTracks/posts/1662667084044087


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## Egrets Landing

MSG said:


> You can buy the 12" b stock for $2k. The ram mount will work for the 12" - Glenn from FMT has the 12 on a ram mount


If you get the large ball RAM mount its plenty to hold a 12" Simrad.


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## mwong61

MariettaMike said:


> West Marine pre-order shows November 8; FMT is shipping maps this week, and I bought a RAM ball mounting base that will cover the hole where my Ritchie compass currently resides.


Hi Mike, 

I'd be very interested on an update whether this ships in Nov. I'm seeing some other sources indicate that there's a national pre-order pushed back to Jan. I pinged Westmarine and they said they have no information on availability at this time. 

Thx,

Michael-


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## Mani

The Westmarine store in Sarasota has a display unit of the new GO9 and it looks awesome! The GO7 looks outdated (flush mount thickness) compared to the GO9. The guys at Westmarine told me that the new GO9 unit will be available mid November.


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## mwong61

Wow, great info, thanks! Definitely digging the thinner borders on the GO9.

M-


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## Snookyrookie

Got mine today- the local West Marine stores all showed out of stock yesterday, but the Ft. Lauderdale store had 20 showing this morning so I went and grabbed one. All 20 are the top package with the Totalscan transducer and Navionics + chip, but I figure I can sell the chip and buy the FMT chip, it looks awesome! So excited and can't wait to get it installed, only thing I'm nervous about is that transducer, its going to be like an extra trim tab!!


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## Egrets Landing

Snookyrookie said:


> Got mine today- the local West Marine stores all showed out of stock yesterday, but the Ft. Lauderdale store had 20 showing this morning so I went and grabbed one. All 20 are the top package with the Totalscan transducer and Navionics + chip, but I figure I can sell the chip and buy the FMT chip, it looks awesome! So excited and can't wait to get it installed, only thing I'm nervous about is that transducer, its going to be like an extra trim tab!!


I put the total scan on last month and found it works very well. No issues. Kept depth reading at any speed. Works better than my previous set up of the LSS + the thru hull. You may need to adjust it once or twice up or down to get the proper placement off your transom. I have mine set so that about 3/4ths of the transducer face is below the bottom of the hull.


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## Snookyrookie

Egrets Landing said:


> I put the total scan on last month and found it works very well. No issues. Kept depth reading at any speed. Works better than my previous set up of the LSS + the thru hull. You may need to adjust it once or twice up or down to get the proper placement off your transom. I have mine set so that about 3/4ths of the transducer face is below the bottom of the hull.


Thank you for the advice! Sounds like I'll try that first, I also ordered the FMT chip today so I can not wait to try out the new stuff!

edit- for anybody buying a GO9 at West Marine they have a coupon for additional savings, it's not supposed to be on electronics but my cashier tried it and it worked so they took an additional $50 off!


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## MariettaMike

Mani said:


> Do you have a release date for the GO9


My order was shipped from West Marine warehouse on 10/28/16.


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## MariettaMike

Snookyrookie said:


> Got mine today- the local West Marine stores all showed out of stock yesterday, but the Ft. Lauderdale store had 20 showing this morning so I went and grabbed one. All 20 are the top package with the Totalscan transducer and Navionics + chip, but I figure I can sell the chip and buy the FMT chip, it looks awesome! So excited and can't wait to get it installed, only thing I'm nervous about is that transducer, its going to be like an extra trim tab!!



Does the cable on your total scan transducer come straight out the front? Or does it come out the top on an angle? (The transducer I received comes out the front, but the bracket appears to be made for it to come out the top like on all the other skimmer transducers I've had.)


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## Snookyrookie

MariettaMike said:


> Does the cable on your total scan transducer come straight out the front? Or does it come out the top on an angle? (The transducer I received comes out the front, but the bracket appears to be made for it to come out the top like on all the other skimmer transducers I've had.)


Mike, I'll check it tonight when I get home from work.
Scott


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## Egrets Landing

MariettaMike said:


> i'm looking forward to seeing it in my own skiff. Especially because I once ran up on that bar between Lot 5 and Georges Bar at Mosquito


This is what you're going to see. Lots of people hit that bar across from 5.


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## MariettaMike

Called Simrad and determined they haven't changed the totalscan transducer, just the bracket.

Exported my Garmin data from my EchoMap 50s to Bluechart on my iPhone, then exported data from BlueChart app to gxp file, then emailed file from iPhone to my mac, then copied file to a microSD, imported gxp file into SimRad, and then spent a couple hours reviewing all my old tracks compared to the FMT tracks. (All my colors and icons had changed in the transfer process.)

As expected many of my tracks were virtually the same as FMT, I have some tracks FMT doesn't (good), FMT has many tracks I don't (better), but the additional features and detail the FMT maps show is surprising. (best) I found benefits in Jacksonville, Mosquito Lagoon, IRL, Biscayne, Islamorada, Marathon, Key West, Boca, Tampa, and Crystal River areas I have previously fished. Almost all the points for local markers were spot on as compared to those I had marked on my Garmin. However there are so many different area, line, and point data types that I highly recommend you do what I did and hook up your Simrad to a battery by your sofa and figure out what's what at home. The 800 x 480 resolution of the GO9 doesn't get you as much detail as GoogleEarth on a PC, but its pretty darn good. The NSS12 resolution would be required to get all the bang for 3x bucks.

I'm going to run my old Garmin side-by-side with my new Simrad until I get comfortable with the Simrad & FMT for running around all these rocks. [keeping the old Richie compass too.]

PS: The Navionics+ map that came with the Simrad is not as good as the Bluechart Coastal that came with my old Garmin.


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## Snookyrookie

Mike, got mine mounted yesterday , here is what mine looks like. Testing today!


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## Snookyrookie

Got a chance to test this morning , loved the unit! I was able to read the depth at full speed , and both the side and down scan read well with structure at speed. First time to test the FMT chip will be next week, but played around with it in the driveway and I have enough confidence in it to go to Flamingo to test by myself, and I will be selling both the navionics plus chip that came with the unit and the platinum plus chip I bought and never used. If anyone is interested in the chips let me know!


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## E-money

Snookyrookie said:


> Got a chance to test this morning , loved the unit! I was able to read the depth at full speed , and both the side and down scan read well with structure at speed. First time to test the FMT chip will be next week, but played around with it in the driveway and I have enough confidence in it to go to Flamingo to test by myself, and I will be selling both the navionics plus chip that came with the unit and the platinum plus chip I bought and never used. If anyone is interested in the chips let me know!


Did it look like the sponsons were affecting the sidescan at all?


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## Snookyrookie

E-money said:


> Did it look like the sponsons were affecting the sidescan at all?


I didn't notice any issues at all with either the sponsons or the engine. The installer thought I might have some issues and would have to have the engine up a little, but seemed perfect to me with no interference.


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## MariettaMike

Thanks to the 42nd annual Homosassa Seafood Festival I did not go fishing where I wanted to this weekend. However I did launch from a ramp off Ft Island Trail for the first time, and took the tourist route into Crystal River and Hunter Springs to get a feel for the Simrad and FMT maps.

Leaving the ramp with FMT tracks showing which way to go was like cheating compared to the blank blue screen on my Garmin. Granted I could have navigated by using the USCG channel markers, but for anyone that has run the Nature Coast, especially the Homosassa River, you know that the channel is NOT where you would expect and you could miss seeing a dogleg channel marker.

Everything worked like it was supposed to, except for my memory for how to turn on/off certain data types in the FMT maps. The amount of data with everything on is overwhelming and you will want to turn off some things after you get familiar with an area. Even with all the data features off the satellite images are phenomenal. This also showed the accuracy of the FMT maps was spot on while my Garmin map showed me running on/over the banks of the canals I was fishing. [Surprised to catch largemouth bass, where I was told there might be snook.]

Will be installing the totalscan transducer next week. Will be December before I can get back on the water.


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## Egrets Landing

MariettaMike said:


> Thanks to the 42nd annual Homosassa Seafood Festival I did not go fishing where I wanted to this weekend. However I did launch from a ramp off Ft Island Trail for the first time, and took the tourist route into Crystal River and Hunter Springs to get a feel for the Simrad and FMT maps.
> 
> Leaving the ramp with FMT tracks showing which way to go was like cheating compared to the blank blue screen on my Garmin. Granted I could have navigated by using the USCG channel markers, but for anyone that has run the Nature Coast, especially the Homosassa River, you know that the channel is NOT where you would expect and you could miss seeing a dogleg channel marker.
> 
> Everything worked like it was supposed to, except for my memory for how to turn on/off certain data types in the FMT maps. The amount of data with everything on is overwhelming and you will want to turn off some things after you get familiar with an area. Even with all the data features off the satellite images are phenomenal. This also showed the accuracy of the FMT maps was spot on while my Garmin map showed me running on/over the banks of the canals I was fishing. [Surprised to catch largemouth bass, where I was told there might be snook.]
> 
> Will be installing the totalscan transducer next week. Will be December before I can get back on the water.


Florida Marine Tracks added hundreds of additional highlighted bars and banks in that area this week. To turn off map layers - Menu / Chart Options / View / Categories
In Categories touch the arrow to the left of the 3 different noted types and they will expand to show all of the layers. Each can be turned on or off.


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## westsidefly

Has anybody tried the Simrad NSS series or just the GO? Does one model perform any better or worse with FMT?


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## Egrets Landing

westsidefly said:


> Has anybody tried the Simrad NSS series or just the GO? Does one model perform any better or worse with FMT?


It runs fine on both but the zoom knob on the NSS line makes it the better overall choice of the two for ease of use. It also allows for the use of two chips at once.


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## MariettaMike

Egrets Landing said:


> Florida Marine Tracks added hundreds of additional highlighted bars and banks in that area this week.


Great! Can I mail my chips in for an upgrade?

There are some spots on your Mason Creek tracks that I think you should adjust for negative winter tides, How can I give you that data?


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## Egrets Landing

MariettaMike said:


> Great! Can I mail my chips in for an upgrade?
> 
> There are some spots on your Mason Creek tracks that I think you should adjust for negative winter tides, How can I give you that data?


Yeah,,, Id like to discuss with you and consider altering the tracks if you have some info I am missing. thanks! Give me a call anytime or shoot me an email with some coordinates so I can look into it further.


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## MariettaMike

Egrets Landing said:


> Yeah,,, Id like to discuss with you and consider altering the tracks if you have some info I am missing. thanks! Give me a call anytime or shoot me an email with some coordinates so I can look into it further.


The guy you need to talk to grew up in Homosassa, and lives on Mason Creek. He will be fishing with me sometime soon and I'll let him see the FMT track vs the one we run.

The general rule on the west coast is you run where you know there aren't any rocks. If you focus on where the rocks are, you hit another rock.

In addition, the old school tracks are a sequence of straight runs from point A to B, then C, etc. It's difficult to follow a curve!on a GPS regardless of refresh rate.

I tested the Totalscan xdcr today and it works fine except for the little rooster tail it kicks up.


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## Snookyrookie

Sadly yesterday was the first chance I had to get out fishing and put the Go9 and FMT to the test, a month later than expected. I ran out of Rod and Gun club and ran all over, from Fakahatchee almost all the way over to Lostmans. The FMT tracks worked great and gave me the ability to run a few shortcuts rather than run outside all the way, and experiment in a few areas I wasn't sure I would be able to run in. Only thing I noticed was even on a negative low tide I was able to run some of the black tracks, iirc the tracks are laid out on a boat with a 13" draft so even more areas were open for me to run. Very understandable, and I would strongly recommend the chip to anyone thinking about it! Had a few weird issues with the depth on the Go9 where we lost depth, or it suddenly went to 60 feet and then cycled down to the correct depth again but may just need to adjust transducer a little. Overall I love the new combo and look forward to exploring more places I always wondered if I could get to!


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## MariettaMike

Egrets Landing said:


> It also allows for the use of two chips at once.


The GO9 XSE has two chip slots.


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## EdK13

Are chips accessible with flush mount?


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## mwong61

EdK13 said:


> Are chips accessible with flush mount?


Yes, the slots are in the rear of the unit. You just need to reach back behind it.

M-


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## EdK13

mwong61 said:


> Yes, the slots are in the rear of the unit. You just need to reach back behind it.
> 
> M-


Sounds. Fun!


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## westsidefly

EdK13 said:


> Sounds. Fun!


Didn't want to say it but, yeah...PITA. The NSS are on the front.


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## MariettaMike

westsidefly said:


> Didn't want to say it but, yeah...PITA. The NSS are on the front.


Many have fished without a GPS for a lifetime much less needing two chip slots...please give an example of why anyone in a skiff that travels under the speed of sound would need the convenience of changing between more than two chips on the fly.


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## EdK13

Convenience.


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## westsidefly

MariettaMike said:


> Many have fished without a GPS for a lifetime much less needing two chip slots...please give an example of why anyone in a skiff that travels under the speed of sound would need the convenience of changing between more than two chips on the fly.


Don't get me wrong, I get why they did it. They wanted to keep the display clean...and it does look nice. I also think this is a case of style over function. It's also personal preference for the end user, for me, I still prefer having physical controls for this application. 

While I never said you needed two slots on the front so make these changes on the fly, the question was from EdK13..."Are chips accessible with flush mount?" Sure, they're accessible and I stand by my PITA opinion. 

Having two slots might help in your application too, you could bounce between the chips as oppose to running two physical GPS units. Maybe, just an idea. 

And I am a Simrad guy, I really like the product. I had it on my last boat and I'll have it on my next.


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## EdK13

I darn sure am not ruling it out. Lot of value in that package. And Top mounting is always an option.


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## sjrobin

MariettaMike said:


> Many have fished without a GPS for a lifetime much less needing two chip slots...please give an example of why anyone in a skiff that travels under the speed of sound would need the convenience of changing between more than two chips on the fly.


If you traveled the boundaries of the FMT or Navionics sat map overlay areas it would be a good idea. Fumbling around on the water trying to insert an expensive micro SD card could be a problem. Also exposing the open card slots to salt water is never a good idea. I have three cards that cover the entire gulf coast but I just carry one for the region I am fishing.


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## backbone

Does the Go9 have better pixels than the Go7?
As far as definition goes anyway.
I got the 7 but didn't know they made a 9.


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## csnaspuck

Is there any retailers that sell the FMT for cheaper than what is on their website?


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## backbone

No, its only sold through them. It's worth the coin, hey it's cheaper than a new lower unit...



csnaspuck said:


> Is there any retailers that sell the FMT for cheaper than what is on their website?


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## MariettaMike

sjrobin said:


> If you traveled the boundaries of the FMT or Navionics sat map overlay areas it would be a good idea. Fumbling around on the water trying to insert an expensive micro SD card could be a problem. Also exposing the open card slots to salt water is never a good idea. I have three cards that cover the entire gulf coast but I just carry one for the region I am fishing.


That makes sense.

I guess having a built in map for the entire US coast in the old Garmin kinda spoiled me. It does have two card slots on the front, but I only used it once to back-up my data. It would really suck to lose or forget the map chips, or worse, find someone stole them, or not be able to sleep for worrying someone will snag your whole rig just to get your$3k NSS if it were flush mounted.

I like the "flexibility" of the ball mount for rotating and tilting for viewing from the poling platform, helm, or bow. Taking off the boat for security is also easier than from the OEM gimbal mount.


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## backbone

I ran the Go7 with the FMT chip yesterday and I am really impressed with the GPS unit.
Its like google maps with tracks on it. 
The 7 was plenty big for running lanes. I don't really use the sonar for anything but water temp, so I am not going to put the transducer on it.
Coming from a Garmin platform, it was a very nice upgrade.


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## westsidefly

backbone said:


> I ran the Go7 with the FMT chip yesterday and I am really impressed with the GPS unit.
> Its like google maps with tracks on it.
> The 7 was plenty big for running lanes. I don't really use the sonar for anything but water temp, so I am not going to put the transducer on it.
> Coming from a Garmin platform, it was a very nice upgrade.


I was on the fence about a transducer. I couldn't come up with a good enough reason for it.


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## Egrets Landing

MariettaMike said:


> The guy you need to talk to grew up in Homosassa, and lives on Mason Creek. He will be fishing with me sometime soon and I'll let him see the FMT track vs the one we run.
> 
> The general rule on the west coast is you run where you know there aren't any rocks. If you focus on where the rocks are, you hit another rock.
> 
> In addition, the old school tracks are a sequence of straight runs from point A to B, then C, etc. It's difficult to follow a curve!on a GPS regardless of refresh rate.
> 
> I tested the Totalscan xdcr today and it works fine except for the little rooster tail it kicks up.


If you have the metal bracket for your Total Scan there is a small gap through the bracket at the rotational point where the transducer meets the hull. I had the same little spray issue and found that almost all of it is was water coming up through that gap. It wasn't really causing any problem but I would prefer to have as little spray back there on the engine as possible. I put some 5200 to fill it the gap on the bracket and found that cured the problem.


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