Fuel flow meter

[szakacs]

Hi all,
I would like to get some feedback on the subject of fuel flow meters.

I am looking at a Navman fuel 3100 system for approx. $400.00
Pros and cons
Can I do better ?????? for around this price

I have a 16ft Caribbean runabout with a 75 hp Merc and an Eagle GPS/Sounder
that has NMEA comms.

With the price of fuel as it is and looks like going I reckon anyway to
extend the supply on board has to be good.

Any comments would be appreciated..

[Stephen_Wilson]

Hi there szakacs,
Lowarance have just the fuel flow meter for you its compatable with your sounder as well. if you go to there web site you should get more info its called lowrance net and it is an excellent system
:)

[FNQCairns]

Yeah the lowrance LMS series is the go. Can do lots of extra stuff also with the catch that you need to buy the extras + who would want too in reality the interface is real crumby, 3 buttons do 200 different things.

But it does make a good fuel meter.

cheers fnq

[Stephen_Wilson]

FNQCairns the LMF-200 gage has 3 buttons the LMF-400 has 5 buttons they are not crumby they are brilliant gages they are so easy to use.
I have the system in my boat and it is great i can bring up anything on the gages or on the sounder in colour i know what everything from water temp, fuel flow, fuel levels, tacho,speed,gps, motor monitoring and what ever else you can add is doing on either sounder or gages all nmea 2000 compatible.
yep 3 gages is easier than heaps of gages (which one do you press????)
I can bring each one up on the one gage with one press
Brilliant
:)

[FNQCairns]

FNQCairns the LMF-200 gage has 3 buttons the LMF-400 has 5 buttons they are not crumby they are brilliant gages they are so easy to use.
I have the system in my boat and it is great i can bring up anything on the gages or on the sounder in colour i know what everything from water temp, fuel flow, fuel levels, tacho,speed,gps, motor monitoring and what ever else you can add is doing on either sounder or gages all nmea 2000 compatible.
yep 3 gages is easier than heaps of gages (which one do you press????)
I can bring each one up on the one gage with one press
Brilliant
:)

I have the 200 but I am never impressed with one guage that does a lot of stuff, I like to be able at a glance to see whats up for the 3 or 4 most important parameters, I do agree it's a good unit but trying to hit those buttons at 25kn over lumps in the water relegates it to never more than a fuel meter for me, which it does real well.

cheers fnq

[Stephen_Wilson]

FNQCairns,
There is your problem the LMF- 200 size good for one screen at a time
I have the lmf-400 and you can have a few things on the screen. Also, if you want it all in front of you, bring it up on your sounder
:)

[szakacs]

Thanks for the replies so far .....food for thought...

The only handicap I have now is that my Eagle GPS/Sounder
has only NMEA 0183 comms and not the NMEA 2000 format.....Damn.....

So I am kinda stuck with something that can talk to the NMEA 0183 comms if
I want to see speed, distance, usage calculation...

Are the Navmans that iffy ????????

Will keep researching.......I like gagets

[MarkDiver]

Hi
I have only used Navman fuel flow meters as I had Navman plotters. I'm on my 4th boat with Navman setup and it's tried and tested OK for me personally. Initial setup is always expensive no matter what brand you choose. A mate of mine that does commercial fishing offshore has had problems in their dories (offshore)however they were replaced no questions asked - this could be a question to ask your supplier.
Good luck - always good to have a backup fuel meter

[Taroona]

I had the Navman fuel flow device on my boat before I got the ETEC. The ETEC came with I-Command gauges. So before I took out the navman fuel transponder I compared the two and the was nearly nothing in it. The Navman was almost as accurate but the I-Command stuff was using the EMM to calculate fuel wheras the navman was actually measuring the flow with a paddle wheel.

I would have no hesitation in having another Navman fuel transponder.

Les

[Stephen_Wilson]

szakacs you dont need the sounder to run the fuel flow if you get the LMF-400 or the LMF-200 and the fuel flow transponder thats all you need
:)

[jeffrey_h]

If you do a search on this site you will get quite a few other past threads on the same subject.

They told me I needed, a very costly, Node Kit but I only needed 1 item from that so took it back and brought the single item, much cheaper.

Jeffrey