New boat, new Navman 4430, reading hours?

[topjimmy]

I have a new boat, which came with a Navman 4430. It seems to work fine to me, but I have never used a depth finder before, so I guess I wouldn't know.

Everything I have read says Navman is the worst, get a Lowrance, etc. I would like to have color and GPS built in, so I will probably replace it in the future.

The Navman tells me hour many hours I have on my engine.

1. How does it know?
2. If I decide to get a new finder, will it read the hours incorrectly?

TIA

[Mr.T]

The unit you have is more than likely just telling you how many hours it's been powered on, nothing at all to do with how long your engine was running. Most GPS units report total power-on time, so there's nothing magical about the one you have.

[Mr.T]

Correction:

After looking at the manual for the 4430, it *does* appear to have a basic "engine hours" function, provided the unit is wired properly.

Essentially, the unit has to be wired so that it's powered up only while the ignition switch is on. The hour meter runs while the power is on, and (theoretically) you get an indication of hours on the engine.

But that seems like a pretty useless feature - what if you want to use the sonar unit while trolling with the electric motor or while just sitting still? You can't.

If you really want to track hours on your engine, buy an engine hour meter (just a clock, really) and wire it up to your ignition switch.

[topjimmy]

The sonar works even when the key is turned off. I talked to the tech guy at the dealer yesterday, he said if I wanted to replace the FF I would have to get a regular hours meter. But right now it is indeed counting all the time the ignition is turned on.