yep, best I can tell, Mercury will need an adapter to NMEA.
You already have a Smart Gauge display so you won't gain anything spending that money. The only thing you would gain is dash space if you got rid of the Mercury display. But then you would have to use your Echo for GPS and FF and Gauges. Doesn't help you at all.
If you had twins or quads and two 12" displays it might make sense to spend money to get rid of 4 Merc gauge displays...
So until you get more nifty Christmas gifts, you don't need the NMEA2k.
Unless you have another FF or GPS or a DSC/AIS VHF or an autopilot that can get gps data thru your NMEA2k.
I have the transom mount transducer that came with the 94sv. Its a huge savings over buying a 94sv and a separate xducer. Thru hulls are $700.
I get great results looking for wrecks (slowly) in 150ft...like a picture....
Doesn't work too good on plane with the twin 225s.
I have another older Garmin 4208 with a non-CHIRP traditional 50/200khz sonar thru hull with a fairing. It works great at high speed.
When wreck fishing I use the Echo94 full screen side vu and the old garmin for traditional sonar, split screen with the Chart.
If I'm not wreck fishing I set the Echo94 to traditional (CHIRP). The CHIRP separates targets and is "cleaner" than the old one. But the old one finds schools of bait better. It shows as a red&yellow blob...
The Echo GPS is built in and works well. Mine is mounted inside a hardtop electronics box. I also have a Garmin GPS17x connected thru NMEA2k to the old 4208 display.
Do yourself a favor and get the free Garmin Homeport software(it only works on a PC now, not MAC ). With that software you can use a keyboard and computer to enter and edit lots of waypoints (wreck/rocks/reefs) in the comfort of your home and then use an SD card to load the Echo unit.
( a note here..Your newer unit might have bluetooth and connect to Garmin ACTIVE CAPTAIN software running on smart phones rather than using the SD card.)
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