If you hurry you can pick up standardhorizon's intrepid + vhf, $139.99 at west with a $40 horizon rebate. This is a DSC radio. Get a good antenna to go with it.

I am about to order the Lowrance X126DF sonar - an incredible unit at less than $350.00. You could get a similar unit from Eagle (a Lowrance company) for about $100 less.

You can't go wrong with the garmin map 76 handheld gps. Later when you upgrade to a fixed mount charter, you will still have an excellent backup gps.

For well under $1000 with any sales tax, that is a package that will give you years of top notch service.