MORE THREAD DRIFT! Boating is a whole different thing and you may be surprised. My wife and I both grew on the Upper Mississippi so have spent a large part of my life on the river. Haven't done the entire loop but have been from St Croix MN. to the mouth of the Illinois river (around 500...
I could be wrong but my understanding is the Mode C does show up on the Stratux. I know my biplane with the transponder on shows up on iPads hooked to Statux or any of several other systems that also pick up the weather. Another words if your getting weather your getting the Mode C aircraft too...
I like the comment about current technology! that stuff is changing everyday and standard USB is already getting long in the tooth. Just buy a decent charger plug for aviation as some of the cheaper ones will wipe out your radios with stray RF!
I was able to replace the display in ours for about $75 a couple of years ago. Bought a NOS display off eBay. Not difficult but there are, as I remember 47 little pins on the back that all plug in at the same time.
For that price it almost qualifies as a wall hangar! Particularly if you polish it all to mirror state! I'm just across the boarder in to IL by 10 miles but my prop wall is full!
I bought a new old stock display a couple of years ago and replaced in my shop at home, its a simple plug in change. Well simple if you consider engaging 47 tiny pins all at the same time a non issue! :-) Paid $75 for the new display in it's original shipping!