My boat was setup with a Ritchie SS-5000 magnetic compass on the throttlemans side of the boat and an Azimuth 1000 digital compass on the driver side. The Azimuth 1000 is a dead player and the Ritchie compass needs to be rebuilt. While I am removing these items for repair or replacement, I was thinking of adding a GPS system (chart plotter) and was wondering what configuration you guys would recommend.

Should I:
1) Run a magnetic compass on both the driver and throttleman side of the boat, and mount the GPS in front of the driver.

2) Run the Magnetic compass on the throttlemans side as a backup, replace the broken Azimuth 1000 digital compass on the driver side, and simply add a GPS unit at the helm?

or...

3) keep the magnetic compass on the throttlemans side, and just replace the Azimuth 1000 with a GPS unit.

I guess I'm not really sure what the pros and cons are of a GPS unit versus a digital compass like the Azimuth 1000, aside from the obvious difference of having the chart plotting features on the GPS. And I'm also not sure what the advantages and disadvantages are of a magnetic compass versus a digital compass, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Basically, I'd like to be able to just hold a heading or course, and at the same time know where I am.

Finally, is the Garmin 182C still the hot ticket for a chart plotter under $1,000?

Thanks,
Steve