fish finder gps, which one?

[fishstik]

ive been lookn at ff,gps units, what ones are you happy with?? lookn to spend around 700$

[Smily]

Lowrance LMS337C A friend installed one this last week,and we used it over the weekend and it is simply awesome.

[Oregonrodnreel]

I personally am a Garmin fan :argue: :smile: (no offence Smily). They are very easy to use and seem priced very good compared to competitive brands. I have a GPS MAP 172C color unit that is beautifully lit and a joy to use. I did not get the additional sonar attachment because I have a separate fish finder (also Garmin) that I am quite happy with, except it is 10 level grayscale not color. If I was to do it all over again and to have everything in one unit I would look at models: GPSMAP168, 178C (color), 188, 188C (color).
The color is not necessary though is very helpful in daylight and impresses the you-know out of the friends how a fishing tool looks as good as their computer monitor does.
Check out the Garmin website, it has a good product comparison with “suggested” MSRP. Though by looking around or show specials you can find a better price.
What ever you chose, learn it well, and give a quick lesson to your passengers. You never know when someone else will have to use it.
Enjoy the new toy.
OregonRodNReel
:cheers:

[5 Salt]

Lowrance 337 dual Freq or anything Furuno.

Very nice with Navionic Gold west coast chart.

[sturgn]

I just purchased a Si-Tex Profish II with Map(color 6" display) directly from them and got a great deal, I second the anything Furuno, but your gunna pay alot to get it. Si-tex uses the C-map cards and has 2 slots for them and is a WAAS unit. The only thing that I dont like is its a single frequency transducer, but I can live with that.

[wetaline]

The Garmin GPSmap 178c is a wonderful unit.... very simple to use, but has plenty of features if you chose to use them. I liked being able to build as many windows on the screen and custom pick what data and the size of that data that goes into those windows and where they are placed on the screen.... it will also give you tide data for your location based on the gps reading. I use mine on a wide bottom tiller boat and can read it fine from the tiller location and from the kicker location.

Comes standard with temp, gps antenna. You can pick between sonar options of 50/200 or just 200 khz ...

The cons on this unit: i wish you could have the option for a flush mount GPS antenna... you can get one, but have to buy it as an accessories. And they put a protective coating on the screen which I’ve found is not found of egg juice.... so if the lights right you can now see where the egg juice (chemicals in the juice) has done something to that coating.....

Boaters World carries them.


Also – if anyone is interested in just a GPS unit w/ map... I have a GPSMap 185 that I’ll be willing to sell for cheap. It looks identical to the GPSMap 188 – It’s a grey scale unit.

[hot wire]

Take this from a guy who has tried about three of these GPS units. GARMIN is by far the easiest GPS to use. Hands down. I have tried Raymarine's new 435 Chartplotter, Garmin's GPSmap 178C, and a Lowramce unit. I made the mistake of trying to physically match, by brand, my two units (Depth finder & GPS) bad idea. I wish I had kept the Garmin for the GPS. I have a Raymarine 600DX depth finder that is sooo darn good, I feel guilty when I use it. I feel like i'm cheating!! :grin:

But listen, Get that Garmin and the ease of use will blow you away... :flowered:

Tom

[Catching Nemo]

I've been happy with a Garmin 188.

[Smily]

No Offence taken Oregonrodnreel. :cheers: I would still recommend the lowrance with the navionics gold chip and I own a Garmin 240 fish finder. It came with the boat I have now. I agree with garmins ease of use but for the features and power and best bang for buck the lowrance was a about a couple hundred dollars cheaper. The Garmin 188c is comparable to the Lowrance 337c in features and power. I am waiting to upgrade my boat before getting a unit like that but having been reading them for a while now. I helped my friend install his on his boat and we went bottom fishing out of newport and was very impressed with the unit. I was surpized to see the 8oz jig head move up and down while jigging while in over 100 ft of water. The Navionics mapping chip in it is also very impresive. It is like reading a topo map so finding new reefs was great. Any ways all depends what you will be using it for. :cheers:

[fishingls]

I have owned a good number of sonar units. My last was a Raytheon 750C. It was a very good unit. I decided last winter to upgrade to a color unit. I learned that 256 colors where important, a full VGA screen or better was desirable. Professional fisherman use fish color return to determine species by the amount of red and green in the return. A number of the units referenced to in the replies are only a quarter VGA screens. When looking at units, make sure they are full VGA or better. Look at power output and make sure the power output matches the depths which you plan to fish in. I like dual cone transducers with the larger transducer 50 degrees or better. When using a 60 degree cone, the depth of the water will match the diameter of the coverage on the bottom. IE 60 ft. of depth showing means the diameter of the coverage area on the bottom with a 60 degree cone is 60 ft. One of the other criteria to look at is target seperation. Some of the newer units offer target separation of a quarter of an inch. Garmin, Lowrance, Furuno and Raymarine (formerally Raytheon) all build good units. I used to really look down on Humminbird, however they have a couple of new units with exceptional performance (ie the 900 series). One suggestion is that Raymarine is marketing a handheld color GPS chartplotter with interface abilities. The model number is RC400 and it does take the navigational cards available from most sources. This allows you to use the GPS unit for other applications other than boating. Lots of luck in your search.

[Woolyman]

I love Lowrance products. I think they are easier to use then Garmin and come loaded with advanced features. Go to lowrance.com and download the simulator for the unit that interest's you and give it a try. The directions can be downloaded too.

Know the kind of fishing and conditions you will be using any of the products in. Many of the products have advanced features that can really make a difference. However, many sportsfolks won't spend the time to learn how to use them.

Pay attention to screen size, pixal count, processor speed, and power. Last but not least, know the money you are wiling to spend. I will say this though. People will spend all kinds of money on other things for their boat and then try to save on the Sonar/GPS. Personally, I think most of the money for accessories should go into the Sonar/GPS. All the fancy gear in the world will not put a fish in the boat, but a good Sonar/GPS will.

Good luck on your choice and remember, that buying stuff for your fishing boat is almost as much fun as going fishing!

[Angus]

I love Lowrance products. I think they are easier to use then Garmin and come loaded with advanced features.



In my years of selling electronics I rarely heard anyone make that statement, Garmin has won numerous NMEA awards for there user friendliness, second only to Furuno.

[WaterDog]

I think they are easier to use then Garmin



Never heard that said before either. :shocked:

Since we are throwing out opinions, here's mine. I prefer seperate units. One GPS and one depth sounder. I don't care to keep switching back and forth between screens and I don't care for the split screen feature. Also if one unit goes gunnysack I'm not out both gps and the depth sounder.

[boater]

Since we are throwing out opinions, here's mine. I prefer seperate units. One GPS and one depth sounder. I don't care to keep switching back and forth between screens and I don't care for the split screen feature. Also if one unit goes gunnysack I'm not out both gps and the depth sounder.



i agree 100 percant.

[fishstik]

you guys are to funny, but you are givn me the feed back i need. i do have a garmin 176c and love it, i am a idiot and i can figure this unit out pretty well, i think i will keep this unit and spend that much more on a sonar unit, that was my feeling after looking at the different units, anyone else please put your input in??? :help:

[WaterDog]

Fishstik - I have a Lowrance x15ct (came with the boat) which is a combo unit. It's a few years old but was top of the line at one point. I also have the Garmin 176c with the Bluechart and there is no doubt which gps is easier to use. To perform the same task, I have 4 or 5 more button pushes to get there on the Lowrance and it's not very intuative. Frankly it stinks. I know how to work it but I'll stick with the Garmin. The other is now relugated to a backup system.

I like the ability to be heading to a waypoint and get there and be able to look at the sonar to see the bottom features I'm looking for without flip flopping back and forth. :shrug:

[Woolyman]

This is your basic Ford Vs Chevy type arguement. I certainly didn't intend to knock Garmin or Furuno. Many people are certainly happy with those products.

My first sounder was a flasher (I can't remember the brand), my second was a Sitex Video Sounder and since 1994 I have owned Lowrance. Before I bought my most recent Lowrance last year I looked long and hard at Garmin. I did the same thing you did on another board and got basically the same replies, only in spades. Raymarine got knocked the most, but they all got knocked and praised. I decided to stick with Lowrance, not because there was anything wrong with Garmin or the other products. Call it brand loyalty and familiarity.

I love my Lowrance, I understand how it works, and I have never had a problem with the product. I will be moving up to the 111 sometime this year.

[Draggin' Bait]

I'm another separate unit fan, for the exact reasons listed above. That being said, when I bought a replacement fishfinder this spring I ultimately did spring for the $250 upgrade to include a built-in GPS. However, this is intended primarily as back-up navigation, as I'm very happy with my Magellan for primary navigation. I'm a big fan of high pixel counts (especially vertical). This is my first color display and I suspect that in short order I'll be a color display fan, as well, though my old Bottom-Line unit was effective as a gray display. If you have a DSC-capable VHF on-board (or even believe you will someday), I'd recommend that you get a GPS unit capable of NMEA output to your radio, so that an emergency signal will have a built-in location signal, as well.

[Two Fister]

:lurk:

[Fish'nDude]

Gamin 188C (combo unit) with Bluechart. Fantastic color, the screen is big enough to see from a distance and the unit has excellent functionality. Very happy with mine.