Fish Finder / GPS

[Fetch ND]

what is the best for the money

I hear Lowrance ?

 

[Nehalennia]

I like the user interface of the Garmin's much better.
I have the Garmin 545s

 

[coolings]

I have a Garmin 440s. I use it to do offshore fishing in the Gulf of Mexico. It works great. I have used in depths up to 120 feet. I really like how the maps have the depth lines. A lot of stuff (hazards, marinas, bouys, etc.) is already marked on the preloaded maps. It also saves about fifty of your last routes. This is nice when you cruise somewhere during the day and cruise back after dark. I just follow my trail back with no worries of shallow areas.

There is two things that I do not like about it. First, when I am cruising the depth is not accurate. I heard this may be a problem with the install. Second, when using the GPS it is good to get to a general area, but hard to be precise. The GPS will get you within 100 feet of a target. From there, sonar has to be used. This isn't much of an issue except one wreck that I have been too that is shallow and could damage my boat.

I have never used any other system.

 

[nickysc]

.I have a Lowrance 522, works ok but am not satisfied with the cust. support. they no longer repair them.. the sonar has its problems, for no reason you will get false readings, depth alarms will go off... I don't know any thing about the Garmin, but if I were starting from scratch I would prob look in to something other than Lowrance. Nicky

 

[jarhead]

I agree with nickysc, I would stay clear of Lowrance. I had the same problems and use mine for a back up gps after replacing it. I'm very happy with Humminbird and have heard nothin but good about Garmin.

 

[brad10281]

I didn't see anyone mention Raymarine. They just came out with a few new A Series combo units that would be better suited to smaller boats...compared to their past offerings. I can't say how well they work though...I don't own one.

 

[Tonka Boater]

<deleted>

 

[Bodkin Creek George]

Had an LMS 350 on my other boat and it was nothing but trouble. Will never purchase a combo unit again. Went to a Standard Horizon color unit gps and a stand alone Lorance Fish Finder and was very happy. Will probably do the same with my 340 Ray.

 

[lorenbennett]

I guess I will be the lone Lowrance supporter. I have the LMS-520C and it works flawlessly for me. I get accurate GPS, accurate speed and accurate depth even at speed.

The fish finder is great and I like the option to show fish as fish-symbols rather than arches. I also have the Fishing Hotspots card that includes enhanced map detail. Mine was free via a mail in rebate but I think it's a bargain at $99.

The chartplotting works great. Trails work great. And I like that you can take screen shots and save them to an SD card. Though I've never used it, I also like the "man overboard" feature.

Garmin's are nice too but I really like my Lowrance.

Here's my set up:

I with you, I have the same unit and its been flawless and very user friendly. I would like a garmin but the cost of the lowrance was much better.

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[tdappleman]

I just got a Lowrance 7200c courtesy of my wife through Jim.... (thanks Jim!) I just finished doing a custom mount using starboard which I'll post soon as the weather clears around here. I like this thing so far - 7" screen, hooks to my DSC VHF and was priced right. I couldn't justify the money for the 540 Garmin even though that is what I was after - this was about 300 cheaper. It looks to have good expansion capabilities but I'll most likely use it as a stand alone since I don't need radar for te type of boating I'm currently doing.

 

[Loneranger]

Like 08_240Sundeck, I have the same Lowrance although it is on my pontoon boat. I have no problems with the reliability of the sonar or GPS readings. The product also works without a problem. I use it on inland waterways and not coastal waterways if that makes a difference.

However, I do not like some of the user interface issues of the Lowrance. For instance I have to go through a lot of menus to get some features working. I cannot set which screen I want to be the default screen to come up when I turn the unit on. My wife has a Garmin Nuvi 360 in the car and the user interface on the Nuvi 360 is the most intuitive user friendly piece of electronics I have ever used; therefore, my next unit may be a Garmin for the sea ray 270. If I had to buy right now it would be the 535s.

John