Garmin Fishfinders - anyone use'em?

[cram]

Heading up to Bass Pro and Lebarons tomorrow to pick up a new lower-cost ($300-400) fish finder. Anyone try the Garmins? If so, how do they compare to Eagle and Humminbird?

 

I will be using it for mostly shallow (<100 foot) applications.....for the msot part, less than 30 feet. As far as i know there are no gps maps available for my lake (Restoule) so no need for mapping features.

Edited July 29, 2009 by cram

[lookinforwalleye]

I have a 160C and I do not like it.I don`t think the thing has ever marked a fish or I am never where the fish are, I like my cheap Eagle portable better.

Edited July 29, 2009 by lookinforwalleye

[Jet]

Was in the same boat as you early this year and ended up with the Humminbird 343C. Full color, dual beam, 1000 ft range, portable (I got the full portable kit) with several view options including a flasher mode which I love for ice fishing. And this one definitely marked real fish. Mine cost me $379.99 + tax but I've seen them for $350. Without the portable kit, its under $300. Lebarons has it, I highly recommend you check it out while you're there.

[cram]

How much difference does colour make?

[GBW]

test it out in store, you will see (no pun intended)

[Jet]

I find the colour is not only nicer to look at all day, kinda like the difference between playing the old Nintendo Game Boy vs a colour unit, but its also easier to differentiate the icons at a quick glance. Also my finder uses colour to reflect density and fish viewed by each of the two beams. So the closer and more dense readings are in red, the further and less dense are in blue. So colour helps for quick identification.

 

Here you can take a look at the unit I have here and compare it to the b/w option and see for yourself if its worth it.

http://store.humminbird.com/sonar-gps-comb...od407000-1.html

Edited July 29, 2009 by Jet

[bushart]

I too have/had a Garmin 160----one of the biggest mistakes on eqpt.

 

Hardly had it any time and it just quit-----it was only a second finder for my boat so not a real biggie---my main finder is Lowrance-----hard to beat that baby

 

Bushart

[Cast-Away]

I personally would stick with Eagle or Lowrance which are one in the same anyway. The problem with Humminbird finders is that the transducer has a flat bottom verus the torpedo shape of Eagle/Lowrance products. The flat bottom style does not work once your boat is up on plane, so you get no reading when you are moving across a lake and won't see shallow water coming up and could end up hitting some underwater structure.

[BillM]

I personally would stick with Eagle or Lowrance which are one in the same anyway. The problem with Humminbird finders is that the transducer has a flat bottom verus the torpedo shape of Eagle/Lowrance products. The flat bottom style does not work once your boat is up on plane, so you get no reading when you are moving across a lake and won't see shallow water coming up and could end up hitting some underwater structure.

 

 

I get readings on my 747c up to about 20km/h or so..

 

Sounds like an installation issue if you don't get bottom going any faster then trolling speed.

[The Urban Fisherman]

I get readings on my 747c up to about 20km/h or so..

 

Sounds like an installation issue if you don't get bottom going any faster then trolling speed.

 

Agreed, I get perfect readings on my 595c @ 27 MPH, and have seen perfect readings on several bass boats using 1197's going 70 + MPH.

 

 

Cheers,

UF

[Billy Bob]

Garmin is noted for their GPS systems not their sonar units. Everyone I know that had one purchased something else after awhile.

 

If your unit is having trouble reading at high speeds you just need a simple adjustment to the transducer. Just tilt the transducer SLIGHTLY FORWARD so the sonar beam actually shoots toward the bow. This will insure proper water flow over the entire surface of the transducer.....

 

 

Bob

[LeXXington]

I did lots of investigation on the Garmin and was not impressed.

 

I would stick to a company that knows there stuff.

[Uncle Buck]

I personally would stick with Eagle or Lowrance which are one in the same anyway. The problem with Humminbird finders is that the transducer has a flat bottom verus the torpedo shape of Eagle/Lowrance products. The flat bottom style does not work once your boat is up on plane, so you get no reading when you are moving across a lake and won't see shallow water coming up and could end up hitting some underwater structure.

 

I've got a bunch of humminbirds Matrix 17, MAtrix 67 and a 767 they all use the same flat bottom transducer and i track bottom at 30mph...

If you aren't reading bottom, it's an installation issue...

 

I've heard of more then a few Lowrance transducers bite the dust this year...

 

Lowrance is nice but $$

humminbird is a nice balance between $$ and quality

Garmin, never owned one, but i'd stay away from them...

[limeyangler]

Garmin do good GPS...but crappy sonar.......stay with Lowrance, Eagle or Hummingbird....my preference is Lowrance.

[Raf]

the eagle fishmark 320 or 480 is in my opinion the best bang for buck these days. no, it is not colour but (again, in my opinion), colour is not neccessary.

 

you can buy two 320s with your budget. save a few bucks for lures or a gps.

 

eagle/lowrance = tool

hummingbird = toy

garmin = unknown

 

(in my opinion )

Edited July 29, 2009 by Raf

[cram]

the eagle fishmark 320 or 480 is in my opinion the best bang for buck these days. no, it is not colour but (again, in my opinion), colour is not neccessary.

 

you can buy two 320s with your budget. save a few bucks for lures or a gps.

 

eagle/lowrance = tool

hummingbird = toy

garmin = unknown

 

(in my opinion )

 

For the price of colour you can get a MUCH bigger screen and higher resolution......does the colour help differentiate btwn fish and structure etc?

[Guest steel'n'esox]

BPS might still have some Lowrance 510c color graphs remaining they are 399.99 ++ I bought one two weeks ago and at that time there was 13 left, they are discontinued came out in 2007 and were about 675.00 then, that unit is on my dash with a Garmin 276c chartplotter.

[DRIFTER_016]

I have a Garmin 120 I use on my portable pontoon and it works great. It marks fish perfectly and I haven't had any issues with it at all.

Great entry level or second unit.

On my boat I have Lowrance. I have always loved Lowrance and will continue to buy their equipment.

Next on the list is an HDS 10 with side imaging add on. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[ohhenrygsr]

i think if you want a good Garmin unit you have to pay for it and for the price of them i rather get a Lowrance HDS unit or even a Humminbird. I'm a huge lowrance fan always have been always will be