GPS Fish Finder - Is there a Difference

[love2fishhave2work]

I will be looking to pick up a GPS fishfinder for the driver consol of my new boat. Doing some research online tells me that all brands are roughly the same when it comes to their top line color GPS models.

 

I am assuming that people here have their favorites. I would love to hear from you on what you use and why? Please help me pick a model.

 

Thanks

[tschirk]

IMHO

Garmin makes the best GPS & Lowrance make the best FF. seperate units mean that if one fails the other is not affected. Colour (which I have) is not necessary for FF as sound(sonar ping) is one dimensional, gray-scale is actualy easier to interpret, transducer power is more important.

 

My $0.02....

[taper]

Any Eagle/Lowrance product. They really back there products well. I would go colour if you can afford it.As Ted & the Gadget stated some people like seperate units but I found when I went to the larger screen there was no room for 2 so a combo unit it was, and I love it. I bought the Eagle Fishstrike 2000 it is fantastic and retails around $800.

[aplumma]

I have a Garmin 188 b/w on one boat and a lowrance 525 C on the other. The lowrance chip is the navionics chip which is used by 6 other companies while the Garmin maps are only Garmin. The detail on the navionics chip are update more frequently and the platinum series is just as colorful as the Garmin 3D chip. The hardware is about the same if you match the peak power and the resolution then the only thing different will be the bells and whistles and the ease of use. The Lowrance is easier to incorporate other features like Radar, fuel usage monitor, fuel level, temp. and other sensors for larger boats.

 

As far as if it breaks you lose both of the units when you buy 2 separate units you pay for 2 units rather than 1 screen. With both units in the same place getting beat up the same amount and lightning only a storm away I am betting that most of the time both units get fried or the one that breaks is a defect that shows up in the first year.

 

Art

[taper]

I forgot to add that in my opinion the Lowrance/ Eagle products are the easiest on the market to start to use. They will take a lifetime to master but easy to learn the basics.

[charlesn]

Having 2 units is also not as convenient for marking waypoints as you can use the cursor to go back to a hump you drove over to mark a waypoint on a combo unit such as the X26HD.

 

I have zero complaints about the X26HD. If I had the space up front, I'd have 2. I believe the model is now an X28HD though. Retails for around $1400 I think.

 

Charles

[sonny]

humminbird797si,,,gps uses 16 sat instead of 12,,640 vert pixles,500rms power,,and the new side imaging,,,,pretty kewl!