porkpie Posted December 8, 2014 Report Posted December 8, 2014 With my buddy recently getting a touch screen sonar, and having played with it I now think I know what I want for Christmas. Lowrance is out, they don't even have pinch to zoom functionality, humminbird is too expensive, and I'm not willing to pay lowrance gen 3 prices that undoubtedly will have pinch to zoom when released. This brings me to garmin. Looking at the echo map. 70DV. Does anyone run a garmin unit? I've used nothing but lowrance or bird all my life. I'm interested in your experience with garmin sounders good or bad. With the recent news that garmin will soon be compatible with navionics, that suddenly makes them a prospect. All the info on saltwater forums is excellent, but I wonder if anyone has used their sounders in local water and your thoughts. I am very familiar with their GPS technology, and I don't doubt that part will be solid! Thanks!
cram Posted December 8, 2014 Report Posted December 8, 2014 I researched the 70DV as well, and it's supposed to be a great unit.
SirCranksalot Posted December 8, 2014 Report Posted December 8, 2014 Be aware that touch screens don't work too well with gloves on.
porkpie Posted December 8, 2014 Author Report Posted December 8, 2014 (edited) Be aware that touch screens don't work too well with gloves on. Yes, thanks, mostly by the truly fridged weather I am steelhead fishing anyway, so not much of an issue. I fish from April to October in the boat, then it's either steelhead or hunting only anyway. Edited December 8, 2014 by porkpie
Garnet Posted December 8, 2014 Report Posted December 8, 2014 Garmin has been way behind in fishing finders. Don't think to many independent have there new si and di.
porkpie Posted December 8, 2014 Author Report Posted December 8, 2014 I don't know man, they are real big in the offshore markets, with a huge following, freshwater there isn't a lot of users it seems!
Garnet Posted December 8, 2014 Report Posted December 8, 2014 I've used they fish finders 2d work nice. This last year is the first I've heard of Garmin si and di.
SirCranksalot Posted December 8, 2014 Report Posted December 8, 2014 I wonder if they are as "user friendly" as their Hand held GPS's har dee har dee har!!!
G.mech Posted December 8, 2014 Report Posted December 8, 2014 The Lowrance Gen2 Touch is hard to push aside just because you don't like the zoom control....it's an amazing unit. The zoom control is simple the way it is and you don't mess up the screen so much with oily hands and stuff. I bought the new 9" Touch last year to replace all my Garmin stuff and there is absolutely no comparison in either the GPS or the Sonar. Lowrance wins hands down.
porkpie Posted December 9, 2014 Author Report Posted December 9, 2014 Well, I looked at the garmin this evening. Functionally it it not what I'm looking for, so it's out. Back to the drawing board. My buddy has the lowrance, it's alright, but my mind wasnt blown. The only one that really did much for me was a Raymarine unit that I saw in a cabelas in the US, talk about user friendly. I've just about settled on a new boat to drive in the spring, so something networkable would be nice. I might have to track down the raymarine. As for the dude with the comment about garmin GPS not being user friendly, I am guessing you haven't tried one of their touch units. I have one , and I don't think you could get much more user friendly!
BillM Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 I wonder if they are as "user friendly" as their Hand held GPS's har dee har dee har!!! Best thing about the Garmin units is that the maps are easily acquired.
Terry Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 I loved their handhelds from day one never found them unfriendly, I never once had to look at manual , everything seemed easy to u n d e r s t a n d
Sharkbait22 Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 I sometimes wonder about the future of Garmin, particularly their handhelds. I've always thought the screens could be much larger for easier reading and less panning and scaling up and down. The maps are ok. Birdseye in Canada is terrible. The processors are too slow. Custom maps are tedious. Why not just use a phone or tablet? Maps and imagery can be downloaded before entering the field or connect via cell and get imagery real-time. Of course there is all the other functionality of a cell phone and full better processor speed. If things go this way what will Garmin be left with? Sonar? Map products? Is the end near? I still use a GPSMAP 78. OP - Go with Lowrance or Himindbird OR go pro with Raymarine, Furuno, etc?
BillM Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 Phones will never replace in field GPS units. First off, the antennas are completely different. Then you've got things like weather proofing/water sealing, the the battery life issues.. Phone are great when you're sitting on Simcoe, not so much when you're humping through a dense cedar swap 20 miles out of Chapleau.
DRIFTER_016 Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 Phones will never replace in field GPS units. First off, the antennas are completely different. Then you've got things like weather proofing/water sealing, the the battery life issues.. Phone are great when you're sitting on Simcoe, not so much when you're humping through a dense cedar swap 20 miles out of Chapleau. Don't work for beans anywhere outside the city here either. There is maybe .5% cell coverage up here. I'm lucky that my cabin site 30kms from town gets great cell service because of it's location and elevation. Yes I can stream Leaf games out there.
SirCranksalot Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 I loved their handhelds from day one never found them unfriendly, I never once had to look at manual , everything seemed easy to u n d e r s t a n d Well, how's this: When I first got my map 78 I set a waypt a couple of streets over from where I live. I set 'activity'to "hiking' since that was what i intended to do. When I hit find it gave me an error msg saying 'no routable roads' Now, given that I was hiking I wasn't really expecting any 'routable roads' After several e-mail exchanges with Garmin I found out that I needed to set 'activity' to "direct routing', instead of "hiking. Now hudathunkit??? . Never did find out what the 'hiking' setting could possibly be for and I'm not about to ask Garmin "product support".
porkpie Posted December 9, 2014 Author Report Posted December 9, 2014 One bad experience, and the whole product line is crap. Ok then!
Terry Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 Hiking mode slows things down so you don't see the everything jumping around or making false Tracks as it takes you longer to move enough to get a direction. On which way you are going walking rather then driving a vehicle Damn them for trying to help. lol
BillM Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 One bad experience, and the whole product line is crap. Ok then! Heh.
SirCranksalot Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 One bad experience, and the whole product line is crap. Ok then! No, the whole F'ing device is ornery as hell!
Old Ironmaker Posted December 9, 2014 Report Posted December 9, 2014 I wonder how the touch screen would be affected by direct sunlight? My Asus tablet isn't supposed to be left in direct sunlight for long.
G.mech Posted December 10, 2014 Report Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) One bad experience, and the whole product line is crap. Ok then! Well you're tossing the Lowrance aside just because you don't like the way the zoom works......seems that you already have decided what you want so why ask? Edited December 10, 2014 by G.mech
Sharkbait22 Posted December 10, 2014 Report Posted December 10, 2014 My phone uses AGPS and GPS - it has an antenna and doesn't need a cell network although the Assisted GPS helps get a quick (instant) fix. My older phone, Samsung Rugby, was waterproof and inadvertently tested several times without issue. It's a tough phone. Other similar tough phones are now available. Then there are endless protective cases if you want. I have Navfree on my phone which has replaced my Garmin Nuvi.. It gives real-time traffic, routing, and all sorts of features. The down-side at the moment is lack of functionality like a handheld has and the sunlight readable screen. Maybe cell phones are not ready to replace standalone GPS yet but soon. Better yet would be for Garmin use a large screen and a faster processor! BTW - have you seen the new Marcum Pancam!
porkpie Posted December 10, 2014 Author Report Posted December 10, 2014 (edited) Well you're tossing the Lowrance aside just because you don't like the way the zoom works......seems that you already have decided what you want so why ask? On the contrary, I wanted opinions on Garmin sonars, I got some , and further up if you'd read the thread, I looked at one in person, and decided it didn't have what I was looking for. I've owned several Lowrance units over the years, and have never had an issue. Right now I'm looking at touch screens, and one thing that is a must for me is pinch to zoom. I'm so used to it with my tablet and phone, I don't even use a computer anymore unless I'm at work. I also don't like the fact that I can't get down image without side imaging on the lowrance. I would like the option to add SI at a later date, but being used to having down image, I want that right now. I'm not picking on your pet sonar, but the lowrance unit as it stands isn't what I'm looking for. Now I'm trying to figure out where I can look at that raymarine without driving down to the states. And I thought garmin was a bit of a unicorn in the freshwater sonar world lol! Edited December 10, 2014 by porkpie
Terry Posted December 10, 2014 Report Posted December 10, 2014 I am pretty sure West Marine barrie and midland carry them
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