Lookin for new electronics

[Anzomcik]

I am lookin to get a new gps/sonar combo for the front of my boat. If anyone has anythoughts on which brand, model... reasons why they like it. That would really help me out, they all seem so similar, it is nice to hear from owners of the product. With people close to where i fish i would get a real review of how they preform, in conditions that we face. Thanks

[Red Childress]

Lots of considerations here. Will this be the only graph in your boat or will/do you have another graph on/near your console??

[Anzomcik]

I have one at the console already, not gps, just sonar. I am lookin for a nice unit for the front.

[Red Childress]

I am partial to Lowrance/Eagle. I have owned several and no problems at all. Depending on how thick your wallet is, most anything you would need will be listed below. If you are planning on fishing various lakes, you will be happy with the lake mapping/chip compatible units. I picked up my first color unit last year and it was money well spent. IMO, there is little difference in the Lowrance and Eagle graphs unless you are fishing the ocean and need the extra power for depths over 5-800 feet.

There is one unit in particular that was marked down from the mid-500.00 range to the mid-300's that might be the one for you. Internal vs. external antenna and screen size will be something to think about as well. There are some REAL nice graphs when you get in that 2-3,000 bracket with large HD screens, etc. but I assumed you were looking in the 4-500.00 range since the GPS combos start in the upper 300's..


http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/index/index-display.jsp?id=cat602012&navAction=jump&navCount=1&cmCat=MainCatcat602025&parentType=category&parentId=cat602025

[Red Childress]

Disregard the 642c graph I mentioned earlier (that was on sale) because it sounds like there are some problems associated with it....probably why they are on close-out without the possibility of backordering. I am glad I researched it further.

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Here is a great unit and has been getting great reviews for around 600.00.



http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0064101020393a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=lowrance+color+graphs+gps&Ntk=Product_liberal&sort=all&Go.y=0&_D%3AhasJS=+&N=0&_D%3Asort=+&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.form1&Go.x=0&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

[toothyfishman]

What do you have at the drivers seat?
I know you can network them together,a GPS unit at the drivers seat and share the info to a cheaper model on the front deck.
Maybe move yours to the front and the new one at the drivers seat.
Not sure what you do most cast or troll but it maybe something to consider.
Maybe something to think about looking ahead on your future plans and goodies you plan to purchase.

I have a lowrance with the internal GPS antenna and it works great, I have another that will network but I haven't done it yet, it's on the winter/early spring boat project list. The lowrance is a very easy unit to use. The Eagles are exact as far as using the features and what button does what, menu, etc etc...Little cheaper in cost but sure seem to be the same unit with a differnet name and color case.

The mapchips I sure would be pretty much the same no matter what model you got.

Black and White? Color? So many choices.........I guess it's all in what you want to spend. This is vote #2 for the Lowrance/Eagle family anyhow.

I keep asking santa for the moster screen Lowrance but he keeps forgetting to put it in the sleigh or something? I'll have to wait until something happens to mine I guess.

Once you have a good unit with GPS and a good mapchip you wonder how you ever caught fish without it!!!!

[Anzomcik]

I should have given a little more back ground info before i let this post fly. I own two boats. the Lake erie boat is a 20 foot crestliner, i have this boat set up for trolling. I run the bottom liner tournment hr sidefinder pro (older unit came with the boat, waiting for it to break to get new fancy unit :)) for sonar and i picked up a lowrance globemap 5300 to run the gps.

My small boat is 14 foot semivee, i run a eagle fishmark 480 at the consol. In the front i did run a cuda 250 (that unit came off of my big boat when i bought it) but the cuda is sold. This boat is used mostly for casting 95% of the time. Most of the areas i fish with this boat, the waters are not included on any map cards. So i will be doing all the leg work myself, like i seen in musky hunter a few months back. Color would be nice, just not sure how it looks in the sun. Do people like internal or external gps pucks? I have a feeling alot of people will like the lowrance/eagle products, i liek then also. But with at least a few months before the boat will leave the garage it would be neet to hear if some one has a garmin, humminbird, raymarine...

I guess i would like to hear how people like the units they have, what they do not like. With winter hitting us hard right now at least where i am this is a good time to think out this kinda stuff.

[toothyfishman]

You could buy the one you want for the big boat that does everything and buy a second set of transducer/power cables and use it for both boats?

[lowbidder]

Most of the water I fish aren't included on the map chips either! PA gets the shaft when it comes to the lake lists. If you want to fish a farm pond in Vermont, there's a map for that.
I use the Lowrance M68C at the bow of my boat. It's a compact unit. Color screen (I have no problems seeing it during the day). Shows Sonar / Map or split screen. No card slot. You can get one for just under 400 new. I'm very happy with mine.
I also have an Eagle 320C that I use trolling in my kayak. No GPS, but a great unit for the price. When I'm trolling, I'll put the GPS unit at the helm and put my Eagle at the bow. Works good enough for me.
I would also love to have a widescreen, but I've blown way too much $$ on fishing this year!! Of course... next year is just a few weeks away. :)

[Red Childress]

I was not sure about your boat configuration regarding your graphs. If I had an 'official' lake boat, I would definitely look into networking both graphs like Toothy said unless you have the bucks to put high-end graphs in both locations. The graph I listed above is ethernet compatible, which is a nice option to have, IMO.

[Trooper]

I was just at Gander Mt today and all of there sonars are on sale 25% off. I purchased a Lowrance HDS with Lake Insight for $561.72. A lot of other gear was alos on sale.