It may be time to look into a chartplotter/depthfinder combo unit for my bayboat. I really have no idea what to look for, so I’m looking for suggestions that anyone may have from personal experience.
I currently own Garmin products, but I’m not limiting myself to just that brand.
Experiences, good or bad, would be appreciated.
Pillage and plunder with a 9wt and a fist full of clousers.
I like my Raymarine A65(discontinued)works great.
Welcome back…
Bought a Garmin 441s combo this past summer and Im impressed for the price. Its a smaller screen for splitting but Im on one or the other most of the time and space is limited on the console so it works well and if your use to Garmin its as simple as it gets. Let me know if you want to take a look. A buddy just got the the Lowrance HDS 5 for xmas and its real nice. Got mine from Chris V he beat everybody in town and most on the internet!!!
The HDS Series from Lowrance are very nice units. I have the HDS 10 and it is by far the sweetest piece of electronics I have ever owned. I love the huge screen and the USA Insight map (preloaded) is dead on. The HDS 8 has a big screen as well and is a good bit cheaper but I had the cash so I went with the 10. I think you’d be more than happy with the 8
Triton 22 LTS
225 Opti
Jerms, go see Chris V for a Garmin setup. He will walk you through the newest models and he is the best price in town. I like the touch screen models…very easy to use
.
NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
I love my lowrance but saw Phins new HD lowrance the other day. Those things are freakin sweet. If I were you I’d keep that sounder and just get a newGPS.
I’m no superhero, but I do wear a cape sometimes…
I have a Lowrance GPS/Sounder combo. and a Raymarine GPS/Radar combo.
The Lowrance is very user friendly. The Raymarine is not.
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
Let me know if you want to see the HDS 10 in action.
Triton 22 LTS
225 Opti
Garmin 540 is one of my favorite combo units for an inshore boat
I’m now at www.teamcharlestonmarine.com
The Garmin 540s is definitly a good unit for sure, will set ya back bout 500.
Russ B.
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
i have a combo now with no complaints. if i was going to do it again i would buy seperate units so i wouldn’t have to use the split screen feature to anchor on a bottom spot. i didn’t think i would need seperate on a bay boat but it would sure help.
Jeff Davis is my President
Bad Habit, split screen sucks on a small display for sure. You can split my HDS 10 and both displays are probably larger than individual smaller displays. Granted you can buy 2 displays cheaper than that one but that’s the one I wanted. I wanted one display and didn’t want to split some tiny screen. My vision sucks too bad for that. Not that I need to tell you this Jerms but get the biggest and best display your budget will allow. What really sucks is regretting a purchase.
Triton 22 LTS
225 Opti
i have separate depthfinder and gps units on my bay boat, and a single, combo unit on my flats boat.
for what it is worth, i find that 80% of the time I only turn on the gps. which is 180 deg different from where i used to be.
Have a Garmin 498… love it!
2502 trophy twin 175 mercs
“The Rum Runner”
I have a Garmin 498 on my 18 footer. It’s a small screen to use in split function. If you have the room/$, go with a bigger screen. I have a Garmin 3210 (10" screen) and love that! I realize the 3210 needs the older chip but they being sold at very deep discounts now.
I have a Lowrance HDS unit and it’s awesome! I bought a small unit (HDS5) and a bigger display would be helpful but it’s not too bad when you split screen it. I didn’t have the $dough and didn’t really know what I needed when I bought it anyway. It turns out that the unit is awesome and is really user friendly. I may add another GPS unit later but I’m sticking with it for now. It works for me but a larger screen would be cool when you split screen it.
Being superstitious is bad luck.
I like the new Lowrance HDS units for the features, clear display and most of all easy installation. If you can wait 'til the boat show do a little touchy - feely and go from there.
Thanks for all the remarks. I’ll need to do some more looking into this, maybe get my mitts on some of these models to see what I like. After briefly looking on the 'net at some of the models mentioned above, I seem to like Lowrance’s HDS. The latest cold snap killed my money tree, so I won’t be looking at the 10" screen models or anything like that… 
I’m not above getting a discontinued/refurbished machine, either, so my search continues.
Pillage and plunder with a 9wt and a fist full of clousers.
Used ones and discontinued models, like PC’s, get cheap fast. Just like PC’s, you can get all the fundamental service you need from an inexpensive unit. Also just like PC’s you can spend a lot for the latest frills. I’ve seen new-in-box, discontinued model, Garmins selling at about 45 cents on a dollar.
Heck I’d sell my Garmin 498 for very little but it’s attached to a 18.5 ft boat I’d like to sell with it.
I would go with a discontinued model. Most bang for buck.