Looking to get combo & would like some help from the guys who have used various brands & models. I have only used a Garmin for a short while & it was a little tricky to learn (it had built im coastal maps & was a help).
Looking for something user friendly or has a good manual that helps out, Bulit in Coastal maps would be nice so don’t have to buy a add on card (but card would work too), down imaging would be a plus but not a must. Would like to stay under $600 $500 or less range would be great.
I looked on BassPro but there are so many to choose from and can’t always believe what you read on those review.
I figured you guys would be the experts…
Any help would be great…
Humminbird 787C.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats
Lowrance HDS series. The 5 is in your price range. I have the 8 with the structure scan and love it.
A wise man once said “Do as I say not as I do” Good advice when I tell you that.
Thanks for the input guys. I will take a look at those two models.
Lowrance is offering rebates as the Gen.2 models are coming out. Any of the Lowrance HDS units are very good. I have a Humminbird 787 that I like a lot. I dont think you can go wrong with humminbird or lowrance.
oneal.
Do you know if they come pre-loaded with the coastal maps? The Garmin I used had great maps built in that showed depth & showed the channels to navigate. All you had to do was follow the line & you didn’t have to worry about getting into shallow water or underwater structures. Basically as far as navigating the inlands it was dummy proof. That was the great thing about the Garmin but the rest of it was a little tricky to use.
I was hoping not to have to spend an extra 100-200 on a card that would give me the same info that the Garmin pre-loaded maps had. I know some of the units you mentioned has pre-loaded maps but not sure how detailed they are. Any idea???
HDS have some great maps and they are good units. Just got a new Simrad NSE. Very cool unit. Lowrance is owned by the same company. They have offer a great product.
Here is Winyah Bay (sorry my camera quality stunk!)
Here is the GTH
Set the trap boys, we going to pass through them again!!
If you have limited dash space for the unit, I’m very happy with my Garmin 441s. If you have more space, up size the screen appropriately.
17’ Henry O Hornet
26’ Palmer Scott
X2 on the 441s though I would spring for the larger 541 if you have the cash.
Thanks for all the help guys.
You can buy either unit(Lowrance, Humminbird) pre-loaded with maps.
I looked Humminbird site & saw it comes with the “Uni Maps” installed on it. From what I could tell those maps do have the coastal maps on it like the Garmin I used.
I was looking at the Garmins and just decided on the 546s, bigger than the 441 and better resolution.
quote:
I looked Humminbird site & saw it comes with the "Uni Maps" installed on it.
Yes, it’s just the base map but it accepts Navionics chips. Navionics is the way to go for chart plotting software.
Garmin uses proprietary software, you have to use Garmin software and each chip is very expensive and doesn’t cover much area. For instance it takes 3 chips just to cover FL, at over $100 each. The Navionics chip for about $100 covers the entire East Coast US, both coasts of FL including the Keys, and the northern half of the Bahamas. you would have to spend $1000 to do that with Garmin, and change chips all the time.
Capt. Larry Teuton
Cracker Built Custom Boats