This question has been asked previously but not within the last year.
I just got a 30ft walkaround and am looking to buy new electronics for it. I am looking to spend $1000 to $2000. On my previous 21ft walkaround i had two seperate 5" Humminbird units, one for GPS and one for Sonar. I much preferred having two separate smaller units rather than one large unit to perform both task. I will be fishing offshore but also in lake murray. so my question is, does anyone have or have experience with some of the newer units? what new features are really worth it and what features are cool but not worth extra money? I dont mind buying two separate brands to create the best of both worlds, for example- Garmin unit for GPS and a Lowrance for sonar. do you offshore guys use side and/or down imaging much?
I just upgraded one of the units on my boat. I went back to Garmin. Lowrance has good stuff but the customer support has always been an issue for me. I like some of the sonar stuff hummingbird puts out but their gps sucks!!! Raymarine has really stepped up their game and you should at least look at them. Their sonar is really good, I mean REALLY GOOD.
As for side imaging, I decided against it, but most of my fishing is past 100’ and I’ve never seen it working past 60’ so I can’t tell whether it would do me any good or not, however; it is pretty impressive in 60’ around some of the artificial reefs. It’s awesome on Lake Murray. I have the down imaging and it performs very well also. I wouldn’t have a unit without the down imaging anymore.
For me Garmin was the best overall value, the sonar/DI is pretty good and the GPS is the best. Customer support has always been good and the unit is user friendly.
simrand evo2’s their is a rebranded gen1 b&g is the name iirc and they are offering the 12" units at a fair price new…
I love my simrads evo2’s I have twin 7’s on my cc… iirc I am right in the 3k range tho with tranducers 2 units downscan and the vhf+nema2000 maybe more its been about 1/5years since install…
I love the chirp, I love the interface… its straight forward… I am ok with tweeking depending on the water(fresh brackish) or semi blue or jetty water… it really does make a huge difference if your willing to go past auto and understand how chirp works… I also like the overlay where you can be in chirp and have downscan on top of it… I never run around in sideview so I cant say much… I have used it in the river just to see what the vids were sayng first hand when I had a few hours to kill…
I really enjoy the ability to make my own maps for the areas I fish or travel regularly… the more you record and frequency that you do it the beter the map becomes and it takes the data of high/low tides as well… its such a huge feature that’s overlooked and really not talked about imo…
I just upgraded one of the units on my boat. I went back to Garmin. Lowrance has good stuff but the customer support has always been an issue for me. I like some of the sonar stuff hummingbird puts out but their gps sucks!!! Raymarine has really stepped up their game and you should at least look at them. Their sonar is really good, I mean REALLY GOOD.
As for side imaging, I decided against it, but most of my fishing is past 100’ and I’ve never seen it working past 60’ so I can’t tell whether it would do me any good or not, however; it is pretty impressive in 60’ around some of the artificial reefs. It’s awesome on Lake Murray. I have the down imaging and it performs very well also. I wouldn’t have a unit without the down imaging anymore.
For me Garmin was the best overall value, the sonar/DI is pretty good and the GPS is the best. Customer support has always been good and the unit is user friendly.
218WA Sailfish
200 Verado
The "Penn"sion Plan
Yeah ive always liked the humminbird sonar. I enjoyed the gps on my previous humminbird, although it was slow at times. to be honest, if my previous humminbird set had down imaging, i prolly wouldnt even be selling them with the old boat.
simrand evo2’s their is a rebranded gen1 b&g is the name iirc and they are offering the 12" units at a fair price new…
I love my simrads evo2’s I have twin 7’s on my cc… iirc I am right in the 3k range tho with tranducers 2 units downscan and the vhf+nema2000 maybe more its been about 1/5years since install…
I love the chirp, I love the interface… its straight forward… I am ok with tweeking depending on the water(fresh brackish) or semi blue or jetty water… it really does make a huge difference if your willing to go past auto and understand how chirp works… I also like the overlay where you can be in chirp and have downscan on top of it… I never run around in sideview so I cant say much… I have used it in the river just to see what the vids were sayng first hand when I had a few hours to kill…
I really enjoy the ability to make my own maps for the areas I fish or travel regularly… the more you record and frequency that you do it the beter the map becomes and it takes the data of high/low tides as well… its such a huge feature that’s overlooked and really not talked about imo…
yeah i was looking at the simrad go7, its on the top of my list right now. it seems like it had all the options, plus good capability to expand. and i like the wifi feature, itll be nice to be able to be down in the cabin and just keep an eye on my phone or tablet and be able to keep an eye on the electronics.
simrand evo2’s their is a rebranded gen1 b&g is the name iirc and they are offering the 12" units at a fair price new…
I love my simrads evo2’s I have twin 7’s on my cc… iirc I am right in the 3k range tho with tranducers 2 units downscan and the vhf+nema2000 maybe more its been about 1/5years since install…
I love the chirp, I love the interface… its straight forward… I am ok with tweeking depending on the water(fresh brackish) or semi blue or jetty water… it really does make a huge difference if your willing to go past auto and understand how chirp works… I also like the overlay where you can be in chirp and have downscan on top of it… I never run around in sideview so I cant say much… I have used it in the river just to see what the vids were sayng first hand when I had a few hours to kill…
I really enjoy the ability to make my own maps for the areas I fish or travel regularly… the more you record and frequency that you do it the beter the map becomes and it takes the data of high/low tides as well… its such a huge feature that’s overlooked and really not talked about imo…
yeah i was looking at the simrad go7, its on the top of my list right now. it seems like it had all the options, plus good capability to expand. and i like the wifi feature, itll be nice to be able to be down in the cabin and just keep an eye on my phone or tablet and be able to keep an eye on the electronics.
This is what I picked up as well. Can’t wait to get it installed and working. My only complaint is t
simrand evo2’s their is a rebranded gen1 b&g is the name iirc and they are offering the 12" units at a fair price new…
I love my simrads evo2’s I have twin 7’s on my cc… iirc I am right in the 3k range tho with tranducers 2 units downscan and the vhf+nema2000 maybe more its been about 1/5years since install…
I love the chirp, I love the interface… its straight forward… I am ok with tweeking depending on the water(fresh brackish) or semi blue or jetty water… it really does make a huge difference if your willing to go past auto and understand how chirp works… I also like the overlay where you can be in chirp and have downscan on top of it… I never run around in sideview so I cant say much… I have used it in the river just to see what the vids were sayng first hand when I had a few hours to kill…
I really enjoy the ability to make my own maps for the areas I fish or travel regularly… the more you record and frequency that you do it the beter the map becomes and it takes the data of high/low tides as well… its such a huge feature that’s overlooked and really not talked about imo…
yeah i was looking at the simrad go7, its on the top of my list right now. it seems like it had all the options, plus good capability to expand. and i like the wifi feature, itll be nice to be able to be down in the cabin and just keep an eye on my phone or tablet and be able to keep an eye on the electronics.
simrand evo2’s their is a rebranded gen1 b&g is the name iirc and they are offering the 12" units at a fair price new…
I love my simrads evo2’s I have twin 7’s on my cc… iirc I am right in the 3k range tho with tranducers 2 units downscan and the vhf+nema2000 maybe more its been about 1/5years since install…
I love the chirp, I love the interface… its straight forward… I am ok with tweeking depending on the water(fresh brackish) or semi blue or jetty water… it really does make a huge difference if your willing to go past auto and understand how chirp works… I also like the overlay where you can be in chirp and have downscan on top of it… I never run around in sideview so I cant say much… I have used it in the river just to see what the vids were sayng first hand when I had a few hours to kill…
I really enjoy the ability to make my own maps for the areas I fish or travel regularly… the more you record and frequency that you do it the beter the map becomes and it takes the data of high/low tides as well… its such a huge feature that’s overlooked and really not talked about imo…
yeah i was looking at the simrad go7, its on the top of my list right now. it seems like it had all the options, plus good capability to expand. and i like
I have been very pleased with my GO7 with the Totalscan transducer. I was concerned with manipulating the touchscreen while running the boat but it allows you to place a cursor on the screen as a reference point to zoom in/out or pan ahead and is really pretty easy to operate while underway.
simrand evo2’s their is a rebranded gen1 b&g is the name iirc and they are offering the 12" units at a fair price new…
I love my simrads evo2’s I have twin 7’s on my cc… iirc I am right in the 3k range tho with tranducers 2 units downscan and the vhf+nema2000 maybe more its been about 1/5years since install…
I love the chirp, I love the interface… its straight forward… I am ok with tweeking depending on the water(fresh brackish) or semi blue or jetty water… it really does make a huge difference if your willing to go past auto and understand how chirp works… I also like the overlay where you can be in chirp and have downscan on top of it… I never run around in sideview so I cant say much… I have used it in the river just to see what the vids were sayng first hand when I had a few hours to kill…
I really enjoy the ability to make my own maps for the areas I fish or travel regularly… the more you record and frequency that you do it the beter the map becomes and it takes the data of high/low tides as well… its such a huge feature that’s overlooked and really not talked about imo…
After all of the reading I did, it seemed like the right thing to do cost-wise. Of note, the Lowrance speakers sound good, but you can find much better for a better price than what they charge for them to be “included” in the package…
The interface the Simrad uses to communicate with the SonicHub2 is excellent, very easy to use, and the bluetooth works GREAT.
yeah im not going order the “package”, just the unit. i already have new speakers that are going in the boat. you said the unit you used had a knob thought, right? i wander how much of a PITA it will be to adjust volume and etc with everything being touch screen.
yeah im not going order the “package”, just the unit. i already have new speakers that are going in the boat. you said the unit you used had a knob thought, right? i wander how much of a PITA it will be to adjust volume and etc with everything being touch screen.
That one’s easy…most times I’ll be streaming from my phone to the sonichub via bluetooth. If you turn volume down to half or so on your phone, then turn volume UP on unit, then you can control the volume from your phone…I do this in my garage as well with my stereo out there and a bluetooth interface. Works well.
My brother in law just bought a new boat and has dual Simrad’s, not sure of the model, but they are the ones with the buttons and knob on the side. I used the boat one afternoon and found no use for the buttons or the knob short of turning up the volume on the SonicHub2 (I bought this as well, great product and interface). My only concern is being able to operate it when wet…but reviews say it’s not so bad.
Wadmalaw native
16’ Bentz-Craft Flats Boat
the touch function is on when your at the dock or on flat water… wait till you at the jettys or a reef getting tossed around lol… the knob is great for fine adjustment as well as zooming in/out
I leave on on gps/plotter and other on sonar… its really more for finding bumps ect ect… not really fish finder… marking way points and such…
idk about the go7 but I would suggest going to the evo2 as I am sure the go7 is a stripped down version.
Simrad equipment is top shelf! It is a little harder to learn then either Lowrance or Garmin. My first choice in sounders will always be for Furuno. Look at what you see on the helm of every commercial boat… Furuno! I think hummingbird is best left on the lake, and I have never liked a Garmin sounder
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PROUD YANKEE
Oyster Baron
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 have the Raymarine E127. and an A67 as a second screen. They are intefaced with seatalk so all functions are shared.
I think the new one is the ES127. With the Airmar B60 transducer/quantum chirp radar/autopilot and cp100 downvision it’s
all working great. If you go with Raymarine make sure you get the customer support extension in RI. The main customer support
is new and not as knowledgeable.
I stayed with Raymarine because I bought the boat with some older models and I’ve slowly upgraded and kept the autopilot and transducer.
I’m glad I did now. Some of the new features are awesome
Having a hybrid unit with touchscreen and knobs/buttons is a must when offshore bouncing around and other reasons to make it more user friendly.
Whatever brand you get make sure it’s a hybrid unit with touchscreen and buttons/knobs
thanks for the input guys. it sounds like my suspicions on a full touch screen were right. looks like ill continue to do some research to find a hybrid unit
I’m a big fan of the Lowrance HDS series. They have a touch screen with buttons on the side for the controls you might want to use when underway. The side scan is amazing for bottom fishing or finding a dive spot.
Simrad would be my second choice because of cost. Lowrance is easier to use and easier on my bank account.
If you want to demo a few brands, you should come to Charleston and visit the big west marine on hwy 17 on a weekday.
The guy who does electronics there is really, really, really into his job and would love to tell you about all the different brands. Also, you can get some good info from him on how to choose your settings to get the most out of your unit.
That guy really knows his stuff, and lives to fish. I didn’t even buy my unit there, and he is the one who showed me how to operate mine.
If you want to demo a few brands, you should come to Charleston and visit the big west marine on hwy 17 on a weekday.
The guy who does electronics there is really, really, really into his job and would love to tell you about all the different brands. Also, you can get some good info from him on how to choose your settings to get the most out of your unit.
That guy really knows his stuff, and lives to fish. I didn’t even buy my unit there, and he is the one who showed me how to operate mine.
thanks for the advice, i was trying to find a place that had someone that knew what they were talking about. does west marine carry simrad though?