eagle 480 fishfinder/gps waste of money?

[79robalo]

looking for an inexpensive gps with decent navigation capabilities. i am beginning to fish gulf south of dauphin island and need gps i can trust. i have an old garmin chartplotter but the map is out of date and can not be updated. after the last few storms my map is nowhere near accurate.

 

[dingbat]

Re: eagle 480 fishfinder/gps waste of money?

The map data on all units is for the most part out of date. That is why there is a warning on maps that state they are not to be used for navigation purposes.

If you fish coastal areas that are subject constant change your best beat is to turn off the maps and navigate using the local aids to navigation.

 

[79robalo]

Re: eagle 480 fishfinder/gps waste of money?

my unit is a 1992 garmin. i just need something more up to date. when i put in new coordinates it tells me to drive across islands and such. i just want something a little better than that and do not want to spend more than i have to. not sure about the whole gps/fishfinder combo either. may not be a good idea because you loose both if something goes wrong. i am not familiar with the downloadable maps either.

 

[dingbat]

Re: eagle 480 fishfinder/gps waste of money?

Unlike automotive GSP, Marine GPS only use point to point routing. Unless you buy an high end unit with an auto-routing feature they are going to send you across a island to get from point A to point B.

I have auto route on my Garmin 4208. I enter my draft and height requirements and the computer calculates a route which suits these guideline. It works very well but still not 100% accurate

 

[79robalo]

Re: eagle 480 fishfinder/gps waste of money?

ok thanks for info.

 

[Georooney]

Re: eagle 480 fishfinder/gps waste of money?

I bought an Eagle FishElite 642C last year, and got one season out of it. When I went to use it this year, the display was very dim and flashed repeatedly. I tried the usual fixes: checked the power cable, cleaned the connections, even reset the unit (which lost the stored data......duh!). The sad part, other than it looks like I'm out a few hundred $$$, is that it's not even heavy enough to make a good anchor. Oh, wait..........I can use it for a paperweight for the charts I'm going to have to use now, since I can't afford another one.

 

[kahuna123]

Re: eagle 480 fishfinder/gps waste of money?

Furuno, Garmin, Sitex, If they sell it at Walmart I am not trusting my life to it.