Gps

[jrock1062]

Hello All

As a newbie I am to buying a GPS for my boat and was looking for a little advice and a recommendation so what do you use and are you happy with it I was looking at the Garmin either the 541s or the 546s what do you think

 

[Boatist]

Re: Gps

I do have not seen either unit but Garmin units are very good. I have both a Garmin and a Lowrance Hand held unit. Both work perfect but I liked the Lowrance much better.
On the Lowrance unit the base map without buying any extra maps was twice as detailed. Also the Screen was much Brighter and last the screen would redraw the maps 4 times quicker.

These problems were more of a problem on the Road than on the water.
Example running in track up mode on a winding mountain road the screen on the garmin would be completly blank most of the time because on this windy road it would have to redraw and took so long to redraw I had made another turn and it was starting over. It would never catch up. The other problem was the screen brightness on the lowrance was much brighter. The Garmin was much harder to see while driving.

Now having said that the two units you are looking at both say they are brighter and faster than older units, so they may have corrected both of my main dislikes on my hand held unit.

What I would suggest is you go to a store that has Garmin and Lowrance units.
Compare units in the store. You can see how fast it redraws just by zooming in and out and see how long it takes to redraw. Compare the Garmin to a Lowrance unit of about the same price.

Second check the screen Brightness on both units. If you do any night boating make sure you can turn down the brightness or it will blind you at night.

Third zoom in close to a area you know very well and see if the base map has all the navigation Buoys. See if it show rocks that stick up above the water at low tide. These are very important things if you are in an area you do not know.

One last tip if a sales Persons comes over to help you and he does not start by asking you where you will be useing it and how deep you will be fishing then I would not put any weight into what he tells you.
I find a lot of Salesmen will be pushing certains units. Maybe they make a higher profit on that unit or something. They should find out if you fish deep salt water of shallow fresh water and other thing like that before they recomend a unit.

If you get a good salemen then Know what the price is here at IBoats or other stores you shop at. If they beat or match the price then buy it there.
Do not feel like you have to buy it on your first day your looking at the unit.
It takes a while for the data to sink in and it not easy picking the right unit for yourself even for an very experenced Boater.

 

[jrock1062]

Re: Gps

I do have not seen either unit but Garmin units are very good. I have both a Garmin and a Lowrance Hand held unit. Both work perfect but I liked the Lowrance much better.
On the Lowrance unit the base map without buying any extra maps was twice as detailed. Also the Screen was much Brighter and last the screen would redraw the maps 4 times quicker.

These problems were more of a problem on the Road than on the water.
Example running in track up mode on a winding mountain road the screen on the garmin would be completly blank most of the time because on this windy road it would have to redraw and took so long to redraw I had made another turn and it was starting over. It would never catch up. The other problem was the screen brightness on the lowrance was much brighter. The Garmin was much harder to see while driving.

Now having said that the two units you are looking at both say they are brighter and faster than older units, so they may have corrected both of my main dislikes on my hand held unit.

What I would suggest is you go to a store that has Garmin and Lowrance units.
Compare units in the store. You can see how fast it redraws just by zooming in and out and see how long it takes to redraw. Compare the Garmin to a Lowrance unit of about the same price.

Second check the screen Brightness on both units. If you do any night boating make sure you can turn down the brightness or it will blind you at night.

Third zoom in close to a area you know very well and see if the base map has all the navigation Buoys. See if it show rocks that stick up above the water at low tide. These are very important things if you are in an area you do not know.

One last tip if a sales Persons comes over to help you and he does not start by asking you where you will be useing it and how deep you will be fishing then I would not put any weight into what he tells you.
I find a lot of Salesmen will be pushing certains units. Maybe they make a higher profit on that unit or something. They should find out if you fish deep salt water of shallow fresh water and other thing like that before they recomend a unit.

If you get a good salemen then Know what the price is here at IBoats or other stores you shop at. If they beat or match the price then buy it there.
Do not feel like you have to buy it on your first day your looking at the unit.
It takes a while for the data to sink in and it not easy picking the right unit for yourself even for an very experenced Boater.

Thank you very much this is great advice I appreciate you taking the time to put all that down I will start shopping soon Christmas is just around the corner
One more question which kind of transducer do you use thru-hull Stern or bilge area
John

 

[Boatist]

Re: Gps

Transducers I use are both transom mounts and both 200 khz.
One 20 degree transducer for fresh water and Salt Water down to about 150 feet.
The second one is a 8 degree transducer I use mostly in the Ocean and water deeper than 100 feet. It gives stronger returns in deeper water and when fishing rocky areas will show more fish near the bottom.

Shoot thru hull transducer mounted near the Bilge on fiber glass boats will loose about
10 percent of their singal on the best boats.
If your hull has any foam in the fiberglass then they will not work at all.
For it to work good it must be solid fiberglass with no air in the resin or between layers.
Also no wood, or foam. Some boats have a foam core between to fiberglass layers.
On some fiberglass boat they will have a spot made for a shoot thru hull transducer.

The third type and I think the best is a thru hull transducer, but I could not drill a 1 inch hole in the bottom of my boat.
Also they can cost $1000 for the best units.

A 200 Khz transducer is great for shallow water as it gives much better detail.
You can see fish on the bottom eaiser and fish in a group will more likely be able to see single fish instead of just a big bloob. Most have a 20 degree cone angle.

50 Khz transducer are better at pentrating deep salt water. Even 600 feet or more feet.
They will not show a fish laying on the bottom as they show less detail and seperation.
Fish will just look like part of the bottom.
Most will have about a 45 degree cone angle. This is better to see downrigger ball when trolling.
If fishing a rough uneven bottom will likely show no fish near the bottom due to the dead zone.
Bait fish will look like a big bloob.

Many fish finders come with a dual transducer 200/50khz in a single case.
These are kinda of standard on fish finders with lots of power for deep salt water.
Also many of these have a narrow cone angle like 200Khz at 12 degrees and 50 Khz at 37 degrees.
The norman transducer would be 200khz at 20 degrees and 50Khz at 45 degrees.
The narrow cone angle would be my choice for ocean waters deeper that 100 feet.

For ocean waters you need much more power as the signal does not penatrate salt water as well.
500 to 1000 watts RMS or 4000 to 8000 watts PEP if you fish over 250 feet deep.

Lowrance has came out with some new hds units that are digital.
They say they penatrate much deeper even with a lot less power and show much more detail.
Kind of like a high def TV show much more detail.
The spec sound almost too good to be true and a major break thru.
I think Garmin also has a digital unit. Both brands very expensive.
I want one but need to see one on the water first or get some reports form someone I know and trust.
I just do not put a lot of faith in the sales filers or salemen who will make money off the sale.

The deeper the water then the more resoultion you need to be able to see fish near the bottom.
Also at least a 4 times zoom or some form of bottom expansion to see more detail and smaller fish in deep water.

One last thing to think about is unit last a long time if you take care of them.
Dont leave them in a boat that is out in the SUN and 140 degrees under the cover.
Instead take it inside your home where will likely be 80 degrees or less and less likely to be stolen. My 1985 depth finder is stiil working like new.