Pro's Con's of Garmin 3006C Vs Ray C70

Chinook

Recruit
Joined
Jun 12, 2005
Messages
2
I currently have a Garmin 188 and have been please with the performance and quality but I am now looking to upgrade to a unit with more capabilities and a larger color screen. The boat is a 22ft aluminum boat with hard top. Fishing is mainly large river/lakes and ocean fishing out to 30 miles. <br /><br />As a result, I have narrowed down the field to a Garmin 3006C w/GSD20 sounder and radar and the Raymarine C70 with sounder and radar(smallest radome with both brands). I would appreciate any feedback on these 2 units and more specifically: <br /><br />1. Ease of use <br />2. Radar performance/quality <br />3. Navionics Gold vs. Blue Chart <br />4. Sonar performance (is the GSD20 any better than what I have in my 188 and is the HD sonar technology from Raymarine a lot better?) <br /><br /><br />Also, as a wildcard and foregoing the radar option, what about the new 900 series units from Hummingbird? How do their sonars stack up against Garmin and Ray? I know QC has been spotty in the past and they have targeted more inland fishing styles but these new units are interesting.......
 

amirm

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
May 7, 2005
Messages
176
Re: Pro's Con's of Garmin 3006C Vs Ray C70

I had the last generation Raymarine stuff (1280) and other than slow display update, it was an easy to use system. I sold those units with my boat and will be getting the C80 with my new boat shortly. The main reason being the HD Sonar technology. I had the analog one before upgrading to this new digital version and boy, was a huge upgrade. First of all, you get automatic gain control. No more messing with that to try to get a good reading. The detail is also worlds better than analog units.<br /><br />Of course, nothing is perfect. I still find the update rate slow (by PC standards) and I managed to crash the C70 that I played with in the store.<br /><br />As for radar, I also had the 2KW unit on my old boat and will get the same one now. Having seen the inside, it is cheap stuff (tiny belt driving a plastic wheel -- wonder how long it lasts). With high resolution compas, the radar is pretty usable although I could never get the alignment to stay perfect for the map overaly. Overall performance was pretty good.<br /><br />As for comparison to Garmin, I have not done that but tend to think that their fish finder does not hold a candle to Raymarine. Not sure about the rest. Overall, I am disappointed that with their car volumes, Garmin did not manage to come in below Raymarine prices.<br /><br />Hope this helps,<br />Amir
 
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