GPS, FishFinder, recomendations

[Capt.Bill]

GPS, FishFinder, recomendations

Hi everyone, I am redoing a 1987 Star Craft 22' Islander Hardtop.

I am looking for some suggestions for a new GPS and fish finder chart plotter

 

I am here asking what you guys and gals use and what would be my best options.

 

Thank You in advance, Bill

[lineman49]

  I have always had Lowrance , but their repair service stinks. They just want to sell you a new unit if you have trouble. My next unit will not be a Lowrance.   I would look at hummingbird  or garmin .     jmo.

[J. Sparrow]

Welcome Capt..... I've been running Garmin units for the past 7 or 8 years, and have enjoyed using them. They are simple to operate, reasonably priced, and technically competitive. I used to be a Lowrance fan, but like Lineman, had several repair issues, and swore them off......

[Mr. Crowley]

When I was purchasing a new unit a couple years ago and after much research I determined that all units are pretty much the same regarding functionality, it was just a question of how much you're willing to spend which is also determined by the size of the screen you want. After pretty much settling on a Lowrance I went to West Marine to purchase the unit I had chosen. The salesman there quickly changed my mind suggesting a Raymarine. He explained that Raymarine is relatively new to the recreational fishing fish finders but has been manufacturing sonar and radar for many years and is a quality product that is priced much more reasonably than Lowrance or Humingbird. Also with the Raymarine the transducer is included, not so with some of the other units, and it came with the Navionics gold and silver cards which would have cost a pretty penny if purchased separately.  I decided to purchase the Dragonfly and have not been disappointed, it's easy to use and has functioned flawlessly. Just my experience and opinion.

[jigstick]

keeping the price point reasonable I think the Garmin units are the way to go.  I tore out my Raymarine a65 and Airmar transducer two years ago and went to a Garmin chirp Sonar / plotter and the user interface is much much more intuitive on the Garmin.  I have no problem pinging bottom in 700fow out on Ontario when I'm king fishing.  I am running the Garmin echoMAP 94sv.

If you want to step up into the big league then the Simrad units are the best.

[J. Sparrow]

Jigstick,..... What transducer are you running with the 94SV? Are you finding the SV helpful? (Sorry for the thread distraction) I just picked up a 93SV with a GT52HW but don't have any hours spent with it yet.

 

[jigstick]

Im running the same transducer you have.  I primarily troll lake erie and ontario.  When doing so the chirp transducer is really good.  for the most part i just leave it on the "auto" setting and let the computer choose the power and frequency it deems appropriate.

However, when Im targeting Kings on Ontario out in deep water....like 150-250 down in 500fow I do adjust the frequency and power manually to zero in on the target depth I'm fishing.

I don't find the side scan useful at all on the great lakes trolling for walleye, steel, browns, kings, lakers, etc.  However I DO find it a bit useful when I'm on Chautauqua lake going for small mouth bass.  Theres not much structure down there, but you can find some.

 

I was hoping that I could use the side scan to pick up my dipsys, copper rods, lead core out on the sides running off the planer boards.  But either I can't decipher what I'm seeing on the display...or its just not able to perform how I want it to.

Edited April 10, 2018 by jigstick

[Alumacraft205]

Those

Im running the same transducer you have.  I primarily troll lake erie and ontario.  When doing so the chirp transducer is really good.  for the most part i just leave it on the "auto" setting and let the computer choose the power and frequency it deems appropriate.
However, when Im targeting Kings on Ontario out in deep water....like 150-250 down in 500fow I do adjust the frequency and power manually to zero in on the target depth I'm fishing.
I don't find the side scan useful at all on the great lakes trolling for walleye, steel, browns, kings, lakers, etc.  However I DO find it a bit useful when I'm on Chautauqua lake going for small mouth bass.  Theres not much structure down there, but you can find some.
 
I was hoping that I could use the side scan to pick up my dipsys, copper rods, lead core out on the sides running off the planer boards.  But either I can't decipher what I'm seeing on the display...or its just not able to perform how I want it to.

The dipsey's are too far behind the boat to be picked up on down or side scan

Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Lake Erie United Mobile App

[jimski2]

Garmin which started as a navigation company hired engineers from Lowrance and Humminbird to design their units resulting with the best units out there. Now maybe there are better units out there.