Jimmy's

I am in need of a fishfinder/plotter. I operate a 20' W/A, we trailer and launch out of Waretown. We are a novice group, looking for advice. Advice to products and installation $$?

any help is appreciated - Thanks


Fred

for guys with boats like your's,i reccomend the garmin products.these are gonna give you the most bang for your buck !!

the comob units are good for guys that are tight on space-some of the boats in the 21-22' range are a little cramped at the helm area...
another good thing about the garmin combo units is,these are preloaded with all the charts,you add a transducer and you're ready to go...if you've got a t-top and you wanna save some time,you can get the version with the internal antenna-no ruiing antenna wires-saves on the installation time...now,don't all you guys jump on me here,about what i just said concerning the antenna,truth is,the unit will work absolutlet fine under a t-top,or a hard top on a walk around boat...
here's the unit i'm talking about...

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=148&pID=8109


installation on this is a snap...

I agree 100%! I have the Garmin 182C and I had installed the unit but left the antenna sitting on the dash under my pilothouse roof (which is 1.75" thick...glass/coring/glass) for two months to make sure the unit was mounted where I wanted before drilling more holes and running more wires. My GPS accuracy was 7-9'. To this day I still check once in a while but after mounting the antenna on the roof the GPS accuracy is still 7-9'.

I also just noticed the newer models are much better for autos. I had an old Lowrance unit in the truck that if mounted on the dash under the windshield was fine but under the roof it would not acquire the birds. The new Garmin works in the house, under the roof of the truck...so I would definitely go without the antenna for most inshore applications. Plus I think with most integrated models if you really had to they have a port to plug in an external antenna if the reception was not adequate.

Fred,

You may also want to check out the Lowrance HDS7M.

i would NEVER reccomend a lowrance unit to anyone,at any time,EVER!! their products are unreliable,their service is absolutley nonexistant...that's from personal experience,on more than one unit...

I have the Garmin 540 gps not a combo unit, I perfer a seperate "fish finder". Great unit. Clear and very detailed 5" Color screen. Internal antenna works great even under my pilot house top.

Thaks for the info.

just need to commit now - pull the cover, repack the trailer bearings and start fishing.

I have several Lowrance units, and they have been trouble free..I had a Raymarine c120, and it was a real nice unit when it worked. Had to send it back multiple times for repair. I wouldnt buy another Raymarine. I suspect you will find someone here who has had trouble with each of the manufacturers..Find a unit that fits the budget, and you feel comfortable with operating it. Rich

have a lowrance unit on my seacraft-first generation lcx104c...big expensive set,the gentleman i got the boat from wanted this installed on the boat,during the restoration process.from the first time the boat was launched the unit didn't operate correctly,it would lose it's gps signal-even though,it showed a signal from all the sattelites ? the fishfinder portion was inop...the lowrance factory sent me a transducer,i explained to the gentleman,this wasn't the problem...i got the 'ducer,needless to say,it didn't work...try again to get this corrected...no record from lowrance ??? the old owner bought a furuno fishfinder...finally,lowrance agreed to repair the unit...end result,got a new 113hd...they sent me a unit head only...nice huh ? their service web site is finally back up...it was down for 2 almost 3 months...nice again,huh
had a customer's 113hd,new outta the box,it had pixels out,i was told,it was acceptable ? you're kidding right ? had another one,the display was upside down-i kid you not...the lowrance units are terrible...i've heard of guys getting good service from them and i've heard horror stories,witnessed my own horror story too...my advice,run from lowrance,i would never reccomend them,ever...
here's another...a customer/friend of mine,he recently got rid of his lcx113hd set,he had the radar option too...the set was a real pain in the butt,terrible fishfinder portion,useless...he dumped it and got a c-120 raymarine...
here's a picture...




i've lost count of the raymarine sets i've installed on customer's boats,only had problem with one,raymarine asked for the unit to be returned,and it was back on the boat in 2 weeks...can't say that for lowrance...only other problems i've seen with raymarine sets,is the installations,need a constant voltage source,these units are incredibly voltage sensitive...

in the end,people are gonna have varying opinions,i use and reccomend what what works for me-i like "simple"...