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Posts: 43
| Hey boys how are you all. +10 in Ontario here until today -8 and snowing finally.
I need help in purchasing a GPS unit with WAAS .. Should I buy a combo unit /fishfinder or a separate unit?? I need a new fishfinder for the trolling motor and I have th Eagle 320x320 on the rear.. Which units work for you pros who use daily?? Thanks Price ceiling about $500.00 US |
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Posts: 87
Location: michigan | Princecraft, I always suggest the purchase of separate units, if you need to service one you will always have the other one to go with. As far as which ones, I have had very good luck with my garmins, very accurate and easy to use. |
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Posts: 43
| Thanks Capt, which garmin do you use for GPS?? |
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Location: Woodstock, IL | Capt Frank has a point; however I don't have room for more than one unit, so I went with the Garmin 188 GPS/Sounder and love it. There is one listed in the classified section. |
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Posts: 116
Location: winnipeg manitoba | 188 garmin is a great combo unit. i love it. now with new maps of canada. i have used it for 2 years without any trouble. check this unit out you won't be sorry. fish locator has helped me place in the top 4 in 2 walleye tournets. good luck on your mission...craig |
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Posts: 43
| Crippler is the Garmin 188 the current model # or has the number changed for 2003 or 2004. And how accurate have you found it to be, does it have
W.A.A.S. And how much are the maps etc.. Thanks Kelly |
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Posts: 5874
| Put the Eagle up front, and look at the Lowrance LMS 480M. $529 at Thornes plus free speed wheel. This unit has 480 X 480 resolution, and accepts MMC cards(Navionics XL or HotMaps) I have an X-15, and really like it. Haven't seen a Garmin sonar that comes anywhere close.
The current model for Garmin is the 188(5 " screen, 240 X 360) or the 238(7" screen, 240 X 360).
Garmin makes a real good GPS, but Lowrance is tops in sonars. In a combo unit, I'll take the Lowrance every time. Resolution is the name of the game in sonars, and Garmins just don't compare. |
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Posts: 1335
Location: Chicago, Beverly | Anyone ever use the Raytheon stuff? |
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Posts: 27
Location: St. Cloud, MN | The reps at Throne's suggest that if you are going to go with a color Lowrance stay away from the X-19. They are to hard to read in sunlight. A friend of mine has one and in certain light conditions he has to switch to non=polarized sunglasses to read the screen. Big drawback if you are looking for a low follower. Throne's suggests if the 104 is to much money the X-18 is a great unit for the price ($1049) to get both the sonar and GPS. Jerry from LakeMaster also thinks pretty highly of the Garmin units. They appear to be a bit less spendy. I guess the nice thing about having the combo is that you can see the map and sonar as interlocking pieces of puzzle. I think that guys that troll for muskie and walleye would probably like this. I don't know, I need a trolling motor this year and I'll upgrade the handheld to something bigger next year |
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Posts: 376
Location: Lake Vermilion Tower, MN | I have 2 X15's and they are by far best units I have ever used. The price on the black/white is about $750.00, you can get them with or without GPS and they do everything you can do with a GPS Maping unit. |
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Posts: 27
Location: St. Cloud, MN | Ace,
For the price difference of the 100 to 200 range would you get the X-15 or would you get the X-18? |
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | I have an x15 with gps. I I had it to do over I woul get separate units. |
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Posts: 27
Location: St. Cloud, MN | Teck, Why would you get separate units? |
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Posts: 5874
| It would be nice to have 2 separate units, however, if your budget doesn't allow it, pick the one which best suits your needs. I probably would get the X-15 over the X-18, simply because the X-15 has better resolution. If I was to have 2 units, they would be the same model, for backup reasons.
I have no problem usinf split screen on my X-15. 1/2 screen on the sonar is plenty, as I'm more interested in what's under me right now, not 2 minutes ago. 1/2 screen on the GPS is good enough too. And it is easy to switch over to full screen if you need it. I always have my depth data on the full gps screen mode. Hope this helps. |
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | When on LOTW I would like to have the biggest map I can get in frount of me. But I don't want to run without sonar.If I had it to do over I would get 2 x15 one for the frount and one for the consol and move the one from the frount back.I dream a lot |
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Posts: 16
Location: Kawartha Lakes Region, Ontario, Canada | I run a Lowrance LMS 320 at my console. Its a great unit with the split screen option for sonar and GPS. I'm looking at replacing my front sonar unit with another LMS 320, which will allow me to turn the GPS on the front unit on when I leave the docks. This way, when stopping to cast, I can keep a better line on casting the weedlines and other structure that I may have trolled earlier in the day.
I'd also like to add another one of these units to my console, so that one unit was dedicated solely to sonar, and one to GPS. I have found the Navionics charts for the most part for Ontario have been close if not right on.
You can buy Lowrances Global Map unit which simply has the GPS mapping with WAAS without the sonar for cheeper if you are simply looking for the GPS feature.
Check out www.lowrance.com
Hope this helps, |
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Posts: 670
Location: Minnetonka , MN. | But if you have not got a Canada chart here is some bad news.
http://www.navionics.com/Usa/News.asp?ID=59 |
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Posts: 16
Location: Kawartha Lakes Region, Ontario, Canada | Oh boy!!!
Anyone thinking about picking up Canadian chart chips from Navionics better get right on it. There sould still be a wack of them in supply at retailers, but don't be surprised if the prices go through the roof!!!!
The average prices for the Lake Ontario region chip which covers all of the Kawarthas, part of the Ottawa River, St Lawrence River etc.... should be about $380 CAD.
Edited by Davis Battah 1/28/2004 11:15 AM
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Posts: 167
Location: Girard Pa. | I run a ratheon 760 hd chartplotter,love the thing ,the C-maps chips are super accurate,tons of info on them ,easy to read .Once you go color, you will never go back..only drawback is not many maps for smaller lakes ..artie |
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Posts: 172
Location: Chagrin Falls, Ohio | Hey Princecraft, Well, I'd recommend the Lowrance units, especially the X-15. They are harder to set up, but in the end they can make or break your day. You won't see the resolution out of a Garmin that you will out of a top of the line Lowrance. I know you have a price point of $500, so I did a search on E-bay, and this is fairly close. Check it out, auction is done in a day or so. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=38630&item=2456437871 Take it easy, Tyler Campbell |
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Posts: 172
Location: Chagrin Falls, Ohio | One more thing... If you end up bidding on it and win, I have an extra GPS antenna that you are welcome to. I won't ever use it, so you can have it. I don't think that package comes with one. I'll just ship it out to you. Tyler |
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