Lowrance or Garmin?
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: General Forums
Forum Name: The Boat Shed
Forum Description: Discuss all things boating.
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=128337
Printed Date: 30 Sep 2026 at 6:27pm
Topic: Lowrance or Garmin?
Posted By: offcut1
Subject: Lowrance or Garmin?
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 8:43am
|
I have just signed the dotted line for a new Surtees 575 HT. It turns up in November and I am starting to think about a plotter/fishfinder combo. My current boat has a Garmin 551S on it which seems to do the job but obviously there is a big jump in capability with the new units out there now. At the moment I have narrowed it down to a Lowrance Elite 7 (or maybe 9") or a Garmin echoMap 75sv Plus. What I liked about the Lowrance was the easy ability to mark a spot on the sounder and have it immediately display as a mark on the plotter. The Garmin seemed to be a more complicated process. What I liked about the Garmin was how it redrew the map in real time to 1ft contours using sounder info. For the Lowrance it seems you have to upload the sonar recording to a website, which you pay to join, then download the new map. A bit of a PIA. Any thoughts either way? |
Replies:
Posted By: pompey
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 9:02am
| I have a garmin 7410 with a tm275 transducer and I like it for what I do. I guess it depends on what type of fishing you are doing. I have talked to Bay Marine a few times when buying electronics, they are on this forum and are very helpful. |
Posted By: letsgetem
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 9:48am
|
Personally, I would insist on a touch screen. Ive had a touch screen garmin chartplotter (Montana 600), and it was easy and fast to operate. It went on the blink, and later Im using a Lowrance Elite-7 HDI (because I had it in reserve after earlier buying an extra unit in a boat). The Elite-7 (not touch) is extremely slow and hard to operate, sometimes almost drives me mad. Also - the garmin had no bugs in it, the Elite-7 has some annoying bugs in it - that might not be the case with all Lowrances but its put me off them. Also - I am not impressed with the Lowrance sonar, seems to lose its sight of the bottom too much (even in 30m not very deep). Cant comment on garmin sonar. |
Posted By: Steps
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 9:56am
|
It turns up in November and I am starting to think about a plotter/fishfinder combo. My current boat has a Garmin 551S on it which seems to do the job but obviously there is a big jump in capability with the new units out there now. November.. keep thinking and assessing.. the buy closer to the date. You will find that the current models will start to be discounted around then.. even as far as 60% of current price as the new 2019 models come out  The lowrance/ simrad updates are not as complex as it seems, espec if your home wireless reaches the boat.. the navionics nav charts are continuously being updated...5 to 25 meg just for the nth 1/2 of the nth island .. each week. And you can automatically sync markers, tracks , routes and other info between the unit and smart phones/ tabs and visa versa, if have the navionics app on them ($20 1st yr, about $10 there after.) If you buy the app now, ($20) load on say a tab and the smart phone (or 2 smart phones), log in on both, you will see the maps, the sync. Keep in mind the apps dont have all the features of the navionics gps units. Even more basic .. is the web app just to look at.. note the contour line detail. http://webapp.navionics.com/?ticket=ST-1493511625rNKBQNGYg0-pXbHduqG#boating@10&key=haa_F%7Dbck%60%40 Personally I prefer the Garmin gps (fortnightly open source NZ maps updates) for auto topo parcel boundaries, DoC , riding and bush tracks , huts etc. and navionics for Marine.
|
Posted By: offcut1
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 10:22am
| I should have said, it's the Lowrance Elite 7 TI, which is a touch screen, as is the Garmin. I was initially looking at the Garmin Hook2 triple shot as it seems very good value. But after playing with the touch screen models, I think these are the way to go. |
Posted By: Schampy
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 4:41pm
|
Got a Garmin dvs 9 in my surtees. They are a pretty basic unit. But has proven very reliable, and doesnt drop out at speed and shows good sign if there are fish there. Very happy with it. Never been a huge fan of Lowrance... you seem to pay for a lot of complicated features that the average fisho wont use. But each to there own. Would probably go to touch for next unit.... but Garmin would be at the top of my list.
|
Posted By: Waihime
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 8:35pm
|
Take a good look at The Garmin 7410. You can touch any point on the sounder and it will create a waypoint for that spot. You can scroll back through the sonar screens and mark sign you've gone over. Also has structure scan, chirp and can draw your own contour lines, although I haven't played too much with this feature. |
Posted By: Joker
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2018 at 8:36pm
| I have the Garmin 7412 with GT51 transducer and I am absolutely delighted with its performance - this unit does not tell lies and is much better than a hds10 that I previously had. I have found fish to 439m (deepest I have been) and many great soundings 300 - 350m. I get good bottom readings at up to 120m at speed. |
Posted By: atis
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2018 at 10:01pm
|
Hi, I just bought a Simrad GO7 with totalscan transducer and Cmap+ charts for little over $1200 after long search for a new sounder. The G7 software mostly identical to NSS evo3, bery similar to Elite 7 TI. The main difference to the Elite TI is the multitouch screen, the screen also looks a bit brighter, nicer. The NSS screen is eve nicer, and the NSS handles a 1kw ducer also 3D Will install it soon and report back the results... ------------- http://www.basszone.co.nz" rel="nofollow - www.basszone.co.nz home of  reels |
Posted By: JB
Date Posted: 01 Jul 2018 at 10:09pm
| I would be trying to go 9 inch or above. When you split a 7 it's very small. These days most people need at least 2 pages running |
Posted By: Angler103
Date Posted: 23 Dec 2019 at 11:56am
|
'A bit of topic, but has anybody tried to use a fish finder o monitor a freediver during his dive?' If the story is true, they use a system like that in New Zealand and it works OK. Maybe someone can check in with a report. Will appreciate that
|
Posted By: Crippy
Date Posted: 23 Dec 2019 at 4:12pm
|
Angler103 I have been involved with events using a number of different sounders to watch freedivers during their dives ranging from 15m dives to 110m dive in lake Taupo, any sounder seems to do the job. ------------- Go hard or die trying. |
Posted By: OuttaHere
Date Posted: 24 Dec 2019 at 12:04pm
**** this guy. It's a spammer trying to promote their **** website. The post they just put here is a straight lift from another forum with a link added to their **** website. **** you, spammer. Do some marketing that isn't ****. If you think this is SEO, you're a potato and should go bury yourself in a garden for a couple of years.
|
Angler103 wrote:Posted By: Grunta
Date Posted: 24 Dec 2019 at 12:30pm
| Goneburger Rozboon.... |