Garmin or Humminbird

[176champion]

Looking at getting either  Helix 5 or 7 or a Garmin 5DV or 7 DV ....

Looking for opinions on either brand..or one over the other...

[rps]

I recently purchased a new small unit, but the choice was affected by the need to use the Universal 2 transducer built into the troll motor. I chose the Helix 5 on a Ram mount to raise it closer to my eyes. If not limited, I would have chosen the Garmin with the dv so I could set up two stacked panels on the screen, one with conventional sonar and one with down view. That way you can see the hard stuff, wood and rocks, more cleanly and still have the traditional sonar to sense organics like bait fish.

[Nitroman]

In my opinion, GARMIN. Their GPS UNITS have always been top of the line & led the industry in technology. If you check into it you will find they have designed their depth finders the same way. High tech, high quality, & most important to me " VERY USER FRIENDLY & EASY TO USE " !!!!!!! I don't want to spend my time reading through a manual @ home & then spend more hours on the water trying to figure out how to get the thing to work as the manual says it should. Again this is my opinion, based on a great deal of research & having owned both LOWRANCE & HUMMINBIRD & not being totally happy with either. I am sure many will vote for the other candidate in the running. But, my 2015 IRS refund ( CAN'T BELIEVE I AM GOING TO FINALLY EXPERIENCE THAT ) is ear marked for 2 new GARMIN UNITS in the spring of 2017.

[moguy1973]

I put a Garmin Echomap 73SV on my boat that I bought for a great deal down at the Classic ($499, regularly $999). Haven't had a chance to use it yet but the screen looks great and seems easy enough to use from what I've played around with in demo mode.  Preloaded maps look top notch and their G2 blue maps are suppose to be even better.