GPS in a boat?

[Steve Smith]

John; I don't know if Hummingbird is the best. To be honest, the Lowrance was a really good sonar GPS unit. I just don't like making that much of an investment in a product that can't be repaired. Only time will tell if Hummingbird will continue to repair their unit after a few years. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if all the GPS functionality wasn't provided by Garmin on all units.

Skeeter; my unit was the smaller Lowrance LMS-160

[taxidermist]

Thnx everyone, I am like most when I make that kind of investment I want it to be repairable.

I think I will look at the Hummingbird line because of what ya'll say. TH eweather sat. is an idea I had not considered.

Tnx

John

[skeeter]

Steve, Thanks for your reply. You are correct about Lowrance, that is very frustrating and I think I will check out Humminbird too. Guess Lowrance has just gotten too big for their britches with lack of product support for guys who have invested their hard earned dollars in their product. Extremely disappointing for dollars spent.

[bobby b.]

Just read this thread and am disappointed to hear about the Lowrance not repairing older units. I have been using Eagle for years. I just bought and installed an Eagle Fish Elite 642gps i and think its great. I've done allot of research on these and believe that the Eagle and Lowrance product is the same (they change one or two features between the two brands - on my unit the difference is the way the zoom feature works) I like the 642i as the transducer is the same as the Fishmark 480 which I already had and thus I can switch the unit between two different boats that I have. Also the internal GPS is great as it too is available on either boat when I switch. The color screen is also mcuh better than the mono. I'll never buy a mono again. Also bought a 2007 Hot maps card - it works great. Total price with the card and tax = $720.00

[taxidermist]

For now I settled on a Humminbird 565.Hig pixel res.

Maybe after getting lost a time or two in the dark the wife will surrender to the GPS idea. Been waiting on a man to buy a few horses so I could have went color and GPS but the deal fell thru. So bought what I can afford.

The kid at BPS in SGF, was not to bright in the fish finder area, he just did not have the selling, or maybe the wife would have said yes. Thats what I get for shopping on Friday afternoon. I ask the kid about transducers for the trolling motor then got home and found out I could have bought an adaptor to the one in the box.

All is not lost as I will move this new one to the rear position when funds for a better COLOR unit become available

[Steve Smith]

I understand the wife not buying into our "toys thing" all too well John. That 565 is a good unit that you'll be happy with. Later on you might decide to experiment with the handheld units too. But, even those units run $200 - $300 by the time you buy the maps chip.

[jdmidwest]

I wonder why there are not many people recommending a handheld GPS unit. I think they are an excellent solution, something portable that can be used in more than one application. I have always steered clear of an "all in one" device. They are usually limited in their functionality. A little sonar, a little thermometer, a little GPS, so on. Not usually ever the best of each.

Magellan makes a Explorist 210 series that has a USB connection to a PC that can be uploaded/download to a software program like National Geographic TOPO. You can make custom maps and keep track of your places in the software.

[Steve Smith]

JD; there's no problem with handhelds at all. When my Lowrance sonar GPS went south, I purchased a Meridian Platinum series and a Hot Spots chip. I still use the handheld because I'm not always fishing in my boat. It too has the USB port and I have downloaded my favorite coordinates. Unfortunately, I have to manually load them into the Hummingbird, but at least they are not lost.

[Tom Love]

Well, I'm new to the forum, but not new to GPS in my boat. I've been using them for about two years now. I've got a Lowrance 332c at the console, and a 334igps on the bow.

I wouldn't be on a lake I didn't know without them, they sure help to find what you are looking for as well as the way home at the end of the day.

Additionally, I use the 334igps (which has an internal GPS antenae) in my truck when traveling to lakes I haven't been to. I've got a RAM mount on the dash as well as on the front of the boat, so it's easy to move. With the Lowrance map create software on my PC, it's easy to create a map and route to a new area, load it to the 334 and then navigate my way to a new lake. It made it easy to get to Lake Fork back in Feb, and then it was nice to have the GPS to navigate this lake for the 4 days I was there.

As for being dependable and repairable, the jury is still out. The 334 had to go back to Lowrance due to an internal GPS antenae issue when I first got it, but that took less than a week and they paid for all the shipping. My biggest issue with both of these is that the software sometimes hangs and the unit has to be reset (this is done by pressing both the Ent and PWR buttons at the same time when turning the unit on), which is a pain as all of your custom settings are then lost.

I like the sensitivity of these units though. While drop shotting at TR, I can see my bait and watch the fish come up to it, then set the hook.

btw, I'm headed to TR tomorrow night for 4 days of fishing - not particular as to what I catch, so long as I catch something...

Tom...

[CT Mike]

The info on this thread was great! I fish mostly in the mud puddles of central IL, but make a few trips a year to Stockton and B.S. Last trip to B.S. I got caught in the rain at night about 6 miles from the dock. Very low visibility, pitch black. I was wishing I had a GPS to get back safe. Had to crawl along back to the dock. This thread gave me enough info to at least let me know what I should/should not be looking for. Thanks to all!