Garmin Striker 7SV sonar

[Quillback]

I have an internet challenged buddy that is looking at one of these Garmin's.  $399 at Cabelas.  It has Chirp, side imaging,  down imaging and GPS.  Unclear whether it has built in maps.  Seems like a good deal, but checking to see if anyone has one, or has used Garmin and what you thought of it.

[Smalls21]

in the past 2 years, my shop has installed 3x more garmin units, compared to humminbird/lowrance. I know the screen display is more clear than the competition.

[rps]

Loved mine until the transducer went out after 4 months. The customer service was less than excellent - take it off the boat at my expense, send it to them at my expense, they would look at it and send me a repaired or replaced unit to reinstall at my expense.

[moguy1973]

The Strikers do not have map capability.  It does show GPS and marks your route as you go and you can set waypoints and such, just not on a map with contours.  Have to step up to the echomap series for that.

[moturkey]

I put one on my kayak earlier this year and really like it. Still  haven't figured out all of the features yet, but it's pretty user friendly.  I really like being able to have three screens up at the same time -- CHIRP, side scan and down scan -- which makes it real easy to cross-check what is going on under the boat. As Jim said, there is  a waypoint / tracking feature, but I've found the GPS signal to be hit-or-miss, especially if its cloudy. I have the transducer mounted at the stern, and it has stood up to some pretty heavy abuse so far (dropped, dragged, kayak flopping off the roof, etc).

[Ketchup]

Little late response Quill, but i had the Garmin EchoMap and that thing was clear. Loved the features, but didnt know what i was doing or looking at most of the time, even to this day. Im an electonics dummy,mbut did figure out enough on it to be able to shoot docks, etc. when motoring by.  Wouldn't hesitate to buy another.