Advice on GPS/Fishfinder

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Brynnfish

New member
Hey guys,

I am busy investigating GPS/Fishfinder combos to fit to our Ski Craft Cat 15 for the summer season. Had some success last summer out at Rocky Banks (Tuna, Yellow Tail, Snoek etc) and some reef fish (Red Roman, Blacktail, Bronze Bream) at few reefs around False Bay, but we have basically being fishing blind so we would like to get a bit more organised nad log a few good spots etc.

Currently looking at the Lowrance HDS or Elite 5.

Has anyone got any advice or suggestions on what to lookout for when buying?

Thanks:kaykak
 
M

mundis

New member
Do search on the forum this has been discussed on a couple of threads. I am sure you will find plenty of info, or pm fishton a guru on fish finders.

Good luck plenty of good finders out there depending on how much one wants to spend.
 
H

hamco

Senior Member
What I have learned from all the GPS/fishfinder threads the past year is:

1. GPS - Garmin

2. Fishfinder - Furono

They also discourage one from the combo units!
 
D

Dean Stephens

Member
Although I dislike Lowrance because of their attitude and service that sucks, I recently bought an Elite 5 with Charts and must say it works very well.

 

 
 
B

budge

New member
i am looking at the garmin 421 which is a combo with a 4 inch screen, other if you have loads of dosh go for the 521 or 721 from there on wards you can expect to pay 18k and up the 421s as an entry level you can get from manex marine for 4350 vat inc which is an absuloute steal, this excludes the g2 vision card
 
G

GT Mayhem

New member
Furuno 620 sounder and garmin 526 chartplotter will land you at bout 11k at your door if imported!!!!
do your homework, it to your benefit....
 
B

BUSH1

Member
Had a look at both the garmin 521s and the elite 5 from lowrance
The garmin was my final choice much better mapping than the lowrance , i am able to connect to my VHF radio via DSC , in fish eye view you can actualy see on witch side of the vessel the fish is located, features you only get with structure scan from lowrance on the 18-20 k units

The only thing on the lowrance i find better is their screen , brigther than the garmin and more pixels

Another point of concern to me is that one of the dealers in cape town stopped selling lowrance products due to after sales service from the suppliers
:fbash

Price levels for both units is very similar 8000-8700 for the garmin and 8200-8600 for the lowrance depending on where you buy including maps and transducer
 
R

Rory

Sealiner
not sure why you guys have had service problems lowrance has sorted me out every time and very quickly i would say they are one off the best. I have a lowrance hd 8 wich i use for fishfinding and a garmin 720s for mapping and am very happy with both.
 
P

Psy

Sealiner
hamco wrote:
What I have learned from all the GPS/fishfinder threads the past year is:

1. GPS - Garmin

2. Fishfinder - Furono

They also discourage one from the combo units!
Click to expand...

I would like to know, why/whom?
as I intend fitting the combo unit to my ski.
I am looking at the Lowrance Elite 5,having two systems on the ski isn't really feasible due to lack of deck space, and holding a GPS in your hand isn't a great idea neither.
 

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H

hamco

Senior Member
Do a search on this forum, there is lots of info and take note of all of what Miles had posted.

Not long ago there was also a nice tread on the offshore forum.

 
 
P

Psy

Sealiner
Hamco, yes I have read most of them. Miles's too.
Doesn't give me any conclusions though.
What I did find was a point made by Fishton ~ "what are the benefits of a gps combo unit?
Awesome TrackBack tool with 'Create Waypoint at cursor.' Charts, waypoints, routes and tracks plotted on Google Earth and GPS TrackMaker (Free)
Elite-5 DSI"

I understand having larger units on a ski-boat, this is normal, we do that on the ship as well.
Paddle ski cannot be overburdened with dbl mounted units ie; finder and gps.


Thanks
:::S
 
B

benniejordaan

Sealiner
There are advantages to combo units and separate units. Which is why I use 2 X combo units linked together. So one I use as a GPS, the other as a sounder. When I track back on the sounder and make a waypoint, it comes up on my GPS dedicated unit too which is linked to my autopilot.

The biggest advantage is I have a backup GPS and sounder. 2 smaller units also equals the same amount of screen effectively for the same money.
 
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