if you could choose - which marine GPS?

[mazzgolf]

Take a look at the current marine GPS/fish finders on sale at BP - if you had a budget of around $500 (give or take) which one is the best in your opinion?

See:

https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/marine-electronics#facet:3074457345616735038 

[Lphunsjr]

I'm a big fan of Garmin,,,the last Echomap at bottom of page would be my choice

[ratherbhunting]

I like Garmin products also, I found them to be the most user friendly 

[hammer4reel]

What are you going to do with it ? 

What kind of boat , trolling motor etc .

Humminbird with Minn Kota Ulterra is a game changer for many styles of fishing .

 

iMO Small screens unless your running 2 units are wasted money .

one bigger unit just allows you much easier navigation .

IMO ease of use really changes between a 7” and 8” screen .

and the difference from 8” to 10” is leaps and bounds different .

fish finders are fine at 5” and up , but chart plotters used for navigation are just too small to show you a great field of view .

.

simple as do you wanna use your phone to navigate or your IPAD , that’s the true size difference 

[mazzgolf]

Gonna use it in a 17' side console modified-V for some simple fishing in the bays and rivers and places like Union Lake, that kind of thing.

The one @Lphunsjr mentioned is the exact one I was looking to get (has a 7" screen) - placed the order, and BassPro canceled the order an hour after I placed it! Looks like it was a clearance item and I guess they ran out?

Not sure if BassPro is the best place to buy one of these things for best prices - they have a bunch on sale right now, though.

 

[hammer4reel]

Max units measurements also aren’t created equal , try and compare side by side the actual viewing screens .

a lot of the machines have a black border around them that takes up a lot of screen space .

older units didn’t seem to measure unused screen space like new ones .

 

wgat type of card or charts you want to view also changes between brands .

many chart plotters have many charts built in .

others you need to buy an expensive navigation card for .

.

[mazzgolf]

Oh, I guess I should say about how we plan to use it - yes, both fish finder and charting. We'll be in waters we are fairly new to - so would be nice to have charts we can refer to.

@hammer4reel from what you say, get as big a screen as you can (especially for charting use). What brands do you like? (i.e. what do YOU have on your boat?)

Edited June 27, 2020 by mazzgolf

[hammer4reel]

41 minutes ago, mazzgolf said:

Oh, I guess I should say about how we plan to use it - yes, both fish finder and charting. We'll be in waters we are fairly new to - so would be nice to have charts we can refer to.

@hammer4reel from what you say, get as big a screen as you can (especially for charting use). What brands do you like? (i.e. what do YOU have on your boat?)

I have humminbird on my jet boat because it’s used with the Ulterra for  spot lock and setting travel routes .

nig boats I have used lowrance , furuno and simrad .

charts used in lowrance and simrad preloaded  Are great , I have same charts in furuno but had to buy cards that were a few hundred bucks each .

if you are fishing raritan bay , look at simrad go units .

they do what more expensive units do , but don’t have net work capability .but you won’t need that