Fishfinder/Chartplotter Recommendations:

[bjperry]

I live in the Olympia area and routinely fish the south sound (area 13) with my 19 foot center console bay boat. I'm looking to upgrade electronics from the very old Humminbird 100 that came with the boat when I bought it.

Not looking to spend a fortune for the latest and greatest, just something that does a decent job of portraying the depth and temperature of the water accurately even at cruising speeds and also comes with a decent GPS mapping feature.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a unit that won't break the bank? I'm even open to purchasing a used model of someone has upgraded and is looking to sell their older model.

While I primary fish the south sound as I mentioned I also fish lakes and am hoping to occasionally fish out at Westport with the boat as well. So an all around unit that works in multiple environments would be best.

[hewesbob]

I run the Garmin 741xs with the TM150 (chirp) transducer. I have been using it for the past three years, very easy to learn,easy updates and works great in salt water as well as fresh water lakes and rivers. If I ever have to replace my electronics I will always go with Garmin. You could do a search here as there was a great thread here about a year ago on the same topic. As far as Westport be VERY CAREFUL, there are days that smaller boats can get out and back in safely but they are few and far between. A few years ago I was on a trip with a friend of mine on his 52 ft. charter boat, a 26 ft. Bayliner was following in our wake going across the bar. The Bayliner rolled over right behind us throwing four folks into the water. All people were saved and the boat was able to be towed back to the boat basin. Things can go wrong in a hurry crossing that bar. Good Luck and stay safe

[bjperry]

Thanks for the input. I'll check them out. When I said I may fish out of Westport, I guess I should have clarified. I may fish in and around the harbor (jetty) but don't plan to go outside the bar. If I do, it'll be a day that's calm as possible.

[rseas]

Thanks for the input. I'll check them out. When I said I may fish out of Westport, I guess I should have clarified. I may fish in and around the harbor (jetty) but don't plan to go outside the bar. If I do, it'll be a day that's calm as possible.

Calm is good and to that note; is there a bar forecast App?

[Larry3215]

My computer crashed a few days ago and I am no where near getting all my links back - but there are several ways to check bar condotions. Google "Westport bar conditions" and you should find several. Also Google for "Leroys Ramblings". He has tons of good boating information including how and when to decide if its safe to cross based on tides and wind. I think the Coast Guard also has a bar web page. You can always call them in Westport for a report as well.

[Larry3215]

I have owned Raymarine (very old), sitex, Lowrance, Humminbird and now have Garmin. I will not be going back to any of the others.

Lowrance and Raymarine customer service sucked big time. Absolutely horrible. The Ray was an ok machine for its day but the Lowrance never worked right and they wouldnt fix it. The Sitex was ok, but they didnt keep up with the latest greatest tech and Humminbird had the best, cheapest side and downview when I wanted to go that way. Humminbird customer support was pretty good.

Garmin customer support is outstanding. Way above and beyond anyone else I have ever used. They are not perfect. Sometimes the person on the phone doesnt know the answers, but they usually realize this and will escalate up the line on their own. Bottom line is - they try really hard to take care of YOU rather than trying to save the company $2. Plus they actually answer the phone and return emails!

As far as function I think Garmin is great. Humminbird has slightly better detail on side and downview, but Garmin has more range. For 2D, Garmins CHIRP is tops.

That said, my old Humminbird 598ci HD did a good job for us for several years in the Sound and local lakes.

I dont know what to recommend at the lower end of the price range for Garmin, so I will just give you my generic advice.

Get the largest screen you can afford and get as many other features as you can cram into your budget. Id also recommend you go to West Marine, Cabellas, Bass Pro, etc and play with the machines they have on display. Reading specs and recommendations is good, but hands on is very helpful.

I would NOT listen too closely to ANY of their sales people at ANY of the local retail shops. I have yet to find one who knows what they are talking about! I am something of a sonar nerd/junky, so I always stop by the displays and look over what they have to offer. I have heard the most ridiculous, clueless things said by sales people.....

[Larry3215]

Oh - if you do decide to buy new, Sportco in Fife has the best prices but limited selections to choose from. Sometimes BassPro or Cabellas has a good sale on last years or discontinued models right before a new version comes out - like right now. Almost evey brand has discounts on last years models.

Once you pick something you think you want, check on-line prices. You can almost always beet retail pricing. I highly recommend Brian at BBG Marine. He discounts better than anyone else I have found on the models he carries - which is most brands.

You have to call him or email him to find out the true prices though. He cannot advertise below MAP pricing on newer models. No can do that.

https://www.bbgmarine.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DavidA]

The 12' boat I now have came with a very basic Garmin, and I liked it. But when I came up with a few bucks extra, I decided I'd like to see what I could get in that price range. I quickly narrowed in on the Garmin Echomap series, with CHIRP and ended up buying the Echomap 53DV with CHIRP. I have had it about 6 weeks now and am blown away. The '5' indicates it is a 5" diagonal screen. There are also 4", 7" & 9" models, though the 4" is not diagonal but more like 4"x2" (more functional this way). The "3" indicates it comes with US lake maps built in - 17,000 of them in high def! Alternatively you can get Canadian lakes or Ocean maps, in which case the '3' would be a different number. The DV version indicates it comes with DownVu, a 3D picturing of the bottom. Very nice for structure. An SV version additionally has side-view, but costs extra. The CHIRP is new, standard for 2016 models and really provides enhanced definition for 2D (standard fish finder). It has a color screen, and has GPS, plus comes with QuickDraw, which will automatically map out the bottom, in 1' depth intervals, of any place that isn't currently mapped for the unit, like any ocean areas I go, in my case. There are a number of additional nice features that I won't cover here. I have no regrets.

The 4" model lists for ~$300 and the 5" model for ~$499. I bought mine at the GPSStore.com for considerably less and their service was great!

[bjperry]

Thanks Larry and David. Looks like 3 votes for Garmin and none for the competition at this point.

[hewesbob]

I should have included that I also bought all my electronics online from the GPS Store. Outstanding customer service, best price I could find. I researched and compared different units for over a year and I just wish I had not waited so long before deciding on the Garmin.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

go to the January sportsman show and take the free Lowrance class. They will show you more usage and tricks than the average user knows.

I switched from Lowrance to Humminbird because of price and also Humminbird uses one transducer than the two that Lowance requires (for side scan)

[DavidA]

Minor Correction: The web address for The GPS Store is NOT GPSStore.com as I stated earlier. It is TheGPSStore.com
I am not affiliated with this business in any way other than having purchased from there once recently.

[bjperry]

So I'm leaning toward either a Garmin Echomap CHIRP 93SV or 94SV. The 93 comes preloaded with the lakes map and the 94 comes preloaded with the coastal US map. Which of those two map sets do I need for Puget Sound? I'm assuming the coastal map since it's saltwater, but it's sufficiently inland that I didn't know if Garmin considered it a lake for mapping purposes. Both of these come with a transducer and cost $749 and $879 on thegpsstore.com respectively.

Thoughts?

[Larry3215]

The BlueChart covers Puget Sound and the coast. You can buy a Lakes chart sd card separately and put it in the card reader when you want to fish lakes.

Id check out the Garmin Lakeview website to see what lakes are covered in what detail for our area. Of course, any lakes not covered can be charted using Quickdraw.

http://lakes.garmin.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[DavidA]

BJ: As mentioned, I just recently got the 53 DV (lakes version) and it does not have Puget Sound (the shoreline is there of course, but there are no depth markings). But realize that with Quickdraw, that is included, you can map out the bottom yourself. So, in my case, I got the lakes version since I mostly fish lakes but when I go out for crab, since I go to about the same place every time, or maybe a couple places, I map as I go and in no time, I have that area (those areas) mapped as well. Sometimes when I am waiting, having just put out my pots, I turn on Quickdraw, and systematically cover the area to improve the quality of the information I have for right there. Fell free to contact me directly if you'd like to discuss any of this directly.

[Larry3215]

You need to keep in mind that using Quickdraw - or any other self charting sytem from any other brand - in a tidal area can create false contours up to the maximum tidal depth change.

In other words, lets say you map a dead flat area at low tide when the depth is say 50 ft. Then later in the day, the tide comes in and its now 60 ft deep. If you drive back over your previously mapped area, Quickdraw will draw a channel that looks like its 10 ft deep - right across that perfectly flat bottom.

Or - lets say you map the first half of it at low tide, then drop some pots and eat lunch. Then you decide to finish the map but its now hi tide. Your finished Quickdraw chart will show a 10 ft drop off in the middle of that perfectly flat area because you mapped the first half when it was 50 ft deep and the second half when it was 60 ft deep.

Or lets say you just keep mapping while the tide is changing. That perfectly flat bottom will look like it slowly changes depth from one end to the other.

Like I said - ALL mapping programs have this same issue when there are water level/depth changes between or during your mapping sessions. Garmin has two 'Offsets' in the plotter that you can use to correct for this, but you have to know exactly what the change in depth is for it to work well.

That said, Quickdraw is still the best and easiest to use self charting system I have used. The Quickdraw charts you create will still be very useful but dont try to pick out or search for fine details any smaller than about +-10 ft on the contours in tidal areas.

[bjperry]

Awesome! Thanks for all of the insights.

[DavidA]

Larry: Thanks for going over that. I guess I knew it but didn't fully acknowledge it to myself. Very important distinction.