What GPS to buy...

P

Paulairforce

New Member
May 6, 2015
17
Lake St Clair
Boat Info
95 290 Sundancer
Engines
454 w/Bravo III
Hi all,

Looking for help in picking out a new GPS for boat. I think my primary use is for navigating (showing charts/my position, depth, etc) would like to do some fishing (fishfinder) and the capability to add radar.

Thinking a garmin 741xs would meet the requirements. Any thoughts or advice?

Thank you,

Paul
 
I've been thinking of making a GPS purchase soon. The handheld is just not cutting it for me anymore. One thing I like about the garmin series is the auto route function where it automatically routes you through to your destination based on safe depths. To my knowledge this only works with the G2 vision data card.

Not sure if that is a concern for you, but to me I want that ability. Other products might offer the same feature without having to set a gazillion waypoints along a path in advance but I am not aware of any (yet, I am still researching).
 
I had not read of that feature yet. But a very real concern for me. My primary boating location is shallow.

Paul
 
Paul,
We bought two new Garmin units recently and a radar. Love them both and one is the 741xs the other 840xs. Both are easy to use and I think the 741xs will do what you want. Also, if you buy one shortly and buy the g2 Vision card for about $240 you can get a $200 rebate from Garmin which is not too shabby! Plus the g2 card is well worth $40 believe me! I think the rebate has to go in before July 6th but you can check on the Garmin website. We went from Raymarine to Garmin and IOHO way better and much more user friendly.
Brenda
 
If your only buying a single unit to do both navigation and fishfinder I would step up to the 840xs as the screen real estate is a fair bit larger (or larger unit if you can). Plus the 840 has a taller screen which is better from a fish finding point of view as you can see more detail in the water column. However, note the 740xs is touch and 840xs is non-touch - which is quite often a deciding factor for people on units.

I do like Garmin gear and have the Australian equivalent 820xs on my other boat with the G2 vision card, but am yet to put it through its paces.
 
I have the little brother of this model...
cf-lg.jpg


I like it because it shows every rock, every tree, the bottom contours, ledges, holes where fish lie, etc. All in easy to see "photo quality" screens.

Here are a couple of photos of my DownVue screen I put on my 13' Whaler in AZ. Pretty amazing picture of the bottom IMHO.

DSCN1989.jpg
DSCN2006.jpg
DSCN2012.jpg

Sorry about the photo quality. It was a sunny day and my phone picked up the reflection fo the sun on the screen. Check that first picture. The depth is 170' and the vertical lines are small bushes on the bottom of the lake. It's a man made lake and those canyons were pretty deep. Lots of trees, shrubs and other stuff on the bottom that show up perfectly.

Here's a link to Garmin's web page that shows their various models.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/cOnTheWater-c519-p1.html
 
The Garmin are great for sonar! We had the new CHIRP transducer installed too and it's so much better.
 
Didn't see if anyone has mentioned this unit 7607xsv it's Garmins latest unit with all of the above plus with the new technology transducer that was designed with this series it's amazing the detail of the sonar with playback. It's a few hundred more but worth every cent, it's the next one I'm getting. They come in 7" to 16" displays.

Here's a link to Boemarine for the 7" model.

http://www.boemarine.com/garmin-gpsmap-7607xsv-preloaded-lakev-hd-bluechart-g2/
 
Last edited:
The new 7600 series comes in 7,8,10,12,and a whopping 16 inch display size. All of them have the built in Garmin G2 Blue chart and can upgrade to the G2 vision card for enhanced bathymetric as well as satellite overlay and if you have a Garmin AP you can enable auto guidance on your routes. Garmin has hands down the best user interface and is the most intuitive unit in the market. they are also the only units to give you Down Vu side Vu Chirp and traditional sonar all from 1 transducer!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,241
Messages
1,429,113
Members
61,122
Latest member
DddAae
Back
Top