Lowrance 332 or 334

[tcroz]

I am considering buying a Lowrance 332 or 334 could someone please tell me the difference? I will be putting it in a Lund Explorer 1800 tiller. Any other info. thoughts or input on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Benny]

The 332 has the external antena and the 334 has the internal antena.

I bought the 332 just because it has the external antena so I can go from my boat to my truck and not have the unit up in my window to get reception.

I mounted the antena behind the cab on a ram mount so it transferes quick and easy.

If your going to use it in just a boat I would go with the 334 as there would be no antena to get in the way.

Benny

[Cliff Wagenbach]

I have the 332 in my boat and it works great.

The antenna is only around 6" dia. and 2" high so it does not get in my way.

Cliff

[tcroz]

Just bought the unit last night. Wondering what the other two wires on the power source are for? From what I can gather I do not use these just the one that goes to the battery? Looking for any kind of help or suggestions here! Thanks TCroz

[Satchmo]

tcroz, here you go--You will have three groups of wires on the power connection cord. The data wires (the cute multi colored ones) will not get used unless you plan on networking the unit with other electronics. Simply tape them off individually, then tape into a bundle and set them aside. Now, you'll see two sets of red/black wires. One set has a white wire with it and the other will have a bare wire with it. RED/BLACK/WHITE--The white wire is for an external speaker so just tape it off. Hook the remaining red and black to power and ground. Be sure to put in the 3amp in-line fuse on the red power line. Next, RED/BLACK/BARE--hook red to power source with in-line 3amp fuse, bundle black and bare wire and hook to ground. Presto you have power!! Just make sure to do a good job of taping off the unused wires individually or it can cause problems with the GPS antenna. Good Luck. Just call if you get stuck on something!

[tcroz]

Satchmo - thanks so much for the advice I will have your # on hand when installing!

Thanks Again!!!

[Matt Johnson]

The 334's, no antenna, internal GPS is a nice feature. If you run a tiller and you use it inside the back electronics compartment, then you might have a few problems picking up signal on occasion, which is due to the surrounding casing. Other than that it works very well and it will pick up signal through both walk-through and side-counsels. The signal fading has been the real only issue with the 334, but for most situations it's not a problem. I plan on running a 334 on the dash of my boat this open water season.

[Bob]

There has been a lot of discussion on the walleye central board on problems with some 334c units locking on or maintaining lock onto the sats. Don't know if the problem is defective GPS internal antenna or other?. The problem mostly seems to occur when the unit is underneath the boat windshield or the unit has tilted significantly from vertical. But evidently also occurs when the unit is vertical and free from any interference.

If you go to walleye central you have to check the canada, general, strictly fishing and boat-motor sections.

http://www.walleyecentral.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=5

[DougSpringBay]

I had the 332 on last years boat and went with the 334 this year, like everyone else, to avoid the antennae. For me it is still untested on the water. I have turned it on and locked in of Sat's, but we will see when underway. I will be REAL disappoionted if it doesn't perform. The concept is great and the 332 is a great unit. Hope this is not one of those, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" situations. Will let you know once I can get out on the H20.

Doug

[mamohr686]

Most of the problems are user error on the 334. For instance if you hook up the lowrance net system wrong you may be able to lock on initally then gradually lose signal. (the system is different if you have one unit & gps versus several units running of the system). Also the extra power wire mentioned earler has been a major issue, if you read all the directions pror to instalation you shouldn't have a problem. I bought a 332 and tried to use an old LCG-2000 gps module, I found out the hard way that the new lowrance net system requires a software update to the new 1.7.0 version on the GPS, then the problem was solved (this update was totally different than the unit's software version, every component on the net system such as the gps and fuel flow sensor each have their own version). I think people need to research the problem before the knock a great product, and also double check every component is up to date. Lowrance's HSOforum has a list of all the current software versions.

[Hooked On a Feeling]

Just remember to run the antenna power to "switched power", the antenna will draw power, although very little, if you don't wire it to switched power. I'ts o.k. to run the unit power to the battery since it is switched at the units on/off button. The manual does a better job of explaining this.

[Matt Johnson]

I've been using the 334 for the last couple days and I haven't experienced any problems with it losing signal. I run it straight from my dash (which is behind a wind-shield). We also hit some pretty good waves and it didn't faulter then either. So far it looks to be one sweet machine!

[fish2live]

i just got done using mine today (334)with not a problem with the signal. i did however have problems the first couple times i was out but,has been flawless the last dozen or so. i would say that it is a exellent unit.