lowrance or garmin

[Gordie]

I'm going to purchase a gps unit and was wondering what opinons you guys have on them? I have an older eagle gps and its time to update to the mapping capabilities that are now out there. which model do you think is the best one for fishing and hunting also. Where would you purchase it?

Thanks for all of you input and it will really help influence my purchase of one of these units.

[fishtolive_livetofish]

Hi Elwood, After working with and selling these devices for some time now, the present leader of the pack would be one of the Lowrance GPS or Sonar/GPS units. Now before I get into a lot of trouble with the Garmin guys, I say this mainly because the Lowrance devices have the best access to lake mapping "plug & play" memory cards.

The Lowrance will accept the Navionics, LakeMaster and Reel Bottom SD, pre-programmed memory chips as well as the ability to program your own mapping chips.

Garmin is an excellent GPS but after viewing some of the available lake chips, they don't quite match up (I think I'm pretty current in this matter), but there may be something brand new out there. Garmin also has a unique memory 'stick' that makes availability an issue.

Humminbird would be a third GPS to consider that offers a birds-eye view (kinda like over the horizon view). The Humminbird accepts Navionics SD digital maps in the GOLD or PREMIUM format.

There are other choices out there, but these are the 3 main players for fresh water use.

These devices are available through most sporting goods outlets and are pretty much priced the same by the manufacturers, so look for the guys who can explain the system and options to you and offer assistance not just sell you one and set you on your way.

[CFRay]

I'll offer my opinion, I know I'll be in the minority. Lowrance is by far the unit of choice for those who frequent these forums. I use and like a Garmin Etrex. I have the Lakemaster software by Garmin Mapsource that comes on a CD which is installed on a computer. I believe it has the same lake info that the chip has. I like the ability to use the Lakemaster on my 17" computer screen, mark any points or routes I want to check out, and then transfer that into my Legend handheld. I fish lakes close to my home. I don't need to have the full Lakemaster list in my handheld. If I get to go to Upper Red I'll load that into the unit after I check it out on the large screen. I have a Legend Cx that has a micro SD card for map storage. The Etrex series have varying levels of internal storage. They're small and fit into everything for use all year. The newer units are easy on batteries.

Good Luck in your choice!

[Central Bassman]

If you are looking for a good all around unit then i would go with a Garmin... If you want it just for fishing i would say H2O, Garmin offers alot of software but be ready to spent some money for it... Either way you go they are both good units!!!

[newoodhntr]

I have the Garmin legend with fishing hot spots on the computer. I like to look over the lakes at home and pick out spots that I want to fish the next time out. It also has city streets so I can look for a intersection and mark that as a goto. And also print out the map of the lake or city streets.

[Gordie]

Thanks to everyone for their input it was great stuff . I weighed the options and purchased a lowrance Ifinder Expedition C+ exped color+

now I need to figure out what chip to buy?