Choosing a Fishfinder/plotter

[jlaffin]

I want to upgrade the ancient fishfinder on my boat to something much more modern. Right now I use an old iPad as a chartplotter in conjunction with the old finder (that is starting to crap out). I’d like to replace them both with a new unit.

I’ve been looking at the Garmin units on sale at GPS Central. They have both the GPSMAP 942xs and the echoMAP Plus sv for $999. Does anyone have experience with either of these? What about transducers? There are so many to choose from, it’s all a bit confusing. I only fish in saltwater and never offshore. Is SideVu worth it?

Is Garmin the way to go?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Julian

 

[MadJigga]

I have two of the garmin 9” from them. They’re great. I used the stock transducer as well as a Panoptix transducer. I don’t think you can beat the unit for the price. But that’s just me. Everyone is loyal to their preference of brand. I think mostly due to the fact they know how to navigate the unit/screens

 

[MadJigga]

Lots and lots of other threads regarding this subject. Use the search function and you’ll find hours of reading

 

[Cookie's Cutter]

I would suggest buying something from a local dealer. harbour Chandler has a great electronics department, very knowledgeable
staff

 

[Explorer682]

I want to upgrade the ancient fishfinder on my boat to something much more modern. Right now I use an old iPad as a chartplotter in conjunction with the old finder (that is starting to crap out). I’d like to replace them both with a new unit.

I’ve been looking at the Garmin units on sale at GPS Central. They have both the GPSMAP 942xs and the echoMAP Plus sv for $999. Does anyone have experience with either of these? What about transducers? There are so many to choose from, it’s all a bit confusing. I only fish in saltwater and never offshore. Is SideVu worth it?

Is Garmin the way to go?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Julian

Avoid Raymarine , purchased an Axiom 7 in the spring packed it in after 20 hours, it was shipped back to the US for repair but was without a unit for 2 months. Customer service is terrible !

 

[Pineapple Express]

What shop is a good electronics vendor in Vancouver? Every time I go in to Steveston Marine I hate it, so I don't want to give them any business.

 

[Ringo]

What shop is a good electronics vendor in Vancouver? Every time I go in to Steveston Marine I hate it, so I don't want to give them any business.

Don’t even bother going there!
Call Denise at HC and see what she can recommend. Their prices are fairly competitive and they ship more stuff for free to Van.

 

[ziggy]

Avoid Raymarine , purchased an Axiom 7 in the spring packed it in after 20 hours, it was shipped back to the US for repair but was without a unit for 2 months. Customer service is terrible !

Yeah, I had a similar problem with Raymarine. Very poor customer service.

 

[Charts]

Harbour is great and buy electronics from GPS central in Calgary..good deals.. if you need to trouble shoot use the 1-800 number. I find Lowrance tech support unreal

 

[jlaffin]

I ended up buying a Garmin GPSMAP 942xs on sale from GPS Central. It looks like a nice unit. Now I’m just waiting for the transducer.