Garmin EchoMap Ultra

[BassCatSC]

I'm getting Garmin EchoMap Ultra's on my boat. I know ZERO about Garmin's. Dealer sold me on them. (3) Three 10's (106?) linked/networked. Simple question - are the internal fishing maps on the Garmin's good enough that you do not need Navioncs cards for mapping?

Thanks

BassCatSC

[fishin couillon]

Navionic cards DO NOT work with Garmin products. The latest g3 mapping (on unit) does have some Navionic mapping built-in. If you have not paid for them, In my opinion, you rely on Navionics mapping, you might compare the Garmin mapping to Navionics first.....i'm not saying one is better than the other, just do your research first.......

From my understanding, If Garmin had Lake X already surveyed and on their map, it didnt get replaced, but if Lake Y didnt have mapping, but Navionics did, it was added.


Here is a link where you can see what type of mapping is included with the lake vu g3

https://lakes.garmin.com/

[BassCatSC]

Thank you fishin couillon!

[SamMule]

Before G3 maps, the garmin mapping on my local lakes was not good. I was running a humminbird as a second unit just for maps. After the G3 contours were added, I found that I no longer needed the bird. The garmin contours are substantially better now. They both have areas of strength and weakness. For me, G3 fine tuned via quickdraw is working great..

[Hawg]

Save yourself some money and get the 102s. 106's will not share internal mapping, but if you purchase 102's at $200 each less and buy the g3 map card for $200 it will share the mapping between all the units. The 106's will not share internal mapping but the 102s will share mapping between units with a map card. Basically buy 3 102's and save $600 over buying 3 106s and buy a $200 garmin map chip and be $400 ahead.

[jawjatek]

I got the 102 for exactly that reason, plus I have a Navionics+ US&Canada card in my console unit ("bird). The G3 card went on sale recently for $139 IIRC.

[BigBry]

I cringe when I hear Navionics mentioned with Garmin. My experience has been that Garmin mapped lakes are pretty good but the Navionics mapped lakes are horrible. The only useful thing with the Navionics mapping is that it actually shows up on your screen as a lake instead of a blocky outline as in the G2 maps. After much scrutiny while using a Navionics sourced map, I’m wondering if community maps were sourced for some of their data. The only explanation for the erratic contouring and spot depths. This could just be a geographic issue.

A shout out to Garmin Cartography. We need more mapping in California. I understand the challenges involved including but not limited to an environmental impact report, a billion dollar bond, a donation to the Native Species Presevation Fund, fish sensitivity training and 5 years of tax returns but we really need better mapping here.