Lowrance owner-thinking about making a switch

[buster502]

Garmin is adding lakes as quickly as they can and unlike navioincs they are actually accurate

you have a good point

[XChris1632X]

Anyone run both?

Just thinking about throwing a bird up front for I pilot and seeing which I like best

[TroyBoy30]

I run Garmin and bird side by side...does that count?

[Deadeye1]

Garmin is adding lakes as quickly as they can and unlike navioincs they are actually accurate

This.

Plus:

With my Garmins I can set it to record my own Personal Maps as well onto a SD Card WHILE I fish. I fish some lakes that are not on my units and I have found this to be easy to do and each time I make a pass over the area the detail gets better!

On lakes that are on the unit the detail is awesome.

[contium]

Garmin is adding lakes as quickly as they can and unlike navioincs they are actually accurate

Navionics was the main reason I switched from Garmin to Lowrance. Was more than a little disappointing once I realized how bad Navionics charts are around here. That said, they are all bad around here. So I make my own now.

[capt odie]

Hi chris
I would spend a few trips on the water for research work with electronics.
Learning how to tweekum in takes time.
Maybe get someone on the water with you that really understands how to get the most out of a unit.
Two outings with help will excelerat your learning curve.
Stealthy boat control is a huge key in fishing.
Good electronics will help for where u want to position your boat for casting.
Lowrance is good stuff.
I would ring out all I could for sonar viewing with what you have.
Then if not satisfied change units out.
Confidence is huge when off shore fishing.

Best wishes
Odie

[TroyBoy30]

Navionics was the main reason I switched from Garmin to Lowrance. Was more than a little disappointing once I realized how bad Navionics charts are around here. That said, they are all bad around here. So I make my own now.

Yea I'm lucky enough to have excellent coverage from Garmin and lakemaster

[XChris1632X]

Hi chris
I would spend a few trips on the water for research work with electronics.
Learning how to tweekum in takes time.
Maybe get someone on the water with you that really understands how to get the most out of a unit.
Two outings with help will excelerat your learning curve.
Stealthy boat control is a huge key in fishing.
Good electronics will help for where u want to position your boat for casting.
Lowrance is good stuff.
I would ring out all I could for sonar viewing with what you have.
Then if not satisfied change units out.
Confidence is huge when off shore fishing.

Best wishes
Odie

Confidence is part of the problem. I just can't help but feel like my setup is lacking. I may search for a local guru.

[Legend Chris]

Save yourself some money and get the Xi5 wth your Lowrance units. I've been running this setup for about 1.5yrs and its awesome..

[terry5357]

This past season I got rid of 3 Gen 3 12's and went with Garmin...couldnt be any happier

I have the smaller units on my boat (Garmin Echomap 63DV on bow and HB Helix 7GPS at helm) and both have things I like and dislike. I like the way the Garmin zooms in and out and the factory charts are much better with the Garmin. The chart on the HB is useless without a card (on the lake I fish anyway). The zoom on the HB is in increments and the zoom on the Garmin is instant and as little or as much as you like. I will have all Garmin when it said and done with.

[TopGun21x]

I have the smaller units on my boat (Garmin Echomap 63DV on bow and HB Helix 7GPS at helm) and both have things I like and dislike. I like the way the Garmin zooms in and out and the factory charts are much better with the Garmin. The chart on the HB is useless without a card (on the lake I fish anyway). The zoom on the HB is in increments and the zoom on the Garmin is instant and as little or as much as you like. I will have all Garmin when it said and done with.

I liked the functionality of the Lowrance and didn't mind Nav mapping, but I had far to many complete failures and glitches over the last few years. The quality of the Garmin is unreal, in the unit, transducers and wiring. After a season I've had zero issues even when I load a lake with close to the max wpt allowance. It still funtions perfectly with no delays. Oh and it doesn't stall searching for bottom between depth changes...and issue I had with LW

[CastingCall]

Not to hijack, but do the Garmin units network easily... sharing waypoints between units, map creation, etc.?

[TroyBoy30]

yes. the echomap chirp series will only share waypoints via the garmin high speed network. the 7600 series has full networking with a simple garmin network cable and full nmea2000 with a nmea network

[XChris1632X]

I think I am going to try to find someone local to help me get mine tuned well. I have watched videos and tried things but I am not confident that my system is running at 100% and that may be my problem. Thanks for the help guys.

[mn_bowhunter]

First off, I'd point out that linking your electronics to your trolling motor is way overrated.

Following contours is only as accurate as the map you have, and doesn't work well with flat contours, only well defined contours.

Keeping an eye on the electronics, and positioning the boat is a big part of the act of fishing, why would you want a machine to do that for you?

It's not only following contours, it's using the Ultrex and having the ability to navigate to other waypoints as well as auto-pilot which is an unreal feature.

The amount of rigging that Humminbird requires is very minimal compared to Lowrance. I feel like both units are giving me similar image quality, but the Lakemaster maps are FAR better than anything else around here, which prompted my switch to Humminbird. I am not a big proponent of touch screen graphs either, also that's my personal opinion. In dealing with cold weather wearing gloves, and rain - just not for me. The ease of use/dialing in an image is so much easier for me with a Humminbird than with a Lowrance. That's just me personally. Lowrance can get dialed in too, but I feel like I have to pay somebody to give me a class on how to do that. No knock on Garmin, just don't have the mapping quality I want (yet) and price point was too high for what I wanted.

Hope you can get the image quality you're looking for with whatever you choose.

[ScottCook]

The additional features you'd get switching to HB with the Ultrex are:

- more saved spot lock locations
- more saved tracks
- autochart that allows you to make/edit maps of lakes whether they're on the lake master card or not.
- contour mode with Lakemaster and Autochart maps (not with navionics). It's a nice feature. Want to stay 30' off the bank, set the contour offset to 30' and go.
- circle mode. Set a way point and circle it clockwise or counterclockwise at 30' to I believe a 100' circle at any Ultrex motor speed or speed over ground
- complete control of the trolling motor from the HB
- using the remote or HB, you can select motor speeds 0-10 in 1/2 step increments, or in 0.1mph speed over ground