Is Garmin 2D far superior than Humminbird?

[crappielabrador]

I just picked up a Garmin 93SV Chirp mainly wanted it for Panoptix and for 2D. I've read that 2D sonar is way better on the Garmin is this true?

[crappielabrador]

Also, do you guys experience interference or issues when running both at the same time? I will be mounting the Garmin on the bow and my Helix will be on console.

[LWINCHESTER2]

Can of worms question. How is "better" defined? IMO all of them will show you a fish, if it is within the cone and off the bottom. In general, Humminbird cones are narrower than Garmin and Lowrance wider than Garmin. The problem with a narrow cone is that in shallow water they don't show you much. The very wide cone makes it look like there are fish under the boat when you actually only know how far away they are, but not a clue as to direction. In deep water, like 100 ft, it's hard to beat a narrow cone for jigging. Also to compare an entry level unit of one brand with a top of the line of another brand is hardly fair. There are timeline issues. It's been years since I used Lowrance and even more years since I used Humminbird. At the time I bought my Garmin 7610xsv I am quite certain that it did what I wanted better than anything else on the market. Issues for me involved total frequency control, ping speed adjustment and technical things like that. Currently the other brands may offer some or all of this. I am so pleased with my Garmins that I really don't spend the time researching other brands like I used to. I think that chirp is now available on all the brands and manual frequency isolation on most. Ping speed and pulse width are also maybe's and may be brand and model specific. I do believe that Garmin has the best interference rejection available and I don't have a clue how they do it. Generally to run multiple units, whether of the same brand or different brands, if they are going to be hooked to their own transducers you have to be able to manipulate the frequencies to be around 40-50 kHz apart or you'll get interference. One way people avoid this is to stay within one brand and network the units to run off of the same transducer.

Short answer. I think you'll be very happy with Garmin's 2d. You can set the frequencies so you don't get interference. I recommend the echomap Plus 93sv. Great unit.

You never mentioned the elephant in the room - Panoptix.

[Tommy O.]

Longtime Humminbird user here who now runs a 93sv on the console. HB has better SI and DI but Garmin's 2D is far superior to HB.

[crappielabrador]

Longtime Humminbird user here who now runs a 93sv on the console. HB has better SI and DI but Garmin's 2D is far superior to HB.

Tommy, thanks that is what I wanted to read from a first hand user. Thanks for info.

[hays47]

Way back when I picked up an Echomap 70S just to experiment with. I was running pure Humminbird at the time. I had a 1198 networked with 998. Anyway noticed for what ever reason. The 70S was showing fish after Humminbird showed no or very little fish around. At the time I had a 360 view also it worked a little better for showing fish but actually aided in finding structure more.

I would place two markers on surface of water. Then make multiple passes using either the Garmin or the Humminbird. Never used both at same time. In 2D Garmin was the hands down winner. This led me down the road to invest more into Garmin. To the point I almost 100% rely on the Panoptix deciding on where to fish on any particular day. The MEGA imaging craze got to me and I bought a Helix 10 SI G2. While it does create fantastic pix I am hugely disappointed in it. For what I use it today the 1198 would have done just as a good as job. If it weren't for the " follow the contour feature " Humminbird would no longer reside upon my boat.

As for Garmin vs Humminbird overall tough call as what is important to someone else may not be at all meaningful to me. What I can honestly say is regardless of what model. I never had to tweak any settings on a Garmin product for standard performance. At this point I have never had to send any Garmin product back for repair. I can't say the same thing about Humminbird's products. I will say their CS took darn good care of me though.

[bigkahunaranch]

Longtime Humminbird user here who now runs a 93sv on the console. HB has better SI and DI but Garmin's 2D is far superior to HB.

Unless you are using the Ultra High Def transducer...............................

And just to compare apples to apples, IMHO the Ultra High Def is every bit as good as the HB Mega.