Talk me out of going Garmin

[XChris1632X]

I honestly have no idea why but I am thinking of going away from Lowrance. Honestly just feel like changing to try things. I have never been able to get my HDS's to work as good as I feel they should so that may be part of it. Garmin just seems to be coming around quickly. I am not that familiar with them so I was looking to see if someone could tell me why I shouldnt make the switch.

[badbaggerHD]

I am glad I did. I love both my Garmins. Great details in a 1000ft of water and very easy to operate.

[Axkiker]

I honestly have no idea why but I am thinking of going away from Lowrance. Honestly just feel like changing to try things. I have never been able to get my HDS's to work as good as I feel they should so that may be part of it. Garmin just seems to be coming around quickly. I am not that familiar with them so I was looking to see if someone could tell me why I shouldnt make the switch.

My first graph was a Garmin. I let it go with my previous boat that I sold. Only reason that I went with Birds this time around was due to them having mega at the time.

If I compared what I had previously (7" Garmin) To one of my Birds (7" Bird Non Mega) I would choose the Garmin. The Garmin to me straight out of the box gave me better results.

Now that Garmin has all this new stuff (Mega, live scope etc) I would have to seriously consider them.

I have no experience with Lowrance.

[Meadows]

I just upgraded my HDS 8's and went with the Lowrance Carbons. I came very close to going to Garmin but what stopped me was the fact that I couldn't justify spending the money for the GPSmaps and didn't quite trust the Echomaps to be as high quality as the Lowrance Carbons. And the Panoptix Livescope looks awesome, but all I have seen this far is a commercial. Until I witness one first hand that is showing fish in front of me while I'm fishing a dock in realistic conditions with wind, boat traffic, etc. I'm not willing to spend $1500 on a transducer.

I'm not saying Garmins aren't legit. But until I specifically see people winning tournaments because of Livescope and while the majority of pros are still running with Lowrance, I think I'll stick with them.

[smbass77]

I have a Garmin and Lowrance on my boat for the past 5 or 6 years. I think the picture quality is WAY better with the Garmin. The Garmin Ultra HD maps are good, but variety of lakes were lacking and at the time Garmin wouldn't allow Navionics chips. And Garmin customer service is WAY above Lowrance.....you can actually talk to people at Garmin within a few minutes of calling.

Now that Garmin owns Navionics, and most likely the new 2019 units will allow Navionics chips, I'd go Garmin. On some lakes the Navionics maps are better, but other lakes the Garmin maps are better so you'll have the best of both worlds.

[12poundbass]

Looks like you're buying Garmin!
Used a 93sv Echomap for the first time last weekend. Very good image and very user friendly. Didn't get to play with it as long as I wanted but I'm going to get a couple.

[ZX20Harris]

I’d look into the humminbird megas, either the solix or helix. The mega imaging along with the detail in the lakemaster mapping is second to none. All brands in this day and age are equally as good it all boils down to what your comfortable with and have confidence in

[kylemoodie]

I think I would really consider Garmin if my boat wasn't set up for Humminbird, I don't feel like putting the work in to re rig everything after all the work I have already put in.

[mossie3]

Just to add more confusion, I'd watch Bass Brawl Outdoors Fishing Videos on youtube. He has several on the water videos using the Humminbird's SI and 360 to locate and catch fish. He's impressive, and he is good teaching and easy to follow on how to use them, practically giving play by play, cast by cast live action tutorial while catching them.


I just haven't seen many practical Garmin panoptix, livescope youtube videos done live on the water that easy to follow. The best panoptix video I ran across was an ice fishing one.


I'm still on the fence between trying the 360 or panoptix, but leaning toward the 360, since I already have Humminbirds.

[flyingwillie]

Garmin is not just coming around quickly.....except maybe in bass boats. I have Lowrance as well and don’t consider them special in any way. Garmin has been the leader (by far) in mapping technology for decades. They have dominated the general aviation market forever. I would have no reservations going to a Garmin setup. The Panoptix is very impressive. Good luck.

[shafer22]

have they updated their hi def Maps to include more lakes?

[Axkiker]

Scott Martin has a video he released I think today or yesterday that shows a bit of the new live scope. Or whatever its called. His camera guy is swimming to cool off and Martin then used the graph to show him swimming in real time.

Not saying that at all relates to fish catching but it was pretty cool actually seeing legs treading water on the screen in real time. But hey I get fish aren't exactly the same size of a human leg.

Well bass anyways

[basscat tyler]

I won’t talk you out of it. I run birds but the new stuff that Garmin is coming out with looks impressive. I honestly don’t think I’d be disappointed in any of the new Lowrance, Humminbird, Garmin or Raymarine units

[ifishinxs]

You might as well buy the Garmin now. They are the future in marine electronics. Once you use one is pretty easy to know why. Even if your lake isn’t covered with the 1000’s of lakes already mapped, QuickDraw fills in the blanks pretty quick in real time and much more accurate then some Army Corp of engineers map from 20 years ago. Customer service is second to none. Only thing better then live Scope would be a Sea View under water camera. Then again the camera can’t see out 50 ft like Live Scope can.

[ColdSVT]

Pick what ever you want...they all do thier jobs fine
All you get here is opinion and favorites...I say choose your own brand and don your best to learn it's quirks and have fun

[Dan21XRS]

Dude, you'll start saying "dude". You'll begin and end every sentence with... Dude... Dan

[D.O.C. 989]

Pick what ever you want...they all do thier jobs fine
All you get here is opinion and favorites...I say choose your own brand and don your best to learn it's quirks and have fun

This is sound advice. I got my first Lowrance 48 years ago and have never strayed from them. I have no issues finding fish with my Lowrance products but finding them and catching them doesn't always come together as planned. I suspect any of them can do this, pick what you want and be happy, one is no more magical than the other when it comes time to boat the fish you see and you can see fish with all of them.

[BigCranks]

I don't think panoptix is all that great if you fish in rough water a lot.

[Capw]

I don't think panoptix is all that great if you fish in rough water a lot.

and it’s useless in less than 6-8 feet. I’m disappointed in it.

[ColdSVT]

This is sound advice. I got my first Lowrance 48 years ago and have never strayed from them. I have no issues finding fish with my Lowrance products but finding them and catching them doesn't always come together as planned. I suspect any of them can do this, pick what you want and be happy, one is no more magical than the other when it comes time to boat the fish you see and you can see fish with all of them.

Yup...my birds do better at telling my the temp and depth than they do helping me catch fish lol