Garmin Quality versus all others?

[JiMinneye]

I read a lot about problems with Humminbird and Lowrance and rarely do I see anyone complaining about Garmin Products. Is it just that there are more Humminbirds and Lowrances out there or is the quality of Garmin better? I have had so many problems with my Humminbirds that I don't want to go down that road again. If Garmins are solid and if they come out with a trolling motor that interfaces with their SONAR/GPS I would consider giving them a try. Your thoughts and observations are appreciated.
Thanks, Jim

[Chief Brody]

Ive had 7 Garmin units. None had any problems.

[Dadof4]

These are my first 4 and they out perform my Lowrance in my old boat. I did have a transducer issue that was resolved after going through some diagnoses hoops. But every company has its niche and its followers. Just comes down to what do you want and what is your budget. Money can buy happiness and run multiple graphs to ensure all your needs are met.

[Beegle]

I came over to Garmin from hummingbird onix. With onix all I did was fiddle with the electronics. With Garmin, all I do is fish!

[LWINCHESTER2]

I really like their email support too. I use it instead of calling. Getting it in writing lets me go back later and check what was said as well as if there's any back and for, it's all there. Sometimes a couple of days before answered but that's okay.

[SamMule]

Ive had birds and garmins. Never had any issues with either one. However, I find the garmin units to be much easier to use, and their 2d sonar is the best out there.

[ifishinxs]

The traffic on the Garmin forum is 10 fold what it was just a year ago. That in it self speaks volumes about the product. Garmin is the leader in innovation right now and will continue to gather market share. There will be bumps in the road as we have already seen with the backup in customer service dealing with the phone volume. So far my Garmin electronics have been perfect. The Garmin products in my offshore boat were perfect as well.

[hays47]

Was Humminbird 100% until about the start of the xx9 series and the Onix. At this point forward their quality took a downturn. I had to return brand new Humminbirds three times. One of them an 859 several times before was repaired correctly. Just this year friend asked me to set up new Helix 7 G2 Sonar /GPS model for ice fishing. Had to go back to factory with a rather obvious problem.

Of the seven Garmin models I own or owned. Not one has ever had to go back to factory for anything. I do all my own installs and many others for friends, enemies ,relatives etc etc etc. Have seen or observed same pattern with them. I have never had to construct a " work around " to get a Garmin to work. I can not say the same for Humminbird. My Helix 10 MEGA gave me fits on correct depth reading when I first got it.

Updating units have been much better with Garmin then Humminbird. No setting to default 2-3 times. Personally I find it annoying that it requires this. If Garmin updates are one step process. Is Humminbird's software engineering that quirky ?

I have no intention to affect anyone's purchasing decision. I can only relate the exact truth of my experience.

[JSU Fishing]

I don't consider myself an electronics nut. When I was younger and SI/DI was the cool new thing, I thought it was imprtant to stay on the leading edge. I find it less beneficial now, being that everyone has the same technology, and everyone knows how to use it these days. Quality of the product and overall customer service is more improtant to me than whatever the latest technology is. I had Humminbirds on the last 5 boats, including the one I own now. I did notice more frequent trouble with software updates and how hard it became to get to speak to a CS tech. The constant 2d struggles is what made me give Garmin a try. I have installed 4 units, and they send absolutely everything you need to install in the box and also sell a ton of parts for different mounting locations, etc.

As mentioned, none are perfect, but I can't see any of the others having a leg up on Garmin when it comes to quality and service.

[smbass77]

I've had a Garmin 1040xs for 10 years or so, never an issue. I still have a Garmin Nuvi auto GPS unit that is close to 20 years old???? and it still works like a champ. Garmin quality is great and its nice to see them investing in the fishing market again and they are here to stay now.

[shooter64]

I can tell you this for sure, Garmin service crew guys rarely replace a unit on the various tours. The other brands replacements happen a lot.

[fishin couillon]

I've had Lowrance from Gen 1 to Gen 3......i had good luck with them except two that filled up with water from fishing in the rain.....a few of them i had software issues that they claimed there was no issue......i was finally able to swap over to Garmin last year and never doubted my choice. From what i can see, Garmin seems to keep a model longer than 2 years instead of throwing them away.....

[pdxfisher]

I had an Eagle 3d-100 (actually pretty cool with three 20 degree transducers, left center and right) which was black and white.

I upgraded to Lowrance X70a that had a breathtaking screen for the time. Fine resolution and greyscale.

From there, I upgraded to an HB 597-DI because I was taken with the picture quality of DI and for the first time I had maps and a GPS.

After a bit I upgraded to a Garmin echomap chirp 73SV because I decided I really needed SI and the Garmin had that and quickdraw and that was huge for me. The other issue with the HB is that the reported speed is all over the map at slow trolling speeds - about the only time I even care. Crappie forum folks complain about this all the time. Each of these upgrades was easy to justify. I will say of all the units I have owned I like the Garmin the best, but that is probably partly not fair since it is the newest and the most expensive of the group.

The hard thing for me now is figuring why I need to upgrade again :) I would really love a bigger screen and livescope looks amazing, but that is a lot of wires for a kayak. I am sure eventually I will convince myself to upgrade but for now I am in an intense struggle with my inner demons :)

[Binder]

I’ve owned five Garmin units and have had zero problems, called customer service a few times for advice and it has been excellent also. Never have had to return a unit for service and software upgrades installed without issues.

[ncbass]

I purchased three units for my new in boat in Dec '16, installed the end of Jan '17, three weeks in the bow unit begins to malfunction and was eventually replaced by Garmin, moved the console unit up front and it also developed problems that I simply deal with (powering off in any kind of chop, out of warranty), suspect its another cradle issue with the bow unit. That being said I never had a problem with the numerous H-bird units I owned and I believe I had to send in one Lowrance unit for warranty work. If I had to do it all over again I really don't know which brand I would go with....

[j791]

My Lowrance HDS units have worked well. Side imaging is top notch. My Garmin head unit and LiveScope have also worked great.

[Basseditor]

I’m seeing some complaints on a Garmin owners Facebook page.

[fishin couillon]

Complaints about what?

The fact is there will be complaining of all brands.....

[moose364]

Long time Humminbird guy, on my little boat I have a 998si 598si and a 788di. never had but 1 problem with a humminbird and the 598 when brand new would not boot up, my biggest complaint was the view sux in bright sun light, got a new to me PT190 and wanted a bigger screen size at the helm on it, was looking at the Helix and solix units at the skeeter tournament trying to decide if I would like touch screen or not. needless to say in the 20 mins I was at the humminbird booth I guess there were at least 10 different guys complaining about both of them having boot problems shutting down for no reason, so I just hooked up a Garmin echomap 93sv today. going to give them a try,