Garmin has come a long way with better locators but I still prefer Lowrance as I seem to better read them.Maybe it's just what I'm used to.Just not ready to switch yet.
Printable View
Garmin has come a long way with better locators but I still prefer Lowrance as I seem to better read them.Maybe it's just what I'm used to.Just not ready to switch yet.
Exactly........Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruger04
Now that I have some seat time with both brands and looking at them.... If I only could have 1 brand... it would be Garmin hands down.... everything is clearer and better!!!
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y29...psrjju0eq1.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by GetReel
Does Hummingbird pay patent royalties to Navico for the rights to sell Down Imaging technology ?
or Raymarine DownVision ?
Humminbird and Raymarine both pay Navico for the rights to sell down imaging. Yes.
Looks like the same issues as Johnson Outdoors had with Navico for patent violation of Lowrance LSS-1 StructureScan Imaging System.
Guess garmin thought it would be better to pay millions in fines... Guess they have more money than I do.
On Garmin vrs Lowrance, here is my opinion.
Mapping - Lowrance wins on choices. Garmin only takes Garmin and that isnt always the best depending on where you fish. However, QuickDraw is better than the Lowrance option in some ways - mainly its instant and easy and free.
2D sonar - Garmin's CHIRP wins but Lowrance CHIRP is a very close contender.
Side and Down imaging - Lowrance wins easily over Garmin in detail, clarity and sharpness, but Humminbird is better yet. I think Garmin has more usable sideimage range, but its not a very good image. Thats comparing GT tansducers to Lowrance latest versions. The CV are much worse.
Customer service is harder to call. The old Lowrance really sucked, but most folks are reporting that Lowrance is pretty good these days - since they were bought out. I havent talked to Lowrance CS in years, but I can verify that they used to suck. Dont know about now for sure.
Garmin customer service on the other hand is mostly excellent - unless they are talking about mapping or telling customers lies about CV transducers. They have a long history of giving out wrong info on mapping and/or being out of the loop somehow. Not sure if thats a fault with the CS guys or the mapping guys or management but its been going on since before I bought my 7610 1 1/2 years ago.
As far as lying to customers about transducer performance, I suspect most all of that came down from the top. On the other hand they were telling customers things like this:
As far as I know, very very few customers that got screwed over in the CV transducer mess have been taken care of. The vast majority were told to take a hike. I dont really blame the CS people you talk to on the phone. They are just following policy. That kind of crap has to come from the top, and that is the kind of thing I find 100% unacceptable.Quote:
Got off the phone with them 20 minutes ago. Their official stance is that they will never exchange transducers per memo's handed down this morning. I asked to speak to a supervisor, he left for 5 minutes, came back, and said that I could talk to him, but they absolutely will not exchange transducers.
The guy was unapologetic and told me that "we've done nothing wrong." When I told him that they lied about the performance of the product he actually told me "no company tells the truth about their products." When I said to him they didn't tell anyone they removed the down element he said, "well we never said it was in there in the first place."
If they were willing to lie about the CV transducers - what else are they lying about now? How can they be trusted on anything they say about anything? That tips things all the way in Lowrance favor as far as Im concerned.
Panoptix is the only thing where Garmin has the clear edge in my mind - for the moment. Thats not going to last much longer. Furuno announced their version of Panoptix type sonar a few weeks ago and it looks awesome. Prices are not out of line either, so when it comes time to replace my Garmin stuff, Furuno will be my first look and Garmin wont be in the running at all. From here on out I no longer recommend Garmin to anyone - unless they absolutely have to have Panotpix right now. Im recommending everyone wait a few more weeks until the Furuno gear is out and we get some feed back from end users.
If you dont want or need Panoptix type sonar, then Lowrance or Humminbird gets my vote.
With all due respect , your Garmin bashing is getting old Larry, you sound like a broken record.
Garmin marine product sales went up 50% last year and 25% the year before, Garmin has won the prestigious NMEA manufacturer of the year award two years in a row, they must be doing something right.
As far as DV SV being worse than all other manufacturers well, I think that only matters to about 10% of the users who can actually see a difference, the other 90% need a reliable and easy to use MFD and Garmin is on top in those two categories.
I know quite a few fisherman and none of them analyze every pixel every branch every rock seen on Sideview and Downview they just want to turn it on and go.
The only reason I use SV DV is to locate structure and drop-offs and the Garmin does that very well.
All those reasons you were pushing the brand before are still there Larry, it was a great unit before that video and it's a great unit after that video although not without its flaws. Remember that video was produced by Lowrance, not an independent unbiassed tester.
All that being said your input in this forum has been very valuable to me and I'm sure for hundreds of other users, I thank you for that and I'm glad to see you back on the keyboard.
Cheers
Fish on !!
C//
First - I hope this doesn’t come across as an attack on you. I don’t mean it that way at all, but I feel very strongly about this.
I think I was pretty fair in listing the things I think are good and bad about Garmin and Lowrance. If you look back through my old posts, I have been less than happy with Garmins side and downvu from day one and not shy about saying so. Ive also been very honest about issues I have with QuickDraw and other mapping issues, HomePort, Garmin Helm and other things I think need improvement.
Its true though that I have gone from being a very enthusiastic Garmin fan boy to being a very unhappy customer who is NOT willing to gloss over anything.
We agree about at least one other thing - everyone has different priorities and likes and dislikes and ways to use their sonar. I happen to think you are wrong that most don’t care about quality down and side view though. Especially those coming over from Humminbird. Just look at all the threads on here asking about DV units and how to tweak side/downvu settings to get better images. Plus, I get more questions about down and sideview than 2D in my threads on sonar interpretation.
I don’t have a problem if that’s not your cup of tea though.
I also agree that Garmin makes good equipment for the most part – as does Lowrance. Other than the CV transducer issue, Im not disputing that.
You’re also correct that many – maybe even most - people don’t care if the company they are buying from is honest or not. As long as their personal equipment works, they don’t care. I also don’t think very many people really give a hoot if Garmin stole the tech from Navico or if they got fined or not – again, as long as their personal gear works, they are happy.
I don’t feel that way though. I don’t believe in recommending that my friends buy from companies who I know for a fact deliberately rip off their customers. I don’t care how good their stuff is - if they are ripping people off - I will not give them my recommendation.
I am also 100% certain that every single person that found out they got lied to when they bought a CV transducer, cares one heck of a lot about it. I don’t think its right to keep our mouths shut and forget about the people Garmin screwed over. Doing that feels to me like we are tossing them in the trash like Garmin did so we can all forget about this minor, unimportant, little, who cares, mishap and pretend like it never happened.
Part of why I feel so strongly about this, is that I helped talk a number of those people into buying Garmin sonar. I very much regret my part in helping Garmin rip those people off. As you know, I spend a lot of time helping people and answering questions. I answered peoples CV questions by quoting things from the Garmin website and things that I was told by customer support and Todd and others representing Garmin. Those things (about the CV transducers) were flat out lies - not innocent mistakes. They were deliberate lies that I helped spread on this and several other forums. That really bothers me.
When Im getting ready to buy something, I want to know the good and the bad - up front. I hate finding out after I bought something, that it has a known problem or that the company is dishonest and has ripped me or my friends off. I don’t think its fair or right to hide or cover up things like that from potential buyers and I refuse to do that.
As far as the video, I don’t give a rats what ever about that video or who made it or how good or bad it is. The video doesn’t matter one bit.
The truth is the CV transducers are inferior to the GT transducers. Garmin deliberately lied when they said the CV transducers were no different from, and even better than, the GT transducers. When they got outed, they told the customers who fell for those lies, to go jump in the lake instead of making it right. These are things I think every potential Garmin customer has a need and a right to know before they decide to buy. These are things I would absolutely want to know before buying Garmin and the video has nothing to do with any of that.
That said - if Garmin decided to make this right with their customers, I would be happy to let the CV stuff all fade into the past (while still griping about the poor side/down images)....... In fact, I would make a special effort to let everyone know what they did. I admire people and would be willing to recomend a company who can admit - and then fix - their mistakes.
unless you have a little over 10 billion you'd be right. the marine unit is a very very small piece of garminQuote:
Originally Posted by coachallen
furuno and others had forward looking sonar before garmin. From my understanding though, it's just forward sonar, not side, down or 2dQuote:
Originally Posted by Larry3215
http://www.furuno.com/en/products/sonar/CH-270
they just announced new 3d as well
New DFF3D Multi-Beam Sonar
Delivers Stunning 3D Seafloor Imagery
While Penetrating Depths Of 1,000 Feet
simrad
https://www.passagemaker.com/trawler...ated-with-mfds
I have to say this: Humminbird, Lowrance and Garmin 2D sonar can't even match the Raymarine Dragonfly 6 IMHO and I have use all of those brands.
:laugh:
I have had both Lowrance units and currently run Garmin units. Is it just my experience but do all of these units loose the bottom when running across the lake at 50-65 MPH?
It's really annoying!
Thats a matter of installation and which boat you have.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcbassin
My humminbird with shoot-thru transducer did a much better job of reading at speed than my Garmin does with the GT15 mounted in the same exact spot. Same boat. That's my $0.02 on it from personal experience.Quote:
Originally Posted by mcbassin
Sometimes the Garmin will read at 50+, sometimes it won't read at 30 and the depth just flashes. Water conditions matter not. Could be glass and I won't get a reading once on plane. Come off plane and go again and I get a great reading. It's hit or miss. Annoying.
could be the freq and scroll speed you are using. turn off chirp and use straight 200Quote:
Originally Posted by Riccochet
My shoot thru transducer is mounted in exact location as the previous two units. The lowrance models I've had seemed to work better than the Garmins.Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry3215
Exactly the same experience I've had with Lowrance and Garmin.Quote:
Originally Posted by Riccochet