1042xsv/Livescope Purchase

[Chaddavison]

I've had the Lowrance button and Touch units. Never had problems with neither....Touch is SO MUCH easier to operate. I gambled on the EC+ units in hopes that they will come out with a larger screens in the near future. Great units for the price and i personally dont need all the extra stuff/software that the top Garmin units come with but would be nice to have.....I'll say this and it's my opinion, i find Garmin to have more options/menus to adjust (than lowrance) on the unit therefore i find the Touch on the Garmin are easier/better to use vs. using a keypad style. Disclaimer, i'm comparing the EC+, Low Gen 2 (keypad) and Low Gen 3 (Touch) and each's menu use on MY boat. Also never had a Garmin keypad unit on boat but played with them in the store.

Thanks for the reply. It seems like the navigation "knob" works pretty well on the 1042 for navigating the menus, but I am still worried about labeling waypoints and stuff like that. That being said, I have never had a touch unit, so at least I haven't gotten used to using that and may not miss it.

[Todd Driscoll]

Thanks for the reply. It seems like the navigation "knob" works pretty well on the 1042 for navigating the menus, but I am still worried about labeling waypoints and stuff like that. That being said, I have never had a touch unit, so at least I haven't gotten used to using that and may not miss it.

I've had numerous non-touch units, including those with the rotary "knob" and currently have 7600 series touch units. Although the knob does make navigating menus easier with a non-touch, there is no replacing the all-around efficiency of a touch unit. For me, touch-screens are a huge plus with really no downside.