Mrwooley Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 G'Day all, I'm after some advise. I want to purchace a new colour sounder combo ( finder/GPS ) but I am a bit confused on what make and model to get. I've had some advice from the dealers, but I am also interested in advise from the guys that actually use them. I have a buget of around $1600 and would like best I can get for the price, with the biggest screen. Would like an idea so that I can check them out, or purchase one, at the up-coming boat show. All advice gratefully received. Regards, Barry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted February 18, 2008 Share Posted February 18, 2008 G'Day all, I'm after some advise. I want to purchace a new colour sounder combo ( finder/GPS ) but I am a bit confused on what make and model to get. I've had some advice from the dealers, but I am also interested in advise from the guys that actually use them. I have a buget of around $1600 and would like best I can get for the price, with the biggest screen. Would like an idea so that I can check them out, or purchase one, at the up-coming boat show. All advice gratefully received. Regards, Barry. Mate this sublject has been discussed heaps and you will get many different views... My opinion is to Stay away from Navman Units..... For that price range you would best be looking at Lowrance or Garmin Units as well as a Humminbird.....Humminbird has a few new units which seem very impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbielites Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 The unit I use is one Netic put me onto.... Thanks mate It is a Garmin GPSMAP 178c. I love it, it does every thing you need it to do well and came in under 1k with maps. Not the largest screen but still very readable. Robbie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancer Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Mate this sublject has been discussed heaps and you will get many different views... My opinion is to Stay away from Navman Units..... For that price range you would best be looking at Lowrance or Garmin Units as well as a Humminbird.....Humminbird has a few new units which seem very impressive. The main thing that you need in a combo is screen size, if you can get a 10" wide screen that would be great. On mine I have a 5" screen and sometimes the detail is to small when running both GPS and Sonar together. I also find that in bright sunlight and the sun is behind you ie morning sun, you need to adjust the screen angle to see. Mines an Eagle 642IGPS DF. Otherwise its magic especially when you come home in the dark and you dont take the wrong turn and end up lost when I had the family onboard. They were not amused. !!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kruzenvax Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 I'm glad somebody [experienced] is not disliking the Humminbird. Considering 737 to perhaps 787 upgrade myself. Humminbird has a few new units which seem very impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh88 Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 We've gotten a Garmin 450S Sounder/GPS put on ours, and whilst the screen isn't very big the resolution is fantastic and the controls are very straight forward for easy operation. Not sure of price but i'm pretty sure its not terribly expensive. Cheers Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holmesie Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 My opinion is to Stay away from Navman Units..... What's the problem with Navman units netic? PM me if you like, I just bought a Navman/Northstar one Cheers Holmesie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a boat Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 Hi, for what it is worth I also do not think there is much wrong with Navman and that is why I chose to sell them and have used them ALOT "on the water". I think in the value for money stacks the Navman performs well with the other brands like Lowrance (which is now owned by the same company as Navman and we have sold in the past) / Garmin (which we also sell) and Humminbird (which we have soldl). Yes I think the Raymarine (which we sell) and Furuno (who want us to sell their product) are better than the Navman, but are also dearer. I think in the price range Barry has I think the Navman TF6507 is the best unit with the good pixel count (640 x480), the most power (600watt) and dual frequency with the added benefit of having th ability to add a fuel flow transducer to give your your fuel usage and range. Also the thing I like about the Navman is the abiltiy to divide the sreen in half top and bottom instead of left and right, that way you get the full screen fishfinder when in split mode. Just my thoughts and I would buy a TF6507 for my boat in that price range and in fact I was out in a boat with one last week and it worked very well and the back-up is no better of worse than any of the other brands we have dealt with. Huey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netic Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 I have had a fair few friends who have purchased mid to top end Navman units to be very dissapointed. Specs wise the Navman units look great but in practice, When fishing, Trolling etc they are not as good as other brands, And its in practice that really matters. I have many friends who have been fishing for years and who run charters etc.....One thing all of them say is stay away from Navman.......And from my personal experience i now know why they say that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a boat Posted February 19, 2008 Share Posted February 19, 2008 I have had a fair few friends who have purchased mid to top end Navman units to be very dissapointed. Specs wise the Navman units look great but in practice, When fishing, Trolling etc they are not as good as other brands, And its in practice that really matters. I have many friends who have been fishing for years and who run charters etc.....One thing all of them say is stay away from Navman.......And from my personal experience i now know why they say that Hi Netic, thanks for your experiences but any brand of sounders' performance can be affected by the set-up and placement of the transducer. As mentioned I was out in a Stacer Nomad last week with a TF6507 and at low speed and trolling speed it worked fine and read the bottom well. Most charter guys run Raymarine or Furuno because it is how they pay the bills and they want the best, but that costs and to get a simialr sized Raymarine you would be looking at about double what the Navman costs and some recreational guys do not want to spend that much on a sounder. I think if Barry wanted to spend $2200 odd on a combo unit I think the Raymarine A65 combo is excellent and we fitted one of these to an Aqualine a few weeks ago and I used it in the water and it worked great at any speed and water depth becasue of its digital module that it has. Just my 2 cents worth and as with anything in life and especially with boats you get what you pay for, Huey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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