Affordable Gps On The Market ?

[kilp]

Hi fellow raider

Just out of curiosity, can someone explain to me, why is it that normal Gps's for Cars

have gotten cheaper throughout the years, however Gps's or combos for Marine have gotten More

expensive.

A year ago I could have bought a coloured eagle gps and sounder combo for $600.00 there was a special at the time so if you bought the unit, you would get the Navionic map for free. I went into my locating boating shop and could clearly see that a similar unit was now selling for $699.00 plus you had to buy the navionic map for an extra $385.00. I dont understand why the price would actually go up especially with todays economical situation.

Anyway I was wondering if anyone here could advise me on a good affordable Gps / sounder combo I could buy. I hear that the new garmins have such a great inbuilt mapping system that you dont even have to buy any additional map charts? I was acutally going to buy a garmin 178c combo ( old stock), but they ran out of them and they dont sell them anymore.

appreciate any feedback,

cheers

kilp

[taloyoak]

It depends on how much you will use it etc. I use Lowrance because they have excellent mapping, which for most is the most important feature. There sounders are accurate, and overall simplistic to learn and use. Maybe look around on the net at stores in the US and Canada, and also Asia, as you may pick one up cheaper.

Auto GPS's are getting cheaper because there are so many players on the market, plus they don't need as much technology compared to Marine GPS.

Price is always an important factor when deciding, but look at long term usage and it might be worth it to you to spend a bit more to get a more relaible GPS, that is also able to be updated etc at a later date, and also look at the re sale value too.

Hope this helps. I have always used Lowrance for both outdoor and Marine. But... I have a simple little Garmin Nuvi 250 for the car. I actually bought it in Canada and managed to figure out how to download and put the mapping for Australia on it for free!.

Everyone has their favourite brands, but I look at functionality, reputation, build quality and is it going to provide me with exactly the features that I am buying it for. Might also be worth checking the warranties.

cheers,

Matt

[kilp]

It depends on how much you will use it etc. I use Lowrance because they have excellent mapping, which for most is the most important feature. There sounders are accurate, and overall simplistic to learn and use. Maybe look around on the net at stores in the US and Canada, and also Asia, as you may pick one up cheaper.

Auto GPS's are getting cheaper because there are so many players on the market, plus they don't need as much technology compared to Marine GPS.

Price is always an important factor when deciding, but look at long term usage and it might be worth it to you to spend a bit more to get a more relaible GPS, that is also able to be updated etc at a later date, and also look at the re sale value too.

Hope this helps. I have always used Lowrance for both outdoor and Marine. But... I have a simple little Garmin Nuvi 250 for the car. I actually bought it in Canada and managed to figure out how to download and put the mapping for Australia on it for free!.

Everyone has their favourite brands, but I look at functionality, reputation, build quality and is it going to provide me with exactly the features that I am buying it for. Might also be worth checking the warranties.

cheers,

Matt

thanks for the advise matey, the way the aussie dollar is at the moment, you'd get a better bargain here is Oz rather than attemping to buy from the states wouldnt you?

one particular us site I went on, you have to pay 40% of the items price for shipping to aus.....

Edited December 6, 2008 by kilp