John C Posted December 30, 2012 Share Posted December 30, 2012 I'm thinking of buying the Garmin 750s or the HDS7. Has any one had any experience with the garmin 750s? I'm treating buying this new sounder very serious as I want to get the best I can for a budget of around $1300. Any help would be great I've played with both and to me the garmin feels easier to operate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a boat Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I'm thinking of buying the Garmin 750s or the HDS7. Has any one had any experience with the garmin 750s? I'm treating buying this new sounder very serious as I want to get the best I can for a budget of around $1300. Any help would be great I've played with both and to me the garmin feels easier to operate. Hi, I have used both and both are good but the Garmin is pretty old technology internally and being only touch screen it can be hard to use when it is in the water with any sort of waves and salt on fingers. The benefit of the Lowrance too is the ability to add structure scan that is worth every cent. Speaking on dollars, I would think you will find it hard to get HDS-7 Gen2 or 750S for $1,300 and we, even at Raider prices, are more than that for the Gen2 version. One other I would add to the list is the Raymarine E7D that at present I am running specials on and it comes with OZ wide gold chart too and is both touch screen and buttons and a little birdy told me they are working on side/down imagining too if you like that option. PM me if you would like Raider prices on the HDS-7 or Raymarine but if the budget is only $1,300 not sure I can help if you want the latest and greatest versions with transducer. Cheers, Huey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John C Posted January 10, 2013 Author Share Posted January 10, 2013 Hi Huey the Gamin 750s is on sale at a majour boating camping outlet for $1299 including transducer but I'm still confused as to what I want think ill just stick with my old sounder for now fitting a new Bimini so sounder might be on hold. I don't like buying from those majour outlets as they don't seem to care about there customers so I will certainly contact you when I'm sure of what I want so I don't waste your time thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thylacene Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 I'm thinking of buying the Garmin 750s or the HDS7. Has any one had any experience with the garmin 750s? I'm treating buying this new sounder very serious as I want to get the best I can for a budget of around $1300. Any help would be great I've played with both and to me the garmin feels easier to operate. We have the Garmin 750S with the supplied transducer, and yes it is easy to operate, the touch screen is nice. It runs out of bottom around 280m, although has returned soundings from 500+ m consistently, that is we did a loop and marked fish at same depth, while slow trolling baits. Inbuilt charts are good, sufficient detail to be able work out where we want to go to drop a line. If the sounder is your primary consideration, the Lowrance may be you better option. A little less user friendly, but time and practice can sort that, and from my limited experience and understanding, a better sounder with the structure scan option. We bought the Garmin as at the time, they were the better interface to the Suzuki with NMEA, and being on a budget, save a few bucks on gauges. When dollars allow, we will supplement with a Furono 587 and a 2kw sounder, but then we spend a lot of our time offshore. As with everything boating there is always a compromise. Cheers Thy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a boat Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Hi, that is a very good price for a good unit in the Garmin and as Thy mentioned I am sure you would be happy with it, but personally with what the Lowrance and Raymarine offer internally and externally I would save the pennies and fit one of these. Cheers, Huey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thylacene Posted January 10, 2013 Share Posted January 10, 2013 Yep, what Huey said. If doing it again would do it differently, but also quite happy with the current setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now