Garmin GPSMAP 820XS vs Lowrance Elite 7chirp/elite 9

[rxheven]

Hi guys. looking to upgrade my current (and outdated) Northstar sounder and old hummingbird mono gps/plotter with a single, larger screen unit. I was originally looking at the elite 7, but after having a look and a bit of a play with it feel that the screen is a bit too small to run split screen for plotting and sounding at the same time. i was thinking about the elite 9 to remedy this, but while I was having a bit of a look around came across the Garmin unit which is currently heavily discounted and comes in almost $500 cheaper than the Lowrance unit. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience or advice with regards to the units?

Thanks in advance!

[oz_brett]

I have the Garmin GPSMAP751xs & love it!

Menu's are easy to navigate.

mapping software excellent even better with G2 vision

I choose between 2 transducers GT20-tm & TM150 Chirp . I find myself using the GT20 more then the Tm150 although they give the TM150 a lot of credit I found the traditional HD-ID a clearer image in deep water.

Free WI-FI software for phone & tablet is good stuff

Most of the extras & add ons that you buy for it are usually a bit cheaper then the other brands.

I bigger screen would have been great but the option was not available when I bought mine.

Brett

[rxheven]

Thanks for your input mate. I had read that the chirp transducers can leave a bit to be desired in deeper water, so may be worth just sticking with the standard HD-ID transducer at first and spending that money on the map upgrades?

[bigbaron]

check out the Garmin 95SV. about same price range but does SideVu instead of Chirp, plus all of the other views.

[Cargo05]

I have the Lowrance Elite-7-HDI (not the CHIRP) and totally agree that the screen is too small to split 3 ways. I have also found the software a bit confusing to use. The Lowrance HDS touch screens are nicer units if your budget stretches that far. I have no experience with the Garmin product range apart from the hand held GPS units which are fairly intuitive to use.