gps maps

[mitch h]

Hi folks. I HAVE to get some new toys for our cc. Looking at garmin 530s, 536s or a HB 798ci si. Good maps are more important than fishing, but side imaging would be fun to use. Are HB maps close to garmin maps. Thanks for any input. Mitch

 

[bkwapisz]

Re: gps maps

I'd like to know as well. I am contemplating the same toys, and Garmin has the inland lakes add-on chip with the lake I fish, but the screen resolution is about half of what the comparable HB or lowrance graphs are. I've never run a Garmin or a HB and would like to hear inputs of other users.

BTW, personally I find a lot of the product reviews on large vendor websites to be useless. They're either 100% good, or 100% bad, and the bads are usually because of bad customer service or DOA units, not performance.

 

[JB]

Re: gps maps

What do side images have to do with GPS maps??

I have tried GPS with higher resolution, brighter and bigger screens but all of them croaked. My Garmin 276C has been running faithfully for thousands of hours in three different trucks and in 3 different boats. I can find individual rocks in Lake Of The Woods and addresses in the backwoods of east Texas.

The fanciest GPS in the history of the world is useless unless it turns on and works.

 

[Boss Hawg]

Re: gps maps

What do side images have to do with GPS maps??

I have tried GPS with higher resolution, brighter and bigger screens but all of them croaked. My Garmin 276C has been running faithfully for thousands of hours in three different trucks and in 3 different boats. I can find individual rocks in Lake Of The Woods and addresses in the backwoods of east Texas.

The fanciest GPS in the history of the world is useless unless it turns on and works.

Hey JB, agree 100%
Lookin for one myself & I fish Sam Rayburn - Think it'd do what i need ? (which is simply know where i'm at & how to find my why back )
Sorry for jumpin in but i've trusted JB's opinion since my 1st day here

 

[JB]

Re: gps maps

The 276c is out of production, I think Boss, but you could surely find on on eBay. Look at the Garmin site. The newer ones are better and cheaper.

 

[John_S]

Re: gps maps

Most HBs come with Unimap, which is just a basic map. For most inland water, it is just the outline of the lake,etc. For 2010 they are adding ContourXD, but not sure what that is, but think it will be the basic Navionics Hotmaps for selected lakes, just built-in to the unit. HB supports Navionics chips, navigation and lake contour fishing maps. Also in 2010, they are adding support for LakeMaster chips. Unfortunatly, these are only available for selected areas/states.

Side Imaging is a whole other thing. I like it for finding structure and how it is laid out. It's great for fishing new water. Lowarance's version is now out, but from what I have heard, finding it is hard. It requires adding a new transducer and module to HDS units.