There are just too many marine/gps/chartplotters to choose from these days!

[Thajeffski]

Man I've been trying to figure out which one I want for a few hours now and I just can't seem to shorten the list, and i've ONLY looked at garmin.

First big constraint..... 700 or cheaper is what I think I'm going to do.

Wants:
At least 7 or8 inch screen
Depth
Gps
Color maps.
Easily removable (my dock has a door, but no security and people often leave it unlocked)

Would like:
G2 vision charts (that show the contour of the bottom)

I already have:
A depth finder (hummigbird junk model)
a gps (gpsmap 76c)
a smart phone (windows mobile)

So I could do two things.

A) Be happy with my blue charts on my 76c, my lame hummingbird depth finder

B) Buy a new all in one unit.

I really do like the idea of having depth and maps on the same screen, seeing the bottom would be even cooler! I only own a 20 foot bayliner so it's not like I'm navigating the world, however I do plan to go places that I'm not familiar of this summer.

What's your advice?

 

[CATransplant]

Re: There are just too many marine/gps/chartplotters to choose from these days!

That's a tough decision, for sure. If you can, visit a retail outlet where you can see several different models running in simulation. Typically, you can fiddle with them and put them through all their display modes.

Choose the one that has a display that makes the most sense to you, and has controls you can understand somewhat intuitively. I suspect that all of them with similar features and prices are probably OK. It's such a competitive field that they've put a lot of engineering into those little boxes.

It'd be great if there was a way to see several different ones operating on the water, but that's not going to happen, I guess.

 

[DianneB]

Re: There are just too many marine/gps/chartplotters to choose from these days!

Man, just wait until you try to figure out what maps you can get with which chartplotters!

This plotter works with those maps but not the other ones, whichever plotter you buy wont work with your preferred maps, NOBODY lets you preview the maps to see whether they have the coverage and detail you want and every "guess" will cost you hundreds of dollars!

After putting out around $1,000 for two different systems in the last few months I think I am going to end up going back to a PC to get what I want....

 

[dingbat]

Re: There are just too many marine/gps/chartplotters to choose from these days!

If you want a 7-8" MFD you need to revisit your budget numbers. I spent double that figure just for a Garmin 4208 plotter.

The Vision charts are nothing but a gimmick. I have $4.5K invested in electronics on a 22' boat and refuse to spend the $220 some odd dollars for the Vision chip. If I wanted to navigate using cool videos I would have stayed home and played Nintendo

 

[Thajeffski]

Re: There are just too many marine/gps/chartplotters to choose from these days!

yeah I dont know, I want a hand held that I can use with the sonar.

This would be PERFECT
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=148&pID=14893
if I could get depth on the same screen, which I can't.

Without depth that means I have to hold on to my lame depth finder. So forget that product.