Humminbird Chirp Mega vs. Garmin Echomap Chirp ?

**KAYAKLIPJERKER** · 07-05-2017, 01:48 PM

Originally Posted by MidMsAngler

Thanks, TeeDee.

I will say that I believe Garmin has Humminbird beat across the board in one aspect. Customer service. They have been more than helpful every time I have spoken with them. Being my first side scan unit, I was way behind on the learning curve. After one single round of questions regarding mounting the transducer, I was given a phone number and asked to call the tech the next time I put my boat in the water. They walked me through the simple setup procedures and then stayed with me and helped me set-up and dial in the unit as well as offering other general and advanced tips for the unit. Not saying the guys at birdland wouldn't do that, but I have never heard of it.

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Not sure when's the last time you had any dealings with them but based on my recent experience with them I would strongly disagree with your statement. HB customer service has been extremely helpful and knowledgeable with helping me try to get through some issues I thought I had. They gone above and beyond for me.

**MidMsAngler** · 07-05-2017, 03:11 PM

I never said that humminbird had bad customer service, my opinion was simply that Garmins was better. Humminbird has been helpful for me in the past but I have never had a company take an hour to walk me through the set-up and advanced fine tuning steps while I was on the water. They offered the service without me even asking for it.

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**hays47** · 03-13-2018, 11:25 AM

Astonished that no one mentioned the Panoptix option. If Panoptix is in future or present plans Garmin would be the choice. If Panoptix is not a consideration Humminbird Mega would get the nod.

I am fortunate enough to afford both. Since I cut back on non-essential things like housing , food, clothing , etc etc. Mega has the prettiest pictures and greatest clarity no doubt. But when it just comes to flat out finding fish and flashing " fish here " Panoptix has no equal.

Customer service by both companies OUTSTANDING.

**DCfinski** · 03-13-2018, 11:37 AM

Does anybody know the actual difference between the Helix and Solex versions of Humminbird other than the touch screen? Thanks.

**rnvinc** · 03-13-2018, 08:28 PM

Originally Posted by DCfinski

Does anybody know the actual difference between the Helix and Solex versions of Humminbird other than the touch screen? Thanks.

SOLIX has touch, 4:3 aspect ratio screen, more customizable, and can share map cards with SOLIX ...

HELIX is 16:9 aspect ratio ...

Rickie

**blueones** · 04-30-2018, 08:01 PM

Garmin maps are horrendous if you are in Canada....they are so far off it is unreal....sometimes hundreds of feet.. Their quickdraw contour maps are more accurate than their canada lakevu hd maps...the lakevu maps even miss rivers that are shown on the quickdraw maps...I talked with garmin about this several times but never got any good answers... I run only with the contours and worldwide marine basemap loaded...The lakevu map will show solid land where the quickdraw and worldmap show water...the water is correct but off location substantially... My next...and very soon purchase will be a hummingbird...

Originally Posted by pab1981

The big thing nobody is mentioning here is mapping. You had better do your homework for your area if you are thinking about Garmin. You are stuck with their maps good or bad at this time. This is especially true if your lakes aren't MaxDef Garmin scanned. Their nomenclature is tricky but if they didn't scan it I would be skeptical. Lake Barkley is my home lake which is a pretty big one for bass people and is supposedly Hd but is dreadful. No way their staff guys are ledge fishing with Garmin maps on Barkley.

All that said though I got into the units cheap and run Lakemaster on my phone when I need it. As far as doing what is necessary to catch crappie sonar wise it is solid and I have owned Hbird core series and spent a fair amount of time in Lowrance boats and don't feel handicapped in the slightest. I guess I am in the minority in that opinion, but I am strictly basing my opinion off the ability of the Si, Di, and sonar giving me the information necessary to catch fish. If your into taking pictures I would say you will be disappointed with the Garmin with either transducer and ought to get the Mega. But I would have to spend some time in the boat with one to see if they improved some things over the core series before I forked over that kind of money.

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**rnvinc** · 04-30-2018, 10:55 PM

Originally Posted by blueones

Garmin maps are horrendous if you are in Canada....they are so far off it is unreal....sometimes hundreds of feet.. Their quickdraw contour maps are more accurate than their canada lakevu hd maps...the lakevu maps even miss rivers that are shown on the quickdraw maps...I talked with garmin about this several times but never got any good answers... I run only with the contours and worldwide marine basemap loaded...The lakevu map will show solid land where the quickdraw and worldmap show water...the water is correct but off location substantially... My next...and very soon purchase will be a hummingbird...

Good to see you here Patrick ... Hope to see more of your posts ...

Rickie

**Pnut** · 12-29-2018, 07:12 AM

I have a sv93 chirp echomap and it takes better pics than my old hb did but a couple things I don't like about it is you can't play back your recordings on your unit and mark your waypoints. Also when you view them on homeport they have a software problem that won't let you see your SI further out than your water depth. They said they are working to fix the problem. If they fix that I will buy 2 more if not back to HB. Mine a totally takes good images.

**Pnut** · 12-29-2018, 07:17 AM

I have a sv93 chirp echomap and it takes better pics than my old hb did but a couple things I don't like about it is you can't play back your recordings on your unit and mark your waypoints. Also when you view them on homeport they have a software problem that won't let you see your SI further out than your water depth. They said they are working to fix the problem. If they fix that I will buy 2 more if not back to HB. Mine a totally takes good images.

**bb no longer in business** · 12-29-2018, 07:34 AM

There are plus and minuses to every brand. I have dedicated Lowrance and Humminbird customers that are now adding Garmin for the Panoptix Livescope option and are very happy with that purchase. I usually tell customer's that the Garmin echomap does everything well but is probably not the best at any one thing... Other than Livescope ! But you have to look at the price vs value too. For what you get in a 9" screen, that is pretty impressive.
It's all about personal preference. What style of fishing you do and what fits in the budget so mama won't kick you out of the house. : )

Garmin will have some new 8600 models coming soon that will offer some great features and will compete in price with the HDS Live and Humminbird Solix lineup. The will also have a Gen3 mapping coming soon that will combine Garmin's maps with Navionics so coverage should be improved. I think there is also a new echomap series coming but I don't have any details on that.

By the way, the Humminbird Helix 10 and Helix 12 MEGA + SI and DI G3N units have arrived in case anyone has been waiting for one.

It's hard to go wrong with any of the brands out there now. All make an excellent product.

Brian

Thread: Humminbird Chirp Mega vs. Garmin Echomap Chirp ?

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