I have both a garmin and a lowrance, I think the garmins are a step above the lowrances. My garmin never loses signal, the lowrance seems to lose more often. I have the garmin legend and the lowrance 332c. I love the lowrance for being color and such a larger screen. If I had to buy just one I would buy a large color garmin. Make sure you spend the extra money for the lake maps if you truely want the total experince. The lake maps show humps, ditches and channels well. I know the lowrance website has some good information on them.