Sonar/GPS combo units

[Ranger375]

With Moose's post recently about creating your own maps and the website he noted
http://www.outdoorcontours.com/
has caused me to start looking at combo units. Anybody on the board use one and if so what are your likes/dislikes about the unit you have.

I've looked at the catalogs and on ebay and the more I look the more confused I get about all the bells and whistles. Being retired and on a pretty much fixed income not wanting to sell the farm yet want to do it right first time hopefully with out hocking the wife...LOL

[skiptomylu]

I use the LMS 480 and Like it a lot. I do use Navtronics MMC map and it shows me everything I need. I don't even have the premium MMC, but every creek every bend is there.
Contour lines are also there, but some lakes the premium has so much more detail like boat lanes etc. and 1' contour lines. it is almost too much stuff so I will keep my non premium MMC.
Plus there are only 4 MMC cards/chips to cover the USA. It is divided into 4 regions and most lakes are on them. So it's not like old days where you get a piece of a state. My region is from about New Mexico to Florida and up some more. See link for regions.

http://www.navionics.com/HotMapsPremium.asp?Premium=1

[J White]

Can you go anywhere and see if your favorite lakes are on the add-on
cards? I have been a little skeptical of combo units, had some trouble
early on with my Lowrance GPS, had to send it back a couple of times,
had to finally get pretty ugly with them. They kept sending my old unit
back, and it would work one or two trips and crap out again - after I
told them I was going to start giving them bad PR at every occasion, they
finally sent me a new one, and it has been trouble-free so far. But things
are getting more reliable it seems, so that may no longer be a concern -
but I would have hated to be without sonar while they were working on my
GPS. Ideally, two combo units would be my solution, but $$$ - maybe when
I win a lottery or something.

[jfraley]

I have the original transom mounted depth finder on my 1994 tracker and I am thinking about getting a gps unit/depthfinder combo. The problem I see is that I would need the new fancy device at the console while running the big motor and I would also like to have the same display mounted on the bow for spidder rigging ... Can I get a dual display without paying double the $$$$. I know that if I want the second display to have all the option of the first then I will have to shell out double the money. I just want to display. I guess it would be like running a video out cable from the fancy unit to the video in port on the display. Is this possible?

I really like the idea of have the gps integrated into the depth finder. I also have the need of the depth finder mounted on the trolling motor.

I guess I could always mount the unit so that I could rotated it and see it from the front of the boat. That is what I currently do.

I am not looking to make my own maps. I just need a good way to mark spots and return to them. I have a cheap hand help gps until, but I can't enter coordinates and it is not that accurate. Any recommendations would help.

[Big Crappie]

My reason is the same as someone else had already stated, but my friend prefers his combo. I just didn't like the idea of having to give up both of them because I had problems with one.

I started and still use a Low. globalmap 100 that I can swap files between it and my Low. 3000MT. The older one did all I needed except it only held 750 wpts. I had to breakdown my home lake into 7 different files which created the problem of my having to know BEFORE I left the house as to what area of the lake I was going to fish. This wasn't easy, especially when their was windy or muddy condition's that could dictate my decision as to where to fish after arriving at the lake. So, if I guessed wrong before I left, then I would have the wrong file loaded and be without any wpts. for the area I was fishing for the day.

So the answer to my problem came when I purchsed this new DISCONTINUED unit at a resonable price that holds two MMC cards. One is a Navonics and the other is a 128 MB card that holds all 18 wpt. files that I presently have. I can build maps on it from the mapcreate program that it came with and with the ones that I have built, I'm still only using about 30 MB's of memory.

I can make my ledger maps from the mapcreate program or my personal preference is to export them into another program that I have. Microsoft Streets & Trips and then I can zoom down further allowing me to separate my wpts. better, should I have some that are very close together.

But reality is a personal choice of what works for you.

[Wardy]

Ranger... I'll show ya mine when you come down.. LMS 480. I got the high dollar MMC. The 332 may serve you just as well. I got the 480 for the power. I have it mounted on the bow. I generallly know where I am at so I just use it to locate the "off shore" stuff.


Wardy

[Ranger375]

wardy
Now I'm really anxious to get with you. Look forward to it. Now I have somebody nearby that can run me thru the functions.

Look forward to getting together. Just let me know when. I'll make certain to be able to get together.

Thanks

[jfraley]

I would like to hear some more opinions on the different GPS/depth finders that folks use. I guess I'm like ranger in that I want to do it right the first time. The more comments the better!

Thanks

[TAE73]

I love my 332, having the color is awsome. It really helps with the gps and having the maps. It show the water as one color and the bank as another. And you can also set a saftey factor of 5 yards, 10 yards and so forth which is a different color also. Check out this place on some good buys, they arent as good as ebay prices. But I dont trust ebay when it comes to highend dollar stuff.


http://www.jollyannsales.com/

[jfraley]

Did you get the Dual Frequency unit? Why/why not?