Garmin 93sv Review

**KAG** · 03-24-2015, 08:51 PM

My opinion purely. I have a HB 998HD on the console.

Ok so far including 2 long days Saturday and Sunday spent on the water running the 93sv. I am still messing with the adjustments some looking for the sweet spot. I have a HB 998 HD on the console. The Garmin screen just appears Huge compared to the HB. The Garmin is sharp and clear. The 2d and Downvu is hands down better. The Garmin sidevu on mine is Not better than the HB 998 for scanning fish. Side structure scanning the 93sv is better but for pure fish scanning looking for and finding fish the HB side scan is better. No question what so ever presently in my opinion. I have not found where I can really fine tune the sensitivity and other options to really make the fish jump out like they do on the HB.

The other thing I have noted. The 2d and downvu on the garmin seems to lock in on the tops parts of a school of fish. Example: 25fow.....bait fish and school of whites stretched from 8ft to 18ft deep with the bottom being 25ft deep. The HB reads the bottom all the time and the Garmin keeps locking in on the top and middle part of the school reading 8ft deep as bottom depth. The image is great but this seriously suxs not being able to read and display all the way the bottom. The 2d on single or small schools is no issue but on the larger ones is where I saw this. I know the lake so I knew this was wrong and checked the HB on the console and it read fine. Seems like a software issue. The other issue I am noting is only having 1 card slot is a major drawback when on is filled with the map card. In this price range there should be 2 slots. The Garmin Ultra Lake mapping chip is the best I have ever seen.

I know I as one of the new owners of a brand new product I am sort of a beta tester but.......this is what I am noting. I fish 30fow or less 90% of the time. The more I run it the more I am starting to be convinced that it does basics better than anyone else out there but for detail work it lacks the ability to fine tune.

Auto mode does not pick out fish very well for me.I tried to take some screen shots but ran into a problem with the unit not recognizing my 8gb sandisk card. Sandisk Card works fine in home computer. I bought a PNY card for it as that is the same card the Ultra Lake Map is on. I will try the new PNY card this weekend for screen shots. I slipped the Ultra Map back in and read it fine.

The other thing noted is scrolling speed . You have better adjustment with the HB as there are 10 settings and 4 with the garmin. The HB side scans better at very slow speeds and the garmin seems to do best above 0.8mph. If you are just barely crawling along the HB I think does better.

I will be fishing Sunday and will really scrub the user manual to do mostly just scanning to mess with the unit to see what I can do.

So up to now in my opinion.

2D: Garmin
Downvu: Garmin
Sidevu Fish: Humminbird
Sidevu Structure: Garmin
Screen: Garmin
Detail settings; Humminbird
Mapping: Garmin
Ease of use: Garmin
GPS: Garmin
Card Slots: Humminbird
Bottom Lock: Humminbird
Beam Select: Humminbird 455/800 (garmin only has 455)
Networking: Humminbird
Price: Garmin
Warranty: Humminbird (2yrs)
Product Support: Humminbird simply because Garmin tech support does not know much about the 93sv

**vic n** · 03-25-2015, 04:39 PM

KAG-thanks for doing the beta test for us!! I feel better now about ordering new H'birds. I can wait a year or two for Garmin to improve the things you mentioned, (or for H'bird to improve theirs!). I attended an H'bird seminar this weekend and the topic went to CHIRP. The rep said that true "CHIRP" transducers are, at minimum, the size of a football and the better ones are twice that big. He said that what mfg's are calling CHIRP is only a very small % of the freq's that true CHIRP covers. But he also said that since one mfg is saying they have CHIRP, this means H'bird (and others), will have to put the same technology in some of their new models in order to keep up.

**KAG** · 03-26-2015, 03:33 PM

New software update is out so i will load that up and see

**brettw** · 03-26-2015, 07:42 PM

Great report

**Alphahawk** · 03-26-2015, 07:52 PM

Originally Posted by vic n

KAG-thanks for doing the beta test for us!! I feel better now about ordering new H'birds. I can wait a year or two for Garmin to improve the things you mentioned, (or for H'bird to improve theirs!). I attended an H'bird seminar this weekend and the topic went to CHIRP. The rep said that true "CHIRP" transducers are, at minimum, the size of a football and the better ones are twice that big. He said that what mfg's are calling CHIRP is only a very small % of the freq's that true CHIRP covers. But he also said that since one mfg is saying they have CHIRP, this means H'bird (and others), will have to put the same technology in some of their new models in order to keep up.

Been telling folks that have a so called "CHIRP" sonar that cost maybe 700 bucks that it was not true CHIRP. The same as you say....true CHIRP costs a lot of money. I spent 31 years in the radar and missile field which is where CHIRP was first used. Most of those so called CHIRP units are nothing more than software enhancements of 2D sonar. Not bashing any brand of sonar but true CHIRP....no matter the brand, cost big money.

Regards

**BobB** · 03-26-2015, 09:42 PM

Thanks for the detailed report ...... Keep it up

**ILMarbleye** · 03-26-2015, 10:51 PM

I have one of these on the way. I will be retiring my LCX 27c. I have wanted a DI Si unit for a past few years. Reading your reviews convinced me to try a Garmin. I am pretty excited.

**MonteSS** · 03-27-2015, 12:38 AM

Thanks for the non biased report.

Might not be true CHIRP but certainly better than standard sonar even in shallow water.

**KAG** · 03-27-2015, 04:02 PM

I will load the new software tonight and fish it tomorrow afternoon. The Garmin has already done one thing to affect the industry.....made others be more competitive in their pricing

**KAG** · 03-27-2015, 05:37 PM

Update completed. From version 2.30 to 2.40. I had 2, 8gb sandisk cards (brand new) these will NOT work in the Garmin unit. I had a brand new PNY 8gb card that I tried and it loaded and updated without any problem. Do not use Sandisk Micro sd cards in these units.....or they refuse to work in my Garmin. I did test them and they worked fine in home PC, in cell phone, and my G Pad.

I saw nothing different in the menu options afterward. To update you turn the unit on first and then after it completely boots up you insert the card and the unit takes over......follow the prompts.

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