Decisions...Decisions....

[usmcpaul]

O.k. guys, here's the deal. I am sort of a noob. I used to fish a lot for walleyes many years ago and recently I have gotten back into fishing and want to try Salmon (and some eye's occasionally)

Anyway, the boat I bought came with a Lowrance X70-a that works although the pixels are a little messed up, and it has a non-working GPS.

My preference would be to get a separate GPS and new fish finder, but I am not exactly rich, so I am stuck on what to get. I am open to any and all ideas, even if it is a combo. I suppose I don't absolutely need a new sonar, it is serviceable, but..well you know...

Keeping it to around $800 would be great and the most important thing to me is screen size. Color screen, and other features are not very important to me at this point.

I am open to any Manufacturer except Lowrance. I have nothing against them, I actually like my X70-a, but I have seen way, way to many bad reviews.

Most of the other sites concentrate on either Lowrance or Hummingbird, but I see a lot of you guys are using other brands that I am not very familiar with.

I have even considered getting an "automotive GPS" because they are cheap and my boat is a hard top. I dunno

Any links on where I can get the best price for your recommendations would be great. I have found a place called www.thenerds.net that has some pretty good prices if anyone is interested.

[fishsniffer]

try bethel marine...i bought a raymarine fishfinder from them and they are great to deal with...i have a garmin gpsmap and it works great and so far the customer support has been great

[Hotdog71]

Hey Paul,

I use a Garmin 160 fishfinder and a Magellan handheld GPS on my boat. I really like the handheld because I fish in several different states and drive to all of them. Works well with a ram mount to secure it to the boat dash. The fishfinder is ok but it's difinitely on the cheap side. The cost of both is well under $800. The screens might be too small for you, but they have other models that may interest you.

Bob

[usmcpaul]

Has anyone heard of, or actually used an automotive gps in their boat?

Bob, I have a hand held, but I hate the screen size.

[GLF]

You will want to get a GPS that you can add a lake master chip to. This way you can see the depth contours also.

[1mainiac]

Automotive GPS would tell you what your coordinates are and remind you every couple of min that you need to make a U turn and retunr to the road LOL. I bought a Gamin Marine handheld years ago for my old boat it works great gives me speed location and direction traveled very accurate unit it also has all the harbors and lights marked on it in the basic map program it came with so it will get you back to port in the fog and steer you right up the channel. It was about 150 bucks when I bought it. Lots of choices in GPS fishfinders as well.

[2UNREEL]

Buying an automobile Gps for a boat is like wearing a bike helmet riding a motorcycle. Yes it will work but when you need it the most it may fail. If you get stuck in a massive rain storm or heavy fog and you need to drive by instrument you need to know that it wont fail.... I would not cheep out on this purchase.

[usmcpaul]

You will want to get a GPS that you can add a lake master chip to. This way you can see the depth contours also.

I have heard that any Garmin unit that uses SD cards will work. I dunno. If you know different please tell me.

Automotive GPS would tell you what your coordinates are and remind you every couple of min that you need to make a U turn and return to the road LOL.

That would at least give my wife a break from telling me the same thing....LOL... If it would tell me to stop and ask for directions, and have to pee, she might get jealous.

Buying an automobile Gps for a boat is like wearing a bike helmet riding a motorcycle. Yes it will work but when you need it the most it may fail. If you get stuck in a massive rain storm or heavy fog and you need to drive by instrument you need to know that it wont fail.... I would not cheep out on this purchase.

Nice analogy man...I can definitely relate to it. 'Redundancy' is my middle name. I have a hand-held unit and a good compass just in case, however I do see your point. I actually want one of those high dollar units, and it is not totally out of the question. As a matter of fact...

Today, I was eyeballing a Raymarine 120c, but I would have to save every nickel to afford that, again...I dunno. To make matters worse, I have been thinking of keeping my Lowrance, getting an "automotive gps", and getting a speed-temp sensor for my cannonballs.