Right now I have a fishfinder/depth finder on my boat (garmin fishfinder 240). and i’m interested in getting a gps for my boat to follow the weedlines and stuff. I’ve been looking at some lowrances and they seem like what i want i think. most of the pics show the gps of like the ocean. so i’m wondering if the will show all the lakes like in MN… also should i get a GPS unit solo or should i get one that has the split screen gps/depthfinder/fishfinder?
please help me on what gps i should get and why!!!!
Garmin puts out bouecharts that have designated areas – There is a minnesota bluechart for lakes and such, so i would get that. I personally think that having the all in one is great… less clutter on the boat. Make sure you get the correct mount for the transducer, you can either get a thru hull or stern mounted (stern mounted is better for smaller boats, because it is generally harder to access the bottom of the hull.
If it was my rig, I would leave the Garmin 240 there and use it only as a depth finder.
Then get a strictly GPS unit and mount it off to the side of the console or where ever it would be convenient.
Lowrance makes a unit that has an internal GPS antenna BUT can not be mounted flush or the antenna does not work properly.
Eagle is owned by Lowrance, only difference between the units is the screen size or pixel count.
You can buy Maps for regions, check to see which company and region you would need. Make sure to get a map card what will WORK WITH THE UNIT YOU BUY.
http://www.lakemap.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=30
http://www8.garmin.com/cartography/ontheWater/
http://www.lowrance.com/en/Products/Mapping/
Garmin, Lowrance, Eagle all make good units. If you are wanting a GPS only unit my suggestion is to get one from one of those companies.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/index/index-display.jsp?id=cat602018&navAction=jump&navCount=1&cmCat=MainCatcat21276&parentType=category&parentId=cat21276
Ram Mounts http://www.ram-mount.com/ makes about any kind of mount you might need or want.
Cabelas carries these as well.
Good Luck and do some research before you buy.