GPS Evaluation

[The Fran Sea]

Currently have a Garmin 188C and am thinking of getting rid of it and getting a Lowrance.......... reasons:

1. Garmin is to costly and difficult (adding Blue Chart Regions) Last year when adding the Chesapeake Region I ended up losing the Florida Region and had to rebuy an updated version of that...... not to mention the fact that the entire process resulted in crashing my computer.

2. Lowrance gives you the entire USA and Inland lakes on one card for $100 which can be updated each year by buying a new card. They also have unit with a 20meg hard drive with all charts loaded, but it still alows addition of their's & 3rd party cards.

3. Garmin 192 & 198 now has the entire USA and Inland Lakes, but doesn't look like you can update it via a single $100 card.

4. Lowrance takes 3rd party cards, Garmin is strictly proprietiary.

My Garmin 188C has been performing very good for several years, it's just that when out of the Blue Chart area the base map is not very good and it's to costly to keep buying Blue Chart Cards for the entire USA which will probably get lost when I need them... I know, I could load them on a single memory card, but my experience in doing so was not good, also if you don't buy them all at once, when loading the newest, you end up losing the oldest and have to rebuy them (they give you a small discount).

SO WHAT I REALLY NEED TO KNOW, is who has the Lowrance and how is the quality and would you buy it again. Also does the one with a 20meg Hard Drive hold up?

Roger & Fran

[Chris Bulovsky]

I have the Lowrance LMS-332c. I do like it and would buy an other. Lowrance customer service from what I hear is good. I have not needed it yet. I'm not to informed about the technical stuff so I will not pretend to be. Its a solid unit that combinds a chart plotter with fish finder or flasher. It can be customized to the users liking. Easy to use. The color display also just looks cool as well. Its size was also a factor. I didn't want a crowded helm. Yep if you have 600 bucks to spend I'd recommend it. Plus 100 for your chip. I'll post a photo in my album to show you it.

Chris Bulovsky
Washburn Wi

[Sneaks]

I have the Lowrance LCX-104C with both the MapCreate software and the Navionics Gold SD card for the west coast. The newer Lowrance uses the MapCreate engine.

Overall? I much prefer the Navionics charts over the Lowrance charts. Both in look/feel and in bottom details. The fishfinder portion is excellent and the idea of taking the trip home, plugging the SD card into my laptop and reviewing the trip for holes I may have missed is great. Click on a hole and you get lat/lon. It has given me excellent service and is both easy to use and pretty user friendly. I really love the BIG screen as well! (Same size as the LCX-110)

Would I buy Lowrance again? No. Especially not new! Fortunately I got mine from a friend who was upgrading, and he offered a price I just couldn't refuse. After paying for the Jenny B, my electronic budget was pretty meager so everything but the VHF was bought either on Ebay or through friends. Lowrance service is very spotty, they, like Garmin, are very proprietary oriented, and eventually I want radar overlay capability. At the prices I paid for the package we have now, upgrading to an integrated package isn't as big a deal as it was then. It's not a matter of if we upgrade, it's when. As in when Raymarine and Furuno change models I'll go for the usually deep discount old one for two reasons: 1) price and 2) reliability. Ask a Raymarine owner and he tell you about all the upgraded software "fixes" issued. I ain't in it for "Bragging rights", I want rock solid reliability.

For me, it will be Furuno or Ray Marine. Garmin has the edge in charts with their "Blue Charts" but when I checked out the cost of a Garmin integrated system with radar, I found the cost differential was so wide, their charts would have to be SIGNIFICANTLY better than Navionics, and they are not.

So if you're really interested in experimenting, make me an offer I can't refuse. Furuno 1622 radar, Lowrance LCX-104C fishfinder/chart plotter, two transducers and a temp probe, and full Map Create package including card reader, but not the Navionics chip....

Don

One note: I use the 200khz transducer exclusively when fishing inshore, bay, or out to about 250 ft. depth. The WIDE angle covers a much bigger area than the one in the 50/200khz combo transducer, so you don't miss fish off to the side.

Added on edit, MapCreate has left and right coast, in between, lakes, highways, plus restaurants, fuel stops, and the all important Ford/Dodge service centers.

[The Fran Sea]

OK, I know most of you "Brats" have a GPS, but I've only gotten 2 responses so far and appreciate them. I'm pretty well set on a Lowrence 6600C, but not sure if I should get the one with a Hard Drive or not. Saturday coming home, the bay was quite calm, but had 20MPH, the little waves set up quite a vibration and am wondering WILL THE HARD DRIVE HOLD UP TO THIS????

[416rigby]

We have the Garmin 188C as well...and love it. We don't change charts and stuff like that, so I can't comment on that process. I'll simply say that for simplicity of use, quality of the display, everything...I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

Rick

[Adeline]

[tpbrady]

I have a Lowrance LCX-20c and don't think I will buy it again. The main issue is lack of Alaska map support in Map Create 6. In addition, the Garmin interface is far more intuitive. For my money now, I would take the rather extreme approach of:

a. Buying a used Panasonic Toughbook (approx $400 on Ebay)
b. Installing the Coastal Navigator Software from Rosepoint. $399
c. Stop worrying about charts. $0
d. Get a GPS with a USB or serial interface. My Garmin GPS V and old Garmin GPS 45 with NMEA interface which is serial work just fine with my notebook and Nat Geo Topo Map program or Microsoft Streets and Trips. $90 - $200
e. Use a separate sounder/fish finder with NMEA interface to feed depth data to the notebook. $200
f. At the end of the day, you can watch a DVD or jump onto the internet if an access point is available.

I have found a way to build a route in my National Geographic Topo map program and import the waypoints into the Lowrance via the SD memory card. That would take a couple of beers to explain since formats were all over the map.

[Chris Bulovsky]

Fran Sea- Consider calling Lowrance with your question. Also I visited the Lowrance web site. Try comparing the 6600c to 332c. Consider the fishfinder/depth finder GPS units. Its very useful when underway in unknown water.
As for durability goes I use a Lowrance GPS chart plotter on our Ice Rescue craft at work and that thing pounds hard!!!! The unit always works despite the pounding. I was impressed with the unit and picked a Lowrance brand for my boat as a result. Plus it was very easy to use.



Christopher Bulovsky

[gljjr]

At last years Sportsmans show I talked with the Lowrance rep extensively about the "hard drive" in their systems. What he told me is that they aren't actually hard drives at all. They are some sort of flash memory. So they can not be written to by the user. I would say that they will definitely hold up to the riggors of rough water if that is truly the case.

I've been on several boats with Lowrance fish finders over the last few years. While they are about the same as a Humminbird in quality for the most part they are not near the quality of what the C80 can do.

To start with on my boat I will be using my Humminbird Legend 2000 Finder and my laptop running Coastal Explorer for GPS. Moving forward I may end up getting a touch screen monitor for the laptop and looking into getting the sounder on the computer as well.

Hey, I'm a hacker so this stuff will be just more fun to play with!

[The Fran Sea]

Thanks for all the input
I've pretty well decided on the Lowrence "LCX-26C Hard Drive Recording Sonal/GPS". Boater's World in store price is $1,449.99 plus tax and Broken Leg Dave's internet price is $1,234, no tax, no shipping. Done business before with Dave so you know the answer

[Adeline]

Good luck on your selection. BTW, you might consider adding their fuel-flow sensor. It will display consumption in gph and mpg in either digital or analog, along with stuff such as fuel remaining and range(time or distance).

[Chris Bulovsky]

Looks like a super unit . I think you will be very happy with it. When you mount our transducer. Adjust it just a little lower than the directions say to. That way you can get a reasonable depth reading when on plane. Just a little trick that a walleye guy showed me.


Christopher Bulovsky