# flash sale garmin



## camp (Jul 31, 2011)

west marine has a 2 day flash sale on garmin echmap 74sv ($649) and the ecomap 54cv ($299) they supposedly retail for $899 and $549. Any thoughts on these plotters. I'm more in the $299 range but if you have experience with either I would like to hear. Thanks


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

I keep looking at all the gamin sales, but the guys here and on other forums tend to stay away from them do to the mapping.


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## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

firecat1981 said:


> I keep looking at all the gamin sales, but the guys here and on other forums tend to stay away from them do to the mapping.


Any chartplotter can only be as useful as what you see on the screen. If what you see provides virtually no useful information as to exactly where to go, where not to go and how to get from point A to B it doesn't matter if it was a bargain compared to typical prices because the machine provides poor utility at best. Even if it was free you wouldn't likely want it on your skiff. Garmin is the worst possible choice for anyone running in a skiff around FL. They provide the worst mapping in the market and you get no alternative choices. Any other machine would be better due to that.


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## Cam (Apr 5, 2017)

Garmin's have a nice UI and are great at helping people navigate. Their maps are horrid for fishing though. They did buy Navionics which at some point should improve their overlays. If you just want something light to help you tool around and see the bottom, they are fine units.

Until then FMT and Simrad/Lowrance for the fishing/shallow water navigating win.


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## bonehead (Dec 9, 2016)

Yeah I just got a Garmin... not too impressed with the mapping as well. That's why it's always good to really learn the water if you're lucky enough.


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## camp (Jul 31, 2011)

Cam said:


> Garmin's have a nice UI and are great at helping people navigate. Their maps are horrid for fishing though. They did buy Navionics which at some point should improve their overlays. If you just want something light to help you tool around and see the bottom, they are fine units.
> 
> Until then FMT and Simrad/Lowrance for the fishing/shallow water navigating win.


Wow! thanks for the input guys. I have been told by several marine guys that garmin was the easiest and the most reliable. I'm not a tech person so I was interested by price only. I will hold off and try to better educate myself. I am in the Pine island area and confidence in where I am going is big.


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## camp (Jul 31, 2011)

bonehead said:


> Yeah I just got a Garmin... not too impressed with the mapping as well. That's why it's always good to really learn the water if you're lucky enough.


thanks. Ive been lucky enough to learn where not to go more than a few times.


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## Zika (Aug 6, 2015)

Garmin are like Macs and Lowrance is like a PC, as far as operation goes. I have not used the new Simrads. A little experience with Humminbird and Raymarine. I would still go with Garmin.

The Garmin maps are decent depending on the location. Do they accurately depict marsh and extreme backcountry? No. But for large areas like Pine Island Sound, they would work fine. As mentioned previously, now that Garmin owns Navionics, expect some big changes in the future. Garmin technical support and customer service is excellent, too, based on my experience.


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## Cam (Apr 5, 2017)

camp said:


> I am in the Pine island area and confidence in where I am going is big.


I am in the same area and FMT (which is pricey) really expands the fishing. Looking at satellite overlays can find some of those very hidden bars, flats, etc. We had Navionics on the last boat which is decent (miles ahead of Garmin for shallow fishing/running) and FMT blows it out of the water.

Here is the current video. I jumped to the Cape Coral/Matlacha/Pine Island portion. About 2 min from where I started the video he switches to Navionics.

Florida Marine Tracks - Pine Island Area

Florida Marine Tracks









Same overlay in Navionics









We use a GO7 XSE and it is significantly better than our NSS with Navionics. Cheaper to boot.


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## camp (Jul 31, 2011)

Cam said:


> I am in the same area and FMT (which is pricey) really expands the fishing. Looking at satellite overlays can find some of those very hidden bars, flats, etc. We had Navionics on the last boat which is decent (miles ahead of Garmin for shallow fishing/running) and FMT blows it out of the water.
> 
> Here is the current video. I jumped to the Cape Coral/Matlacha/Pine Island portion. About 2 min from where I started the video he switches to Navionics.
> 
> ...


I watched that video yesterday after reading some older posts here. I think I am going to suffer along with my tiny old garmin and save up for something bigger with the FMT. So many areas I've never been to close to home because it is just too spooky.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

Think that's a wise choice.


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## Surferguy (Jun 18, 2017)

How about Lowrance Hook 7 for a budget basic unit for a skiff? (on sale at West for $330)


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## jmrodandgun (Sep 20, 2013)

Surferguy said:


> How about Lowrance Hook 7 for a budget basic unit for a skiff? (on sale at West for $330)


You may want to double check that the map rewrite speed on these units is not too slow with the large 3rd party mapping cards. My elite 7 could barely keep up and I ended up going to an HDS. I wish Lawrence would build a unit with HDS hardware but with GPS only.


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## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

camp said:


> I watched that video yesterday after reading some older posts here. I think I am going to suffer along with my tiny old garmin and save up for something bigger with the FMT. So many areas I've never been to close to home because it is just too spooky.


I just got some new units in and I have a couple I rarely use any more. I can make you a great deal on a 12" NSS EVO2 and got new and used for a while if you are interested.


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## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

Surferguy said:


> How about Lowrance Hook 7 for a budget basic unit for a skiff? (on sale at West for $330)


Hook is like running an SUV on a lawnmower engine with no tires. Basically a kids toy with little capability. If you just want to know your GPS coordinates and mark a waypoint its fine for that but that is about it.


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## firecat1981 (Nov 27, 2007)

Surferguy said:


> How about Lowrance Hook 7 for a budget basic unit for a skiff? (on sale at West for $330)


From what I have been told the Hook is basically a rebadged elite series. And neither run well with upgraded maps.


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## Surferguy (Jun 18, 2017)

firecat1981 said:


> From what I have been told the Hook is basically a rebadged elite series. And neither run well with upgraded maps.


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## Surferguy (Jun 18, 2017)

So, what's a decent "budget" 7" sounder/chartplotter? (to install on an aluminum skiff, used nearshore and rivers, fresh & salt, central florida) need make, model, price and seller please. Thanks


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## Cam (Apr 5, 2017)

Surferguy said:


> So, what's a decent "budget" 7" sounder/chartplotter? (to install on an aluminum skiff, used nearshore and rivers, fresh & salt, central florida) need make, model, price and seller please. Thanks


Depends on your needs and budget.

Best value fishing rig IMO is a Simrad GO7 XSE with Totalscan Transducer and FMT. The MFD and transducer is $649 from several stores including West Marine, WalMart, Amazon, etc. FMT can be purchased from floridamarinetracks.com for $399 depending on exactly where you fish.

Same setup with Navionics charts instead of FMT is decent for fishing and you can find the charts for around $170 on Amazon.

If you don't want to buy additional charts, I would look at Garmin. The best deal I know of right now is on THT from semperfifishing which is a Garmin 840xs at $425. He can also help you find the right transducer for your setup as he is as close to an expert as there is on the subject.

https://www.thehulltruth.com/semper...846014-close-out-sale-garmin-840xs-425-a.html


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## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

Just get an Elite 7 Ti and call it a day. The Simrad Go7 could also work well but I dont prefer touch screen only units. The go 7 is about $500 and the elite ti is $650 w/o transducer. If you want to spend only $300 for something new you will basically get nothing useful and likely would regret it as a waste. Buy a used machine for $300 that is more capable or spend more and get one of the above. Avoid any garmin units due the poor maps with zero options. You get what you pay for in electronics like anything else. If its cheap, its cheap for good reason.


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## Surferguy (Jun 18, 2017)

So, who is a good vendor for the Elite 7 Ti, and what basic transom mount transducer is appropriate for my use?


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## Egrets Landing (Feb 11, 2016)

FMT sells them new from $649 with no transducer to $829 with Total Scan. They package the unit in four configuations so you can get it with different types of transducers. There is one at $699 and another at $799. Each is a different sku. You can get an elite 9ti with a basic transducer for $899 or $1029 with total scan. If you buy charts with it shipping is free.


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