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I have a 75 montauk, looking for a plotter/finder combo. The garmin gpsmap 421s appears to be ideal as far as I've been able to come up with that is within my $450 budget.

Anyone have any other suggestions for what is best for my setup? Should I go for the dual transducer vs the single? I'm kindof a garmin guy I guess, but I'm more than open to other routs that may provide more for the same price as your not paying for the name / operator friendliness. I'm electronically inclined so to speak so I'm not worried about learning how the program works so long as the program does more than the piece of cake garmin software...

Thanks in advance :)

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Check out the thread I started in the General Discussion area. It is titled "GPS/chartplotter."

I just purchased the Garmin 440s and the additional chip, "Inland Lakes and Rivers Southcentral." I was told that boat lanes would be in this software. So far, I have not been able to pull them up. A good deal of the other members have talked about the Navionnics software and Hummingbird units. I am beginning to regret my purchase. Check out the thread--a lot of helpful information. Good luck.

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I'm not sure what you mean by "dual transducer"? maybe Dual Frequency 50/200 kHz?

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if you like the garmin unit you can get the 540 with transducer for 550.00 bucks on line. That would have the coastal maps preloaded. I have been looking at it while building my project. I am sure you can find the 530 out there for the same money if you need the inland lakes.
I think Garmin has coastal charts as good as anyone but I would be cautious if needing the lakes. I am dissapointed that nvaccaro bought a unit that did not fit his needs. I Have never used charts on a lake but it is quite apparent that the garmin blue chart is not as equippet as others. By the way if they told you that at the store take it back while you can.
I think most all of the combos come with dual transducers. Especially the ones geared toward salt water. I think that is due to the vast range of depth salt water boats see. the lower frequency is supposed to give you better picture in close while the higher frequency is supposed to do better as you go to deeper water.
Now to make the decision more difficult I thought the garmin was the one for me then I happened to be in bass pro last night Christmas shopping for the boys and looked at the lowrance. Those are very nice units it seems to have the largest screen in the 5 inch class and use the navionnics charts.

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I have the hummingbird unit and very pleased with it! Easy to use and good screen size.

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See if you can find a Garmin 498C. Its a great little unit. I picked up a new one last year for $350

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I would check the price and "what is in the box". I have a retail store and shopped this for you. At $450 the only units I found do not include the transducer. When you add the saltwater or freshwater transducer it jumps the price into the $500+ range. I am not talking about suggested retail on this either.

My distributor does not even stock the 421s or I could buy it for you at a bargain. They have a 430s on closeout which is a nice unit in the $450 range - but only one left in the warehouse. The next one up I can order is a 441s which is into the $500+ range at cost.

Lowrance has also gone super pricey. The new HDS units start at $600 my cost with no transducer. WOW! These are not something I stock in the store but can order. Just make sure you get everything you need when shopping for deals.

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Short of ebay I've found BOE has the best prices around

http://www.boemarine.com/Products/010-00766-01/Default.aspx
http://www.boemarine.com/Products/140-23/Default.aspx

http://www.boemarine.com

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yes the 540 units are online with transducers, for about $550 to $560 . I see west marine does not offer the 540 any longer I was guessing that they are being phased out. I think the 546 is replaceing the 540's.
Great offer by Rob to buy under msrp. I will be sending a e mail to him shortly myself.

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if you get to looking at online stores make sure that any garmin model you check out has a S behind the model number that is for sounder. the ones with out the s are only chart plotter gps units. I am not trying to sell you on Garmin I think I like the new hds lowrance units but this is one of the sites that a google search will turn up. http://www.anchorexpress.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=010-00615-01

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Bake, Rob is a straight up kind of guy. I met him in person last May and he won't do you wrong at all.

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FYI for anyone considering a Lowrance unit... there have been multiple reports on various forums of some Lowrance HDS units having trouble with moisture intrusion also confirmed to me by a couple of local retailers. Also a lot of grumbling about poor manufacturer support.

I don't know if those issues have been resolved. I've been keeping an eye on the Lowrance HDS line for my needs but have shied away for now.

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X2
I was all ready back in the spring to buy and install a new HDS8. From reading some of the threads on the web it sounds like their are many units being sent back after working for a few weeks. I know 1st had their customer supports sucks!!! I carry a hand held for backup and had some issues with it. 90 minutes on hold, 7 weeks to get a replacement.

For now I'll stick with my trusty Garmin 498C.

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Humminbird - just figured out no NMEA 2000 compatability... disappointing because I like their features and bright display.

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I guess it depends on where you'll be boating. Have a look at the Lowrance wesite. Coming out next year is the Elite & Mark Series. From what I can see, these units have nice displays and features but lack network & radar capabilities. Target market is value oriented. I own a Lowrance 522 iGPS but don't need the network and radar capabilities designed into the unit. I believe the HDS series are also made with these features so added cost & higher MSRP.

I'd wade very carefully into Garmin if freshwater is where you'll be. You really want to be able to use the Navionics data cards. I don't think Navionics cards can be used in a Garmin unit. I doubt anyone will dispute Navionics is the way to go for freshwater. Don't have any experience with saltwater myself.

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Wow thankyou everyone! I will be using it in saltwater 99.9% of the time. I want to look at the 5 series units vs the 4 series, and maybe eplore some hummingbird options. Trying to decide whether to go with the more expensive with less "options" and then add on to it later, or aim to get the combo in one shot. Any Ideas about the downside of a 421s vs the 441s? The info Ive been able to pull up on them sai alot of the same. Thank you Rob for the generous offer and wisdom. I won't be purchasing until after xmas, but will be in touch when i'm deciing where to buy from.

-Sean

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Sean, the difference in the Garmin 421, 431, and 441 series is just the built in charts. The x2x (421, 521, etc.) has no built in charts, the x3x series has the Garmin Inland Lakes charts built in, and the x4x series has the coastal maps built in.

See: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?c...do?cID=148

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Just keep in mind how small a 4 inch screen is

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Ok yea. I see the dif w/in each series. So it seems I might as well go for the 41s regardless of if its the 441s or the 541s. decisions decisions...... Thanks again. :)

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I don't know how much room you have on your console but I would get the largest unit you can fit...........to a point. My next unit will either be 7 or 8 inch.

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I have plenty of room really. No radar, radio mounts on the console hatch, and I'll eventually be installing a cd player/radio, but that will be mounted flush anyway. It really comes down to the cost of the unit itself. I'm actually not going to be buying one for at least a few more months now as I had a little mishap financially (thought I was getting money towards the gps but getting a gift instead). So for now everything is on hold. I think if I can keep my impulsivity at bay, I'll hold out for a while and save up for a 5 series, or another brand's comprable unit, depending on what I learn over the course of the next 3-5 months.

Thanks again everyone for sharing your knowledge, experience, and Rob for the wholesale rout. As always, idk what I would do without this site. I know for one I wouldn't have had a running motor from july on of this year. Instead I got in somewhere around 50+ hours from early sept-dec 1st. For that alone I am extremely greatfull!

-Sean

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SToomey006
you didn't answer my question?/ I'm not sure what you mean by "dual transducer"?

post#3

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oh im sorry man. its a dual frequency transducer, in order for more accuracy in variable depths. wide beam for shallow. narrow for deep if im not mistaken.
-sean

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We installed the Lowrance LMS 527cDF iGPS Color Sonar/GPS and have had no problems with it so I don't know if support is good. We spend alot of time on the ICW so the feature we love the most is travelling at 20+ mph w/the dual beam transducer provides accurate depth anywhere we go, fast or slow. The reason we changed was we had a Hummingbird and if we got up over about 15 mph we were reading 200-450 ft in the ICW. So in a nutshell, it's a great unit and was a little under $500, but that was part of the package deal on our renovation project. See personal page for more. Good Luck!

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I have a Lowrance HDS5 and it works great. I have had Hummingbirds & Garmins, but have run Lowrance units most recently because of durability and clarity.