LOWRANCE v FURUNO v NAVMAN?

[Haji]

OK, I'M IN THE MARKET FOR A NEW SOUNDER/GPS COMBO.


WHO'S GOT WHAT AND HOW DO YOU FIND IT FOR
1) USER FRIENDLY
2) RELIABLE
3) GOOD AFTER SALES SERVICE.

HAD A LOWRANCE THREE BOATS AGO, THEN FURUNO GREYLINE THEN NAVMAN ON LAST BOAT. FOUND LOWRANCE MOST USER FRIENDLY BUT SH#$ SERVICE. NAVMAN GREAT SERVICE AND FRIENDLY STAFF BUT MORE DIFFICULT TO USE, RAYMARINE MANY YEARS AGO WHEN THEY FIRST CAME OUT, HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THEY ARE LIKE NOW.

DOES ANYONE OPERATE A NAVMAN 6600? THEY ARE OFFERING GREAT DEALS AT PRESENT AS THEY ARE RE-BRANDING TO ANOTHER NAME. I AM NOT SURE THAT I LIKE THE DUAL SCREEN BEING ABOVE RATHER THAN ALONGSIDE EACH OTHER BUT, LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ONE AND HOW YOU FIND IT, PLEASE!

CHEERS

HAJI

[xtosea]

FURUNO FCV-620 or 585 if boat big enough

[Dog Catcher]

HAD A LOWRANCE THREE BOATS AGO, THEN FURUNO GREYLINE THEN NAVMAN ON LAST BOAT. FOUND LOWRANCE MOST USER FRIENDLY BUT SH#$ SERVICE.

HAJI

Seems 2B the norm with Lowrance dosen't it ?????

I rate a good sounder as one that never breaks down on you dosen't seem to be the case with the Lowrance does it ?? & I know this from 1st hand expirience both Lowrance units that I've owned spent more time in for repairs than on the boat doing what they were supp'd to be doing.

Finding me wittle fishy's to catch :rolling laughter:

OK, I'M IN THE MARKET FOR A NEW SOUNDER/GPS COMBO.

Suggest you find your medication in a hurry that way you can come to your senses :rolling laughter:

Why on earth would you want a combo for ?????????

If it breaks down then you're without both units @ least if you have 2 individual units you can allways use the other to put the boat in the vicinity of the area you want to fush.

Let me ask you this ???

In all the years you owned a Furuno how many times did it ever let you down ????????????

That is what I'd be looking @ when deciding which unit to purchase & not what's on special

[Dazza1]

Im with the Catcher on this. My mate bought a Eagle Combo, after me pleading for him to re-consider. Short story 6 trips in for repairs. Gets it back 3 trips, in for Warranty. Hasnt been a good unit from the start, BUT was without a plotter or Sounder for 4 out of 6 months after purchase. Now its 12 months old and has a heap on condensation in the screen.

I have a Lowrance sounder and a Navman Plotter. I havent had a drama with either, The sounders 18 months old now and its still going strong. BUT after fishing out of several different boats this summer, I really dont think you can go past the Furuno, AWESOME units. Yer there a bit dearer but at least they stay in the boat, and not off getting fixed under warranty.

:beerchug:

[moses]

hey dc do beowning make sounders?
what about viva?
wasnt sure but i thoght browning make guns

[Dog Catcher]

Nope no sounders

Browning only make firearms but it's the same company that puts their name to fishing reels , rods etc.

Viva only make fishing reels & nothing else & prob have one of the best factory facilities of all the fishing reel manufacturers.

Just moved into their new 100, 000 sq meter plant which I should be visiting next year been invited to visit the trade show over there.

But I'm only going to check out the Great Wall as I want to find out how they manage to keep the Rabbits out. :rolling laughter:

Alot of Viva's reels are manufactured for other brand names hence why the name Viva is not that well recognised.

They make Brownings reels, Bass Pro's reels in the USA etc etc.

You've prob heard me rave about the Browning rods, well they come from a higher class factory than the viva rods hence the reason why they're that much better.

[moses]

damn wabbits wonder if they will let u take the brownig with u :Death_To_Above:

[sclark3]

Why on earth would you want a combo for ????????? Some people dont have enough room for both...I have a combo and have no problems with them...

[Dog Catcher]

That is a very poor arguement sclarky

If your boat is not big enough to accomidate 2 units then I'm afraid the boat hasn't got the range to warrant having a GPS unit.

Personally I find nothing worse that looking @ pissy wittle screens made even worse by having to look @ them either on a split screen or having to flick over from one unit to the other.

[Dog Catcher]

damn wabbits wonder if they will let u take the brownig with u :Death_To_Above:

I was thinking that I could spin up a wabbit using a SP in the carrot colour :rolling laughter:

ps] if you want to see how big the Viva factory is, here's a link to the china website


http://www.viva.com.cn/homepage-en.html

[moses]

or maybe in the grass colour with extra scent:rolling laughter:

[beats]

Navman & Lowrance are now serviced from the same location at Lane Cove in Sydney, so easy to get to if need be.

And sorry DC but thats the biggest load of rubbish I ever read for a while & was a little shocked it came from you, & unwarrented, the quote about if boat isn't big enough for 2 units you don't need a GPS. Try fishing schooled pods (ie: kings, jew, bream, snapper or bass to name a few) a sounder is there to find fish not just bottom structure & if you find a small pod, 9 times outa 10 it will contain much better fish than a larger school & in open water without a GPS & you may as well be pissing into the wind & you know it ! landmarks can only do so much. Mark the pod on your GPS & return to it when you get blown off or drift through.

Nothing at all wrong with a combo, thats an old fashion statement about what if ones not working, if your gps isn't working you can still go with your sounder & if your sounder isn't working well lets face it ya not going anyway.

As a rule of thumb when looking at buying a sounder,if you mainly concerntrait on,

Estuaries & Outside to say 250ft a wide angle is a must.

Estuaries & Outside to say 750ft a dual Frequency is a must. switching from wide to both & to narrow cones when nessasary.

Outside 500ft + a single powerfull beam of say 8 degrees is a must.

basically you need to buy sounders that suit your needs & that you can understand & get the most out of.
sounders on auto will never give you the big picture & you must learn how to use it properly & know what your seeing & how to improve or rectify your readings via tuning & advanced settings.
& always get the highest vertical pixel count you can afford, never buy a toy unless you just want to know how deep it is or what the surface temp is, they work & still great, but unless you can read a sounder to start with they make it even harder.
As most know I use & recommend Lowrance units, But Feruno has its place in deeper water.

[Dog Catcher]

You are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine however I will reply to this comment .
Try fishing schooled pods (ie: kings, jew, bream, snapper or bass to name a few) a sounder is there to find fish not just bottom structure & if you find a small pod, 9 times outa 10 it will contain much better fish than a larger school & in open water without a GPS & you may as well be pissing into the wind &


I'm afrraid you are grossly mistaken a GPS unit canot find fish for you it can only put you in the vicinity which may or may not have wittle fishy's about.

It's your sounder which determines where you anchor or choose to fish & I'm afraid if you need to rely on a GPS to find those marks in close you're not much of a fisherman.

Fish will move depending on direction of current , wind etc & a GPS will not help you there it all boils down to your ability to read where the fishy's are most likely to be.

I for one never fit my GPS to the boat unless I'm going out wide or travelling a long way from base there is no need.

I also have a spare GPS in the garage after I upgraded on my bigger boat & cant see the sense of even fitting it to my wittle boat as there is NO NEED for it.

To sum it all up I'm afraid you've got a lot to learn about being a consistant fisherman if you have to rely on a GPS unit it's an art I think to many people have 4gotten.

[beats]

Your missing the point DC, I dont use others marks, I find my own fish Then Make my own marks not to return to a spot but to take those particular fish I locate. I'm talking about fishing for fish not lazing around waiting for them to turn up on a certain mark. or using an anchor, mines only in the boat for waterways requirements, you are the preverbial loiterer aren't you.:rolling laughter:

[Haji]

Gee I'm glad I started this thread!

I have used a combo unit in my last three boats and had no real problems using them. Two units would have taken up much too much room on the Fairey, the Kevlacat and the Aussie Whaler.

The last combo was a Navman which was not as user friendly as the Lowrance but I had some servicing problems with the Lowrance which made me a little cautious. Got a fogged up screen within the warranty period and Navman just gave me a new unit on the spot. Great service and very friendly people.

Now as they all appear to have been taken over by the one mega company I assume that service will be carried out in the one centre for all brands? Which probably means that I should go back to Lowrance as the most user friendly unit.

My fishing in future will be limited to estuary's, bays and limited offshore. Say The Peak, The Hump down South and maybe the odd run out to The Plonk Hole (140 M) on a very good day.

So,can a Lowrance expert/user (BEATS?) please suggest which might be the best combo for me to buy? I might add that I am buying the boat from a firm that sells Lowrance.

Thanks for any help.

[Dog Catcher]

No I dont believe I'm missing the point @ all but think you are

Just answer me this then

How the Hell can you sit there & claim a GPS can find you fishy's ???????????????

you are the preverbial loiterer aren't you.

There's a big difference between what you are claiming & that which I am.

Unfortunately for most people they seem to lose the capacity to think & exercise their brains as to what sounds logical & what is horsesh*t.

They believe the 1st thing they are told without ever Q'n it , happ[ens in our education system happens everywhere, ask a kid 2day to put paper to pen & work out an equation & that kid is lost without the aid of a pc or calculator.

In your case I'm afraid you've taken to heart the jargon you've read in regards to items such as Sounders/GPS's & believe all that was told to you.

I'll let you in on a little secret !

Devices such as GPS's/sounders are only an aid & if you dont have any understanding on how to find those fish you've wasted your money & only have those items on your bo0at to impress people.

I may not win every debate I get involved in but let me tell you something you'll never beat me either cause I dont enter debates I can lose rest assured of that.

[Haji]

Gee DC and I thought that my mate's you beaut combo that showed a picture of a fish with a string leading down to it was for real.

How disapointing, it only cost him around $150.00, it was called an "Emu" or some sort of bird.

:rolling laughter::rolling laughter::rolling laughter::headbang::headbang:

Cheers Mate

Haji

[Dog Catcher]

Well Haji you should enquire how many Lowrance units shat themselves in the past couple of years & how the Co left hundreds of fishermen without units for months on end instead of trying to be funny.

Told you on many a occasion Leave the Comedy to the Proffesionals :rolling laughter::rolling laughter:

[imnotafish]

I'll let you in on a little secret !

Devices such as GPS's/sounders are only an aid & if you dont have any understanding on how to find those fish you've wasted your money & only have those items on your bo0at to impress people.

I may not win every debate I get involved in but let me tell you something you'll never beat me either cause I dont enter debates I can lose rest assured of that.



DC ill let you in on a secret, youll win no bream or bass comps with that attitude :rolling laughter:.
seriously though, they r more than an aid.....
Beats knows very well what hes talking about here as always.:lol: he knows where to look for fish; gutters gravel snags etc, so rocks up with the sounder and checks, gps's the spots that have fish, and comes back to fish them on the right parts of the day to suit the comp.
how can you return to one of a thousand marks you've seen only once before ,in the middle of a dam or something, if you dont have gps?

same applies offshore if you use your sounder to work new ground and find a wicked patch of fish,how are you gonna go back to it unless you use you GPS to track back to it, over and over again???

no dont tell me, you have photographic magnetic memory :scull:

for winning arguments

anyway i though this was about the use of combo sounder gps units, which are incredibly useful regardless of what has been said, as they r cheaper than two units and take up less space. not as good maybe but much better than not having gps


And Haji, i am also a big fan of lowrance for estuary use, amazing pixellation and you can find fish in every nook and cranny. Four of my mates have used them for years with no probs so far, heaps less issues that garmins had anyway

unless you can afford a simrad

[Dog Catcher]

I dont fish comps anymore, but let me tell you this if you're not a thinking fisherman with plenty of tricks up your sleeve a GPS will not win you any comps either.

I'm pretty sure beats does know how to use his GPS alot better than most but I still stand by my remarks that a GPS cant locate fish for you it can only put you in the vicinity where fish may or may not be & give you the most direct route there & if you're fishing offshore they'll save you $$'s in the way of fuel costs cause you're not doing the drunken skipper routine behind the wheel.

same applies offshore if you use your sounder to work new ground and find a wicked patch of fish,how are you gonna go back to it unless you use you GPS to track back to it, over and over again???

Disagree with you there unless you're refering to the same days fishing & you've left a spot & want to return back to that same spot which your sounder picked up good schools of baitfish.

B4 the days of GPS & every now & then I still use an old indian trick & that is to throw a buoy over the the baitfish it will drift with then & make it easy to relocate the schools.

Out wide is a different type of fishing to that in close, currents have the capacity to make fish disappear overnight.

no dont tell me, you have photographic magnetic memory

You better believe it :rolling laughter:

I'm observant esp being behind the wheel I dont allways follow the GPS but look for signs on the water if pulling lures I see things that most peeps would miss.

If fishing on the drift I get the guys to pull in the baits more frequently than most skippers do & go back over my marks but it's my sounder which determines this some days a drift is only a couple of hundred meters other days it's a mile or so.

This is the 1st year I've seriously gotten back into gamefishing & those who've been out with me will tell you longest we've had to wait for a YFT to rock up was about 20 minutes generally only took not even half that time.

[sclark3]

I think the simple fact is that people need to choose what best suits them both space and cost wise, everyone would luv a spare Sounder or GPS but not everyone can afford it...If it breaks fix it if not enjoy it, combo or stand alones...

[beats]

No I dont believe I'm missing the point @ all but think you are

Just answer me this then

How the Hell can you sit there & claim a GPS can find you fishy's ???????????????






DC again you have not read what I have posted I FIND WITH A SONAR, mark & return to the GPS mark to catch the fish quite simple really & no mate I can use a sounder to catch an indavidual fish i see on the screen, Dont believe me I'll take you bassin 1 day, maybe ya can teach an old dog new tricks hehe!:rolling laughter:

[beats]

Gee I'm glad I started this thread!

My fishing in future will be limited to estuary's, bays and limited offshore. Say The Peak, The Hump down South and maybe the odd run out to The Plonk Hole (140 M) on a very good day.

So,can a Lowrance expert/user (BEATS?) please suggest which might be the best combo for me to buy? I might add that I am buying the boat from a firm that sells Lowrance.

Thanks for any help.

Expert not, there are more things on lowrance that I need or can use for what I do but,
525c DF is what you would need or a bigger screen for our old eyes = 27c DF & onward & upward from there mate.

[Dog Catcher]

Beats you're got more $$'s than me if you can afford sonar for your boat :rolling laughter:

I looked into sonar units & the budget model started @ $ 15 k
just couldn't justify the cost for the amount of fushing I do these days

If I'm not mistaken think you were refering to your sounder as sonar ???

Thanks for the offer but I find freshwater fushing not my cup of tea I go once in a blue moon just to remind me how good the salt water scene really is.

Hope you didn't think I aimed my comments @ you , I speak in general where I dont think to many people who own electronics dont know how to use them, that's why I refer to them as just an aid.

It takes alot more than D/L'n marks off the internet for a person to be a fisherman & catch on a regular basis.

I never give my marks to anybody & the few times I have well I put those peeps in the vicinty of where I think the fish should be not on my marks.

I've also taken quite a few peeps out to fish my backyard & have no fear of my spots turning into pit street, again it boils down to a bit of know how & those peeps give up easy enough after a few zero catch trips.

[beats]

Raw Sonar is what every fish finder uses to create a picture that we can understand DC, we are not talkin 360 degree side scan units fella.

[Dog Catcher]

Thought so

I was refering to the other maybe if I get right back into the gamefishing again I'll take another looky @ them.

[beats]

like you say wayyyyy to expensive unless its to make a living of it.

[Dog Catcher]

There's a couple of the gameboats that do have it & from what I'm told they shine in the capture dept.

The sonar allows them to scan for baitfish which other boats cant do in other words those boats spend more time in the zone increasing their hookup chances instead of trolling hopelessly about the ocean.

[Fishaholic]

Haji - what unit(s) you buy depends on a few things, quality/reliability being the most important imho. Other considerations , of course, are budget, user friendliness, dashboard space, technical features and aesthetics. Things have come a long way since the old satnav and scratchy sounders to the point where most of the bigger names are quite good these days. I've had JRC, Lowrance, Navman and more recently a full dash of Furuno. No problems with any of them. About 12 mths ago I bought a Furuno 7000f for my runabout and I couldn't be happier. It does what I want and many more tricks that I'll probably never use. Be careful that you don't get sucked in by clever marketing and pay more bucks than necessary for functions that aren't needed. In the case of the 7000f I've done just that to some degree but it was necessary to get the performance and quality that I wanted. I guess it's a bit of a trade off. I agonized over whether to get a combo unit or not and obviously I went for it with the Furuno but so far, no problems. As I said they're a quality brand and give good support so that's my humble recommendation.
P.S. It sounds like a sales pitch but I promise I'm just a punter like most of you

[Haji]

Thanks to all who offered advice on this very topical subject.

As I mentioned earlier I have had Lowrance, Navman, Furuno and Raymarine units on past boats. Some better than others but generally no real problems.

Given everyone's concerns re repairs of Lowrance and Navman I decided to do some reality testing.

Rang the service centre for Lowrance and Navman to be answered by, you guessed it, press 1, press 2, please hold, you have contacted....all our operators are busy on other calls but we will answer you as soon as... (or words to that effect) press 1, press 2 etc etc, this went on for some 20 minutes (I kid you not) I then rang off,rang again and waited another 15 minutes listening to the same voice telling me that the service centre was so busy that they could not answer my call.

I then rang the agent for Furuno in QLD to be answered by a real voice who put me straight through to the service centre. The service manager himself answered the phone and in answer to my querie as to how long it would take to fix a fogged screen on my 7000F combo unit (I dont have one but thought I would test him out) he answered that they do a three day turnaround. You post the unit to QLD on Monday and you have it back by Friday.

This all got me thinking, if the service people at Lowrance and Navman are so busy answering calls that I could not get anyone to answer me they must be having a lot of problems.

Conversely, Furuno are obviously not overun with people calling them with problems and offer what appears to be a very quick and efficient service. Plus a very knowledgable and friendly service manager who very clearly knew what he was talking about.

So what am I going to buy? Yep, a Furuno 7000F.combo sounder/plotter

Other manufacturers take note, you are only as good as the service that you provide.We fisho's are not fooled by glib advertising or claims that don't stack up when you fail the simple test that I carried out by phone!

Cheers all

Haji

[Fishaholic]

Funny that you should pick that fogged screen for your hypothetical service query test, that's the only problem that I've had with mine. It wasn't a major issue but the long term effects concerned me. I sent it up for drying and true to their word it was done and returned within a few days. They also bench test the unit before returning it of course (1 full day), imagine the list of top co-ordinates those guys must have accrued. I'm not sure of the exact purchase date but I'm sure the warranty has expired and still no charge, only $20 postage. A reasonable price for peace of mind considering the cost of the unit.

[Fed]

My little fishfinder shows lifelike pictures of fish in 5 different sizes, it also shows what depth they're at and sounds a buzzer when they swim under the boat.
Beat that!
It shows the bottom too which is handy. :)