Guys,
In the next month I'm going to purchase my new boat. I've got most of the details worked out but was wondering if I should buy a fish finder or a fish finder/gps combo. I'll be mainly fishing lakes such as Ovid, Murray, Campau, and Thorn. Is it worth the extra money to get a gps? A couple of suggestions on fish finders or combos would be appreciated too.
Thanks,
Joel
Joel,
I got them seperately because I go on fly in trips and places like Eagle Lake and when I rent other boats I can take the handheld GPS with me. If one breaks I can still use the other and I would make sure to get a bow mounted trolling motor with the transducer built in. For me, I use my trolling motor sonar more often then the one mounted on my console. The only option I wish I had on my hand held GPS is the capability to input a GPS location and then the unit takes you to that locations. Good luck!
Joel,
While a GPS is terrific on big bodies of water, with the smaller lakes listed, rifle sights on shoreline objects work just as well. Just remember to WRITE DOWN those shoreline sightings for future reference. I tend to forget.
Also, that's great advice to buy separate units. If one breaks, you don't want to lose the other function as well.
Charlie
I have Lowrance graphs on the console and bow and also Garmin handheld GPS Map 76 (loaded w/ a St Clair map)at the console and GPS 72 on the bow. In all honesty I couldn't live without my GPS at the bow now that I've had it up there for so many years.
I went with the handheld units because at the time (I'm pretty sure still to this day) the zoom on a graph w/ GPS is only down to 1/10 of a mile (500'). On the handheld I can zoom to 30 feet which means finding an exact weed clump in the dark, or any other time, is easy.
I am kind of a trolling expert. I use the 3500 c lowrance gps. I can zero any shoreline in any depth and make acurate repeat casts or trolling passes by knowing (exactly) where I am on the structure. Even on Little Osterhout I have near 100 way points marking the break at 10 feet. On Thornapple I have like 200 break points marked. When I have that information at the bow while casting I can work anywhere on the structure that I want with zero guess work. Nothing sucks worse than creeping up on a spot and overshooting it because you had to watch the depth finder to tell you where you were. When using the wind and positioning for casts to spots the Gps can put you on the right course to pass all your best spots. I would not get a combination unit. Why? because if one part of it fails you have to send in the whole unit. The companies will try to sell you combination units and soon if not now combination units will be all you get. I have the x-96 finder and 3500 c gps. I love both units. Mike and Michelle
Okay I am Jason….jvkop2 is my brother Joel haha. But I will take you up on that offer when we go bulldawging. Both Joel and I have handheld GPS but I dont think they are that great with zooming in or anything. We have the Eagle Lake chip to it and it helps out a lot when we are up there. The thing that I don't like about them is that they don't show the body of water unless its huge or you have a special chip for Michigan so we will be on a lake and it shows us on land.
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