Garmin 300c & 400c

[tednted]

G'day people
just wondering if anyone has one of these units or have heard any positive or negative feedback on them
Cheers Al.

[BaitThrower]

Hi mate, I have the 300C on my dinghy now. I am having some electrical interference issues with it at present, but this is probably because I have a million wires all clumped together in a smallish battery box. I am getting the usual vertical thin lines in the display characteristic of electrical interference, however the depth reading was certainly accurate last time I took it out. So the sounder itself may not be the problem.

The 300C certainly has all the features you would want, and the screen resolution is great, however, the screen size itself is on the smaller size. The display is very bright though and extremely easy to see, even in very bright sunlight. Definitely a leader in this department. If you want a small, compact display unit, this is ideal though. All menus are readily accessible and setup is quite easy. I'd recommend it, but I believe the 400C has a larger screen, although I havent seen em side by side. The 400C is probably better of course, but if you want the compact unit, the 300C is great. If size or money is no factor in the choice between the two, look at the 400C. Probably a little better no doubt?

[tednted]

Thanks BaitThrower , its hard to tell via catologues how big they are but it sounds like the 400 might be the go
cheers Al

[BaitThrower]

True mate. I was a little surprised when I pulled it out of the box at the screen size. Looks bigger in the catalogues. I bought mine O/S and hadn't seen any in Australia at that time. Nonetheless I guess you adapt to the smaller screen after the first few uses, but a slightly larger one would be good :) Apparently this unit was designed for small boats, bass boats and the like, hence its smaller size, so if you need a small head unit, the 300C is ideal.

[Whitto]

G'day people
just wondering if anyone has one of these units or have heard any positive or negative feedback on them
Cheers Al.G'Day Al, Have just finished fitting a new Garmin 300C and at this stage Iam rapt in this unit, BaitThrower is correct in saying the screen is a little on the small size (about the size of a pack of smokes), but none the less very impressive in its screen resolution and simplicity of operation. At this stage I have only used the Simulator mode and this sounder for its price has some impressive features. If I could suggest BaitThrower have the sounder powered by its own power sourse this Im hoping will eliminate the interference lines on your screen, Were the lines on your screen there when the sounder was in Simulator mode, In conclusion Al while this sounder will more than do the job for me (All freshwater) if given the opportunity again I would buy the 400C if the screen is bigger, Cheers Whitto

[BaitThrower]

nah no lines when in simulator mode but this mode is probably just a recording stored internally and nothing is coming through the transducer cable so it might not show there? Also, havent really taken it in deep water yet. Probably 5m max so far so maybe the really shallow stuff gives more interference or bounceback or something ;)

I've recently fitted a few capacitors across my bus bars as suggested by Frank100 so just need to get out againt os ee if this fixed that issue.

[tednted]

Thanks Whitto / Baithrower
The size does sound a bit on the small side for a bloke who's eyesight aint what she used to be;) So I may go the larger 400 although looking at its specs it doesnt look like it has a watertemp read out . Whitto when are ya likely to try it out in other than simulator ? When ya do could ya let us know how she went ?
cheers Al.

[Whitto]

Thanks Whitto / Baithrower
The size does sound a bit on the small side for a bloke who's eyesight aint what she used to be;) So I may go the larger 400 although looking at its specs it doesnt look like it has a watertemp read out . Whitto when are ya likely to try it out in other than simulator ? When ya do could ya let us know how she went ?
cheers Al. ASAP AL, Will be sometime before I put it to the test, Going to Monduran on the 3/4/5 of May but will not have my boat, will be going to Somerset after Monduran to put it to the test, will ley u know, Cheer Whitto