Lowrance Elite 5m Vs Lowrance HDS 5 VS Garmin 551 - Which one?

[Pazz01]

Hey Guys

After numerous years of service out of the old Navman, it has decided to play up and it's time for a new one.

I've read a fair bit of information about these units on here and the net through various searches, but after peoples honest feedback.

I've been told that the Lowrance is easier to use with basic maps, but the garmin has better maps and is used by all professional fisherman?

Budget is up to about a $1000 and will be matched with our existing Furuno 620. Most of our fishing is for trout but do like to chase reds if we can find them.

Also if you can recommend a good place to buy it from would be great (i'm based in Cairns and I don't mind paying for shipping if good service is available).

Cheers
Pazz

[FishHunter]

Afaik the lowrance displays have better resolution, I have a elite 5 and am pretty happy with it. Went with it as it comes with charts and the hds does not.

[age]

Hi Pazz

I have a Garmin 551S (the combo). It is ok, but I have extensively used Garmin GPS's and have to say going back from the touchscreen models to the 551 with its binnacle press button menu system I find a pain. I also find the screen resolution to be a bit grainy (think it is VGA quality only). If you are using this as a chartplotter only and keeping the Furuno as a sounder, have a look at the Garmin GPSMAP 620 - it is a crossover Auto/Marine touchscreen mapper with a slightly bigger WVGA screen and within your budget. Is also NMEA compliant and gives more bang for buck than a boat based only plotter. Best advice I can give is go to a shop and have a good play with the unit - the brochures make them look so much better. BTW the East Coast G2 Vision chart for these Garmin units is a bit dated now and doesn't have clear satellite photos etc and just doesn't seem to feature some of the advertised functions like photo's of ports etc (well at least not for my regions (SE QLD)).

Cheers


A

[La Vida]

Hi Pazz

I faced a very similar dilemma when I was fitting out my new boat as I was tossing up between a HDS8 and a GPSMAP5008. I ended up going with the Lowrance for the following reasons

1 while both units are well built and are very functional. there is better and more support for the Lowrance unit.many will disagree but Garmin is a massive company that is steered by its automotive arm that is so much bigger than the marine section. and as a result marine is the poor second cousin and does not receive the resources of the automotive dept. I did a couple of dummy calls to their service dept and if you thought Lowrance was bad well Garmin sets a new standard in crap service and product knowledge

2 There is a lot more support for the Lowrance product, by the way of the amount of owner/users out their. type into youtube Lowrance HDS and stacks of videos come up on how to operate setup bla bla bla

3 Navionics and G2 Vison cards .... Card updates was the big thing with green zones, beacons ect. Navionics seem to be much quicker ion rthe updates. please correct me if I am wrong

4 I personally thought the hds waypoints marks ect were better suited to a fishing application where as the Garmin was more general in its application

Buying I bought mine from ###### marine electrics, www.############.com.au as they had both brands on a working display so I was able to play first. they were also the cheapest place I could find on both products.. definitely worth a look

All the best and bring on the sun for a change!!

[Pazz01]

Hey thanks for the input guys.

We eventually went for the Lowrance Elite combo. It was $850 with the maps of australia. Should do enough for my fishing.

Pazz