Upgradeing The Sounder/gps - Which Way To Go?

[BR65]

Gday fellow Ausfishos.
With the boat show comeing up Im thinking about up-gradeing the sounder unit on the hornet.
Currently I have a Lowrance X52 and a hand held Garmin gps, but would like a sounder/gps combo unit, and then I can move the lowrance up to the bow with the transducer mounted on the minn kota.

My questions are:

1 What combo units would fellow fishos recommend. I have back tracked thru old posts and seen some rather negative comments on Hummingbird, and past experience tells me Lowrance units can be a bit tempermental as well.

2 Will 2 sounders "talk" across each other and cause interference to one another.

3 Majority of my fishing is estuary, shallow reefs off Woody Point or chaseing barra in the dams, so Im thinking I dont need a dual beam unit that would be suitable for out side work

4 Budget is up to $1000

Thanks for any help or comments

cheers
brian

[buggerit]

Talk to Steve at QOME , I have just ordered a Si-tex ColourMax 6 chartplotter from him . You will find him honest . He can order in a wide variety of brands (not just like most stores that only want to sell what they have in stock ).stephen_qome@westnet.com.au

Good Luck
Kev

[snelly1971]

Gday fellow Ausfishos.
With the boat show comeing up Im thinking about up-gradeing the sounder unit on the hornet.
Currently I have a Lowrance X52 and a hand held Garmin gps, but would like a sounder/gps combo unit, and then I can move the lowrance up to the bow with the transducer mounted on the minn kota.

My questions are:

1 What combo units would fellow fishos recommend. I have back tracked thru old posts and seen some rather negative comments on Hummingbird, and past experience tells me Lowrance units can be a bit tempermental as well.

2 Will 2 sounders "talk" across each other and cause interference to one another.

3 Majority of my fishing is estuary, shallow reefs off Woody Point or chaseing barra in the dams, so Im thinking I dont need a dual beam unit that would be suitable for out side work

4 Budget is up to $1000

Thanks for any help or comments

cheers
brian

I ran two sounders in my last boat..

1 ...Raymarine ds500
2.Lowrance X15 mt with 1kw transducer

Both units had transom mount transducers and i found that on my boat they never interfeared with each other...this may not be the case on other set ups..

Cheers Mick

[bluefin59]

If you go to the lowrance australia web site they are doing the lcx17mt with g.p.s for $1100 click on the specials section they are a great sounder if you are not willing to go colour .I am sure you can import a colour unit for similar money but it wont have as big a screen to split the view smaller units can be hard o see once you split the screen just my opinion i am sure you will get told many different things ,just remember to run g.p.s and sounder a big screen is always better .... matt P.S i think lowrance were throwing in a nautipath chart with the lcx its worth a look ...

[disorderly]

Jeez bluefin,

Are you still watching a black and white telly?
Get with the times,man!
There is just no comparison between colour and black and white.

BR65,if you have a grand to spend definitely go colour even if you have to import a unit.

Scott

[hard]

Brian
I'm running a Lowrance 125 up front and Lowrance 107 down the back off the same battery separate wiring. They have electrical interferance with each other when turn on. By them self they run perfect any advice would be nice.

Thank you hard

[bluefin59]

Yeah your right disorderly it must have been the wine i had with my flu medication i better get into the 21 st century go colour ......matt

[BR65]

Hard, I wonder if the interference is because both units are Lowrance,any one else experienced this??, also how have you gone with reliability, Ive had quite a few Lowrance units over the years sh#t themselves.
Disorderly, importing a unit seems to negate any potential warranty claims, do you trade this off against a cheaper purchase price?? I know I can buy Humminbird off the net at good prices, just a bit concerned about potential trouble down the track.

cheers
brian

[disorderly]

Yeah your right disorderly it must have been the wine i had with my flu medication i better get into the 21 st century go colour ......matt

Yeah no worries bluefin
I figured alcohol or drugs were responsible for your reponse.
Seriously though ,mate,I hope you get over the flu.Some nasty ones around lately.

BR65,
Just gone through a warranty issue with an Garmin 178c combo which I bought O/S.GME (local garmin importer) dealt with the problem which turned out to be just a faulty transducer cable connection.But they sent me a brand new unit and transducer anyway despite the fact that my unit was actually just out of warranty.
As discussed recently in a furuno thread ,they(furuno),garmin,raymarine have international warranties and will ultimately honour this(albeit somewhat reluctantly perhaps).
BTW if you want a humminbird and can get it for half price O/S then I personally think its a good deal even if you have a warranty issue because the USPS(US Postal service) is so damn quick.(my last unit,a furuno,took just 4 days from New York to my local PO).
Decisions,decisions.....
Good luck with it.

Scott