New GPS Chartplotter.

[chrispad]

Hi all,
I am in the market for a good GPS Chartplotter and narrowed my choices down to a Garmin GPSMAP 750 or a Furuno GP-7000. Although more expensive I am leaning towards the Furuno for their reliability and the fact that I already have a Furuno 585 sounder which is fantastic only strengthens my belief that would be the way to go. I like the Garmin, can't fault the colour and the touchscreen is great but as this is a first generation touchscreen (marine) I wonder about it's longterm reliability. Looking for opinions from those out there that have these units, reliability, value for money etc.

Chris.

[FishHunter]

If my phone is anything to go by the touch screens done work very well with wet fingers. Other than that I think they have been around long enough to be reliable.

[La Vida]

The Garmin Touchscreens have been around for a few years now and there has been very few reliability issues with the touchscreen displays. I have a couple of mates who have the gpsmap750 and the gpsmap5008 and they love em. wet fingers arent an issue. hwever if it is pissin g down rain and there is water streaming down the screen then operation of the unit can be affected.

But lets face it how many of us are fishing and operating electronics in this type of circumstance?? common sense has to prevail.

The furuno unit is now quite an old unit and the graphics are quite poor when compared to the Garmin unit, and the sunlight viewability and ease of use is sensational. I would pick the Garmin if I was you, even though I use a HDS8 which I think is brilliant

[markbxy]

furuno hands down

[chrispad]

Thanks for your input guys..... After doing a bit more research I have been told that the Furuno has been discontinued awaiting a new model. So I have ordered the Garmin from Trymax Marine Electronics and at a good price compared to others, so just have to wait for the water to go down so it can be delivered.

[La Vida]

Hi Chrispad if you havent ordered yet have a look at http://www.############.com.au they have been the cheapest I have found @ $1510.00 (Gold Coast based) I shopped around real hard and have found them the best on almost everything I have ever asked and if they weren't then they price matched.. good people to deal with

[chrispad]

Ordered one the other day $1500 even from Trymax Marine Electronics, thanks anyway.

[kitty_cat]

if anyone is interested in seeing the garmin gear i can help, by choice iam sponsored by garmin (had other choices) and have most of there gear in my boat 1kwt tranducers ,radar ,touchscreens ect ect and would be happy to show the gear in the future to anyone interested , i am also a sales agent and technician for garmin marine and offer full service sales and fit up on site.
wayne
sorry to jump post i was going to offer this but read your purchase (cant go wrong with trymax or that price very very sharp) just thought people might be interested in seeing the garmin gear in a boat working.and backing a fellow ausfisher

[chrispad]

Hi Kitty_Cat,
Thanks for your input, where are you based? The gps arrived this morning and have spent the best part of this afternoon playing with it. Also purchased the G2 vision card for east coast oz........very impressed with it.

Maybe I can pick your brains, I saved our waypoints from our old Lowrance gps to an sd card and put it into the new unit hoping to download them direct however the unit doesn't seem to recognise the card, it just says to insert a sd card which I do but it doesn't progress to give me the merge option. Would I need "Homeport" or am I just doing something wrong. Look forward to your comments.
Cheers, Chris.

[kitty_cat]

hey chris iam southside baced, your gps mark problem is a navionics to blue chart conversion this will not work without doing a gps conversion, i can help you out with this just takes a bit but can be done (try this website if you want to try yourself )yes you will need homeport but worth the 50bucks anyway.
wayne

[chrispad]

Thanks Kitty Cat. What website is that?
Cheers, Chris.

[kitty_cat]

sorry mate ,ausfish has had some info on this before just search gps conversions
saves giving your sd card with your marks on it to someone .trymax offer to do this as well i believe
wayne

[chrispad]

Thanks Wayne.