GME Marine GPS/Sounder

[LittleSkipper]

Would like to know if there are any users out there with the new GME Marine GPS/Sounders and of there opinions on the product?

[aharding]

I could be wrong, but I bet you it's made by Garmin!!! Everything on it looks Garmin, right down to the font, could be re-badged older stock Garmin's made under license?? Regardless, the specs are good, pixel count okay, screen size good, and if it is made by Garmin it will be reliable, especially in regards to the GPS side as Garmin are leaders in GPS IMO and always have been, their fish finders are okay. But as a combo, they look good value for money to me! I'd sooner have one over a Lowrance unless you want to be dealing with warranty issues every other day!

[deckie]

I'm interested as well.
Afterall its one of the few ways you could truly "Buy Australian". Like many things though we assume the local product aint as good.
Is GME still Aussie tho ? I dunno maybe it has gone offshore anyway or their stuff is made in china these days. Was once a good Sydney company with a great rep and probably still is. Offshore brands flooding in must be killing their sales, esp on their VHF's, stereo's n stuff. We dont have many manufacurers competing on the world stage with complex electronics.
Buying a Lowrance/Humm/Furuno etc in oz is almost the same as buying it from offshore anyway...most of the money still heads overseas.

Lots say they'd rather support Aust but do we ? If its good kit and well priced we should show some loyalty i guess.

[LittleSkipper]

Okay Gentlemen! I've corresponded with GME via email regarding there unit's & asked a couple of questions.

There unit's are designed here in Oz as per GME's specifications, and of course manufactured overseas in Korea.

The mapping system is C-Map by Jeppesen which is a Boeing Company, check out www.jeppesen.com, so if this company is designing & selling mapping systems for Boeings aircraft imagine what the mapping system for the Marine side of the industry would be like?

Damn impressive I would think.

Overall! no matter what make of unit you purchase? Including other manufacturers,the Aussie currency always ends up overseas.

Remember GME also sell there branded Epirbs, Radio Communication Equipment etc. I wonder how many boaties out there have this kind of safety equipment in there vessels?

If interested check out their website: www.gme.net.au they have offices in Sydney,Melbourne,Adelaide,Perth,Brisbane & Auckland.

Cheers
Wayne.

[Sevric]

I had the G Series colour plotter and sounder in my boat for less than a week before ripping it out. Never again! The sounder has no white line facility and a confusing menu with hardly any relevant instructions inluded. I had rang GME several times trying to get instruction on how to do this or that (the dealer could not work it out either) and in the end just gave up and purchased one of the Garmin touch screen models; excelent. I am not the only person who has been trapped by this ineffective unit; it is not a fishing tool but rather aimed at those who want a unit to goggle at while they cruise from island to island sipping out of a wine glass.

[LittleSkipper]

Sevric!

Did the instruction manual you can obtain online help any? Or was this just a useless piece of information? What was the Chartplotter function on the unit like to use?

Wayne.

[Dignity]

twindragons, I have a GME GPS and it's so called fast refresh rate is sooooo slow that I have resorted to using my hand held Garmin GPS until I identify a suitable replacement. I was seriously disappointed, I thought that maybe it was me but when a mate was aboard and doing the driving as I was busy doing other things he was going round in circles until I told him to watch the compass instead. I haven't spoken to GME about it as it was in the boat for 6 months before I took it out due to unforseen circumstances but I would think twice about their GPS hardware/software. I have had their radios and they are good. This is my humle opinion only.

[LittleSkipper]

Thanks Dignity

I will take GME's GPS/Sounder off my xmas list.

[aharding]

GME do have a whiteline function, it's on all the promotional pics and screen shots from simulator and also just had a sqiz and it's all through the manual, extract below.

" Bottom: Hard bottoms such as rock and coral shown as wide

bands. Soft bottoms such as mud, weed and sand show as

narrow bands. "

Perhaps it is just called something else, many manufactuers generate their own names for features. Addittionally if you had the gain turned up too high, this would also block out the bottom in a similar fashion. If it did not have whiteline function It would be a solid bottom like an old Humminbird 100 and I think you'd notice that!

[Sevric]

GME do have a whiteline function, it's on all the promotional pics and screen shots from simulator and also just had a sqiz and it's all through the manual, extract below.

" Bottom: Hard bottoms such as rock and coral shown as wide

bands. Soft bottoms such as mud, weed and sand show as

narrow bands. "

Perhaps it is just called something else, many manufactuers generate their own names for features. Addittionally if you had the gain turned up too high, this would also block out the bottom in a similar fashion. If it did not have whiteline function It would be a solid bottom like an old Humminbird 100 and I think you'd notice that!

Hi Aharding
I purchased the G series combo plotter / sounder about 3 months ago. Believe me there was no white line and when i talked with the head honcho in Sydney (Mathew Heap) he informed me that the technology was such these days that it was considered old hat and unnecessary. Please see an extract of his email below

Just one point with regards to White Line, as mentioned in earlier emails white line is not a feature of this unit due to the fact that it is a colour unit, the unit also uses digital sounder technology which in basic terms means that bottom definition is clearer, fish targets in any depth will be clearer as the digital system removes any clutter from the screen. This technology can take a while to get the hang of, but it is a superior technology to the old style analogue sounders that were around.

I am sorry that I am unable to help further with regards to brokering a deal between yourself and Adrian’s marine centre.

Kind Regards

Matthew




What a load of B/S



I Mistakenly assumed a unit from a reputable company such as GME would carry a white line feature but no. Living in a regional centre i never had the opertunity to play with a display model and ordered the unit which they told me was unreturnable as it was a special order. I also made the mistake of ordering the unit without the $360 overlay map. I reasoned that this was not needed in a 4.4m tinnie. There was restricted zoom within the unit (only to 0.2 of a nautical mile) that took several calls to the dealer and GME to get the instructions to make the unit zoom to an approprate and acurate navigational level. Every time the unit was turned on it took 12 button presses that were not in the instruction papers (thats all it was, not a manual) to attain the approprate zoom.

Do not purchase one of these units.

[Dignity]

And the Zoom feature is also a pain similar issues as sevric, have to enter a Menu then decide do you want to zoom in or out then press the button a number of times and then enter to exit and while travelling this is just painful. I prefer the old hand held Garmin that has a Zoom in and a Zoom out button, such a breeze to use.

Also my dotted line for direction to waypoint disappears after about 5 mins so I have to go into the menu an select a waypoint again to get it back up, probably a fault but it is out of waranty. I will be going for a Furuno once I can afford it.

The trouble with GPS and Sounders is that you rely on Simulations when purchasing one, I guess we need to spend a lot more time on research her on good ol' Ausfish. I suspect that most of this technology is based around the old PC method, let the users debug them and the next model will have the fix in.

[Sevric]

After fighting with my GME G series, the dealer and GME themselves for several days i simply removed the unit and purchased a Garmin putting the whole $1150 exercise behind me. Like dignity said i found it easier to use a cheap hand held i use for bushwalking to find my marks and tracks. GME really have some homework to do on this unit. Do not make the same mistake i have made, do not purchase one.