Value Combo Units - The Hull Truth

mr_mbuna · 12-24-2003, 08:10 PM

Hi, its been a while but...

We're looking for a GPS chartplotter and fishfinder for our 24' boat. The boat sees more shallow use than deep use, and is almost always used in the Chesapeake Bay, Patuxent River area. There are possible plans, though, to make a trip down the ICC from Maryland to South Carolina.

Interested in a combo unit mostly because of cost concerns. Just like everyone, the bigger the screen the better, color is a big plus, reliability and quality are important factors, and so is ease of use. Looking to spend around $1000 or less.

I know units like the Garmin GPSMAP 188/188C will come up. Any others?

Suggestions?

Ben

1999 Pursuit 2470WA // Yamaha 225 OX66 // Hi-Tech Aluminum Trailer

jtburf · 12-25-2003, 06:35 AM

Ben if I was to add a combo unit ... look at the Lowrance unit LCX-18C
http://www.lowrance.com/Marine/Products/LCX-18C.asp
also look at
http://www.gpsdiscount.com/home.html
for some of the best pricing out there .... Happy Holidays ...John

Triton 2200CC, Honda BF200,

Think Tweiss · 12-25-2003, 08:39 AM

Hope you are enjoying your 2470. This is probably going to surprise you, but you aren't going to save much (if anything) by going to a combo unit. A Garmin 240/182 is going to cost about the same as the 188...or the 182 with the black box fishfinder. and so on. Two screens are MUCH better. I have no color..if I were to upgrade one of my units to color, it would be the fishfinder. Others would do the opposite...depends on what you do.

Sounds like the combo you need is the 240/182c.

The views and/or opinions stated by the author in this post are the views and opinions of the author

FishinWuf · 12-25-2003, 09:35 PM

Ben;

If you want to split the screen and view the plotter and FF simultaneously, those small screens on the Garmin 18X units are going to get REAL small and you are not going to be able to see much detail.

If your budget is $1k, I'd suggest seperate units.

I have a 2006C with the black box sounder, and when you split the screen, it is smaller than the full screen on the 18X units.

Another suggestion - boat show season is upon us. There will be some good deals to be had.

I got my 2006c & black box last spring from Defender when they had their Miami Boat Show pricing in effect. I paid less than $1850 for the 2006C, the black box and a 32MB chip, which is about $500 less than typical street prices. You can get those prices with phone or internet orders - don't have to go to the show to get them.

I am sure other suppliers will have good sales during show season as well. do lot's of looking.

You may also want to consider the Standard Horizon (not sure if it has a FF) and the Furuno 1650/1850 units. In the end, I was down to the 1850 and the 2006C. Went w/ the 2006C b/c had a clearer display (at the time), was less $$ (by a little), the Mapsource software and I was used to other Garmin products, so it felt easier to use to me.

WP

TerryS · 12-26-2003, 05:53 AM

For a 1000 get a x15 mt combo the color 18 is not as nice as the black and white X15 Lots of new small color units out this show season

savage · 12-28-2003, 09:59 PM

Hello Ben,
You may recall that I'm a big fan of Eagle units, and put the "top-of-the-line" SeaCharter 320 DF Combo unit on my boat a year ago. Paid $500 at BoatersWorld online. I've been very happy with it.

Now that price has dropped by $100, since Eagle is introducing higher resolution screens - now 480 x 480 pixels (up from 320 x 320.) The screen size is 5 inch diagonal, which isn't all that big, but certainly isn't too small. Not color... but for $400 shipped to your door, you could do lots worse.