Replacing Garmin 441s - Looking for advice

[BOAH]

I have a Garmin 441s that I've had for years. I really like it because it's easy to use and gives me just about everything I need. Pretty much just use the maps and basic sonar for fishing. A few years ago I had a no power issue. I replaced the data cable and that fixed it. About 2 weeks ago I had the same issue. I immediately bought a new data cable but this time it didn't fix it. I called Garmin who told me that model is discontinued and they no longer service it either !##!# Pretty pissed but am now researching new ones. A lot of choices out there. I probably want to be around the $500 area.

Looking for opinions.

Thanks for your help.

 

[BOAH]

Considering one of the Garmin Echo series of plotters.

 

[dingbat]

This is my second season running EchoMap CHIRP 94SV as a fish finder.

Have it networked as a backup for the GPSMAP 4208 chartploter I use for navigation.

So far so good

 

[ajgraz]

I have an EchoMAP CHIRP 74sv with a GT52HW transducer. Unit is fairly easy to learn and use, seems sturdy, screen has good visibility in all lighting conditions, and the backlit buttons are very nice. Maps and navigation are absolutely outstanding. CHIRP (a new thing to me) is fantastic, it's REALLY good at finding suspended bait balls. Downview is good for finding bottom structure in the bay and shallow (<100') saltwater. Sideview is somewhere between "gimmicky" and "meh", IMO, could have lived without that--Sideview might do better in freshwater, or maybe I should have gotten a more powerful transducer. I believe the EchoMAP series can be got without the sideview.

 

[briangcc]

I've been mulling an Echo Map to replace my Striker 4. According to Garmin I just need to replace the power cord which is why this is appealing for my particular setup. Otherwise, I've been looking at Humminbird.

 

[dingbat]

Downview is good for finding bottom structure in the bay and shallow (<100') saltwater. Sideview is somewhere between "gimmicky" and "meh", IMO, could have lived without that--Sideview might do better in freshwater, or maybe I should have gotten a more powerful transducer.

Interesting....I'm just the opposite.

I find DownView totally useless. Why take pictures when you have MRI technology at your disposal.

SideView at 260 kHz is useful out to 40' or so. Pretty useless at 455 kHz

Performance has a lot to do with the transducer. The GT52HW is geared more towards fresh water. Almost half the power of the GT51M and it doesn't support Side View at 260 kHz which provides a much more stable image than the higher frequencies.

 

[BOAH]

Update. So I did what I think was a fair amount of research and demo'd some of the different units and spent quite a bit of time talking to the reps. I can see that if the importance is fishing, the Hummingbird looks awesome.

Since I've been using Garmin for the last 8 or 9 years, I needed to get all of my numbers transferred and it's questionable if it would work if I went with a different manufacturer. So I ended up buying the Garmin 64 CV plus. I was going to buy the 74 CV Echo but found out that Garmin is phasing that line out and will be concentrating on the Plus line. When that's going to happen, I don't know but that's why I needed to buy this unit to begin with.

CV is the down view and the SV is the side view. I thought the side view was cool but I personally didn't want to spend the extra $200 for it.

One of the sonar options is called clear view and it is pretty cool if you're looking for structure. Split the screen and put that side by side with the standard fish finder sonar and that definitely works for me.

Garmin also has a site called Home Port that you can back up your numbers to. Luckily I did that a couple of years ago so the only numbers I lost were from last year.

There are a couple of things I think that aren't great on this unit. First is the way the cables attach to the unit. My unit sits on a pedestal so I take it off of the boat when not in use. The cables that go in the back of it are held in place by a small plastic door that slides up and out. I can totally see me either breaking it and or losing that piece of plastic. Hopefully not.

The other thing is the unit has a plastic case that snaps on the back of it and that plastic case is then attached to the pedestal mount. The idea is that when it's in the pedestal, you can snap the unit face out of that plastic holder for quick removal. I would much rather have the whole unit attached to the pedestal and have to loosen the thumb screws for removal. IMO

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Hopefully it helps.