Help please, pros and cons on these brands looking for something around the 1000-1500 dollar mark garmen or nthstar ?????
regards james
Hi James I have a Garmin 176c color plotter/sounder and it is the ducks nuts! Have cruised the east coast with it and its never let me down. On the other hand i have not heard any good reports about Northstar in fact i've only heard negative reports and i'll add that the two Northstar appliances that ive used in the past have played up.
Garmin seems to be the go. I have not heard a good word from anybody on any of the North Star (ex Navman) products.
The parent company is Navico which owns the names Brookes & Gatehouse, Simrad, North Star, Eagle and Lowrance.
The original Navico company got swallowed up in Europe somewhere and is not the same one as referred to above.
I would not have integrated marine instruments as a general policy. I believe a sounder should be a stand alone instrument. Eagle has one with a puck transducer (ie sounds thru hull and angled without having to cut a hole in the hull
) for around $175. If it buggers up just buy another. They have a fish finder for a similar price but only comes with a transom mount transducer.
Garmin have the 450 and 550 models just under a grand and are preloaded with the whole of Aus Charts. Good value!!
I recently used a Garmin GPSmap 76sc. A good handheld unit but the maps may be extra. Cheers Cisco
) for around $175. If it buggers up just buy another. They have a fish finder for a similar price but only comes with a transom mount transducer.
