Lowrance v. Garmin

[dane]

I need to replace my old chartplotter/fishfinder and I'm looking at the Lowrance HDS7 Gen II with Downscan or the Garmin 741 with CHIRP.  

 

Most of my fishing is on the Chesapeake Bay for strippers and Lakes Ontario and Erie for walleye, salmon, and steelhead.    It seems the debate between Lowrance and Garmin is like the Ford-Chevy debate -- depends on what you have used in the past. 

 

Any thoughts or recommendations would be much appreciated.  Lowrance  Garmin

 

Thanks in advance--

[lineman49]

  Jmo. but stay away from the Elite 7 HDI. I had 4 of them & trouble with each of them. I upgraded ($300.+) to the HDS 7 gen 2 & so far so good.  Have used it 3-4 times with no problem, I just have to learn what buttons to push.   Good luck.

[John E Powell]

For me that would be a no brainer, Garmin CHIRP.

[Tim Bromund]

Between Lowrance and Garmin, there is no competition, Garmin in a heartbeat.

[dane]

Thanks - helpful to know what you all think. What is it about the Garmin products that puts them above Lowrance in your experience? Reliability ?

Thanks again - boat electronics are expensive and I don't want to make a choice I'm going to regret.

[Frisco]

From a customer service view on all their products Garmin is heads above Lowrance.

 

Whenever I'v dealt with Lowrance it was a nightmare!

[dane]

What about performance and reliability? Have you experienced more problems with Lowrance?

[Tim Bromund]

My Garmin Chartplotter is 7 years old and has never been anything but flawless.

[dane]

Good to know Tim, Thanks!

[John E Powell]

I have a lot of Garmin gear on my boat, all at least a few years old now and still working great. I have both the NMEA 2000 network and the Garmin proprietary network. Everything talks to everything else. It's basically just plug and play. When new software updates are available, I download them to a SD card with my laptop; then at the boat, I just power everything up and slip the SD card into either of my SD ports (I have 2 display units) and every Garmin device on my network is automatically detected and the software update is applied.

 

I used to be a Lowrance fan going way back to when Lowrance used to have the free service and repair clinics in conjunction with the ESLO derbies. It seems like when they stopped doing that, they changed their overall corporate service model and disgruntled many people.

 

Lowrance let their excellent reputation they built slip away and people started to look for and find better products and support from companies like Northstar, Furuno, Raytheon, Simrad, and SiTex/Koden.

 

Garmin entered the marine market a while back already a leader in the GPS industry. They understand that the customer service business model Lowrance seems to cling to won't work well in today's market.

 

I used to be a strong Lowrance supporter, but they have lost me as a customer probably for life.

Edited September 9, 2013 by John E Powell

[traveling man]

i have never owned a lowrance product so i cant say anything about them. i do own a garmin fish finder and a garmin gps. both are about 9 years old and have never had a problem with them. you will be happy with garmin.

[dane]

Great information! Thank you- looks like Garmin will be on my boat too.

[Xxx]

  Jmo. but stay away from the Elite 7 HDI. I had 4 of them & trouble with each of them. I upgraded ($300.+) to the HDS 7 gen 2 & so far so good.  Have used it 3-4 times with no problem, I just have to learn what buttons to push.   Good luck.

I second that, lineman49 their isn't much to say about the Ejunk 7 all the hype about how Lowrance was going to have a fish finder gps that would be affordable to the weekend fisherman was exactly that HYPE, if you can find one person that can honestly say "I never had any problem with mine I'd like to meet you". Tim turned me on to Garmin and from what I read they got it going on, and the price is with in reason. JMO. 

[YodaMage]

I can't weigh in on Garmin as I've never owned any of their marine stuff, I'd go Furuno or Humminbird myself. 

 

That said, I have had some Lowrance stuff and will agree with the masses that their stuff is buggy and their support went to crap about 10 or 12 years ago. They are worst in industry IMHO in support. 

 

I would consider a Garmin GPS next to a Furuno FF if I was running separate units. I'm not impressed with reviews I've seen or the picture on the Garmin FF units.

[EYE SPY]

I've had zero problems with mine, haha, not trying to be a smart @ss, just saying used it all season with no complaints. Maybe my day is coming, we'll see...

Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Xxx]

I've had zero problems with mine, haha, not trying to be a smart @ss, just saying used it all season with no complaints. Maybe my day is coming, we'll see...

Sent from my C771 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

your LUCKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!