Lowrance vs Garmin

[B-faithful]

Looking for advice for primarily a near shore striped bass fisherman. I personally am used to the garmin but lowrance is currently offering a good rebate. I am down to the Garmin 3210c with the new digital gsd22 sounder box and the Lowrance LCX-113C HD . I was all set on the garmin but am being teased by the lowrance due to ability to hook up the unit to the LMF200 for full fuel readings. I also know that that the lowrance probably still has a slighly better fishfinder than garmin despite it coming a long way with their new digital gsd22 (I previously ran a gsd20). However I still think the Garmin potter is a lot better. The lowrance does offer higher resolution but adding radar in the future is a lot more expensive with the lowrance. I have also read of poor cust service from lowrance but not sure if they are isolated problems. The cost difference after the rebate is minimal as I would go with the more accurate flo scan fuel meter if I go garmin and do without all the mpgs already calculated etc.

Has anyone run both units and what are you more impressed by Anyone running the lowrance unit and want to offer insight please speak up. As noted before I have experience with the Garmin 3000 series.

It would be cool to go with the new Garmin 4210 but it isnt worth the extra $600+ for features that I find not necessary for fishing and slow the unit down... Just my opinion.

[Procastinator]

You won't go wrong with the Lowrance. Lowrance had a not so great reputation for a good many years, but, their LCX series machines are hard to beat. I have two on my boat, and I Captain another boat that is equipped with high end Garmin and Raymarine networks, and I still find the Lowrance to be on par with the others, at a much lower price.

[captcl]

Lowrance service and support is unbeatable IMO! I use a LC335df on my cc and the few glithces I encountered early on was addressed with on the phone support and transducer replacement no ? asked! that was seasons ago and the unit is great for my needs.

[B-faithful]

Garmin 3210 with the new digital GSD fishfinder is about the same price as the same price as the LCX113HD. Any one else familiar with how these units compete with one another? I had the Garmin 3010c with the older analog gsd20 sounder module on my last boat and found it to be a great unit just a little subpar in the fishfinder. The plotter features were great though on the unit. How is Lowrance as a plotter? I have heard good things about their fishfinder

[jawz12]

Lowrance service and support is unbeatable IMO! I use a LC335df on my cc and the few glithces I encountered early on was addressed with on the phone support and transducer replacement no ? asked! that was seasons ago and the unit is great for my needs.

you're kidding right ??? i lost count of the problems i've had with lowrance units...their customer support has got to be the absolute worst...the garmin units are a great product,there's no comparison...garmin hands down...
and one of those problems was a set of my own,out of warranty by 1 month i would never reccomend anyone ever purchase a lowrance product,ever !!

[B-faithful]

I must say that through other forums that I have received a lot of negative feedback regarding Lowrance and their cust service from unhappy owners. I decided to go with the garmin package again but with the gsd22 digital sounder. While Lowrance is under new ownership (http://www.navico.com) and I liked fiddling with the unit at Bass Pro Shop and got a good pitch from them, the negative emails and other reponses and my familiarity with the Garmin made me feel more comfortable with that purchase.

Thanks for all the feedback I did think the Lowrance was a pretty cool unit from my in store fiddling

[phunter552]

I have replaced my lowrance with garmin due to several problems , lowrance will spend more time giving you the run around then trying to help you

[Dave Sikorski]

I have a lowrance 332C w/ an external antenna and have trouble keeping a GPS fix. I'm on my second antenna now and it's still iffy.

The unit resets itself now and again too.

I have fished on a few boats with Garmin's recently and haven't heard any complaints or seen any problems.

My Lowrance will do on my little boat for now, but one too many mess ups at the wrong time and I will make it swim.

I'll go Garmin on the next go round.

-D

-D

[ancient mariner]

HI:
I'm not happy with LOWRANCE.
Bought a 111LC last year BEFORE the 113 came out. Sales people said they are UPWARD compatible. BULLSXXX!. When I called LOWRANCE to get the UPDATE, they said "SORRY". no go. Ok. My fault, I shoud NOT have listened to the sales people at BXXX PRX XXXX.

I live in Deltona Florida, where there are LOTS of competent Elctronic installers and experts.

I called LOWRANCE after I had a marine Electronics guy install the system. Worked for about 6 months.
Called LOWRANCE abouta GPS not working properly. They said"DISCONNECT EVERYTHING and ship it all back to them " WTF CHARLEY, I would have to take everything apart from under the consoleand EVERYWHERE ELSE ? I asked them to give me a name of someone who could come down to the boat (23 foot DUSKY) or where I could take it to get it worked on. They said "SORRY" you HAVE to send it back.
Problem was and still is the GPS portion doesn't give continuous reads. the track system doesn't work(see sentence before this) and some other problems that I won't even mention now.
As for me, after spend 2500 + getting it installed correctly, that darned thing isn't working properly.
OH, PARDONE ME.....THE FISHFINDER DOES WORK AS ADVERTISED. The rest.............
Wackm 'N STACKm
Joseph B...aka...Ancient Mariner
www.ancientmarinertackle.com

[clacy]

I've had two and just assumed that electronics have problems in salty air..... Then I got my first garmin. I've now had three garmins and there is no comparison. I now have a garmin on one boat and a Furuno on the other. Both are worlds easier to use and neither has had any problems yet..... ? I don't sell anything and I just fish when I can but I find it hard to believe anyone using one in saltwater could compare Lowrance to the other two companies.

you're kidding right ??? i lost count of the problems i've had with lowrance units...their customer support has got to be the absolute worst...the garmin units are a great product,there's no comparison...garmin hands down...
and one of those problems was a set of my own,out of warranty by 1 month i would never reccomend anyone ever purchase a lowrance product,ever !!