Pinpoint or Lowrance

[Kelly]

What is the best way to go to rig a tournament boat with electronics? I have a pinpoint 7520 on the dash and a Lowrance up front and I'd like to know what the best way to go is. I will not buy the Pinpoint bowmount as it's way to much money and it's reliability is suspect from what I've heard and seen and to send something back repeatedly for repair is not my idea of fun. The Pinpoint 7520 is however the best sonar unit I've ever had and can't imagine any better but the Lowrance X15 I've heard is also good and has the GPS available also. I want to do the right thing once and for all so any input is very much appreciated. Thanks all.

[Gumbo]

If you like the 7520, put a 7500 on the bow. I've never had a hiccup with either of mine. Plus, you can take advantage of networking. That's one thing with the Pinpoints--if you have one it's great, but add another component and they become greater than the sum of their parts.

[Gary Gray]

If you have never seen the X-15, or the X-16 in use, you owe it to yourself to check them out. If you want a confidence builder, call Lance Lemmen at: 1-616-837-6531 daytime, or evenings at 1-616-837-9251.
He has run pinpoint for years, and has just switched this year to Lowrance X-15's for both fishfinder, and GPS.

Hope this helps,
Gary Gray

[matt thompson]

I answer this question every day, and everyone has an opinion but most of those opinions are solicited(sponsor),or "my buddy had one of those and he said it never worked..." type of deals. Here is my opinion,and yes I am on the Pinpoint prostaff,but I also work in retail where we sell every unit on the market. Graph wise you can not make a comparison to the Pinpoint,they are the fastest graphs on the planet (with a 17 year patent) I can compare Lowrance to Garmin, Bottom line to Vexilar, and so on but you can not take those and throw them in the ring with Pinpoint it's not an even match out of the gate in my opinion they are the cleanest,strongest, stand-alone sonar available, now the kicker I don't like their G.P.S. and personally I like the Raytheon 425 for a stand-alone G.P.S.,but not everyone has room for two units,and that brings me to Lowrance, I still have a LMS 350-A in my garage and I'll tell anyone,every company out here owes lowrance a little hug, they created an affordable combo market, and everyone else jumped on board, The sonar in the X-15 is excellent, as close as you can get to the Pinpoint without buying a Genetron, and minus the Waas reciever the most complete G.P.S. on the market. So if you ask me I would say if you want a graph go Pinpoint, if you want a combo go Lowrance. I hope I havn't offended any of the other brands they each have their own niche just trying to answer the question. Good luck with your choice.
Matt Thompson

[Reels]

Nice honest post Matt, thanks for the info.

Have another question for you if you dont mind. Is the sonar in the
X-15 any better that my LMS350?

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[JB]

Matt,

What is your opinion about a chartplotter that shows contours? How much does resolution matter on one of these units?
Thanks

[matt thompson]

Reels, your LMS 350-A is a 300watt, 200 pixel unit, that has a consistant 3-3 1/2" target seperation, it also runs about 6-8 pixels per second, the x-15 is 4000watts, 480x350 pixels with a consistant 2-2 1/2" seperation, so on paper the comparison isn't even close, but the x-15 has had a few software glitches in it's short history so far so we will have to wait and see for 2002-2003, if it works it's going to have a lot of satisfied customers.

JB, resolution on the screen is not a real big deal right now simply because the maps are not carrying to many contour lines and other detail into your chips, that being said, the more detail they start trying to carry over the more resolution thats going to be needed, personally I'm more than satisfied with my Hot-Maps, but some of the new Real Bottom maps are incredible, I just don't know if I want that much detail on my screen, kinda intimidating.

I hope I've answered your questions, and remember electronics are like bad news from the doctor, you should always get a second opinion.
Matt Thompson

[matt thompson]

Sorry it's supposed to say 3000 watt for the Lms 350-A, wish a keyboard was as easy to use as a graph! Matt

[Reels]

Another great post Matt, thanks,

OK, while your on a role, what is target seperation?

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[matt thompson]

Hey Reels, your killing me here (typing is definately not my forte')but basically target seperation is pulling all those pixels you pay the extra money for, apart, fish from the weeds, fish from the bottom, fish from fish (bait), instead of lumping bait together lets say into one large fish. It can be more technical than that but as you can tell from my typing skills I'm a pretty nuts and bolts guy. Matt

[not.electguru]

i am just a regular guy that fishes alot and has many fishing friends.
i also have heard of many, many fishermen that are changing to lowrance from p.p. because of technical problems. i personally have had many occassions to fish with all the major brand electronics and it is clear that lowrance is the top of the line.
there is no way i would use p.p. over the x-15 and x-16 models.
lowrance has a far superior product in all aspects.
i realize this post is missing alot of numbers and technical jargon. be that as it may, in reality and fishing terms, lowrance rules.

[Driftr]

Matt,
Do you sell the pinpoints? If so email me. I have some issues to discuss with a person. Ever since Motorguide took them over they are not a very personal company.
Thanks
Disgruntled Driftr lol :-)

[Curt De Boer]

Matt, what dont you like about the pinpoint GPS? The lowarance x-15 you have to program each area of the country and pack along "flashcards" and the pinpoint has the whole thing built in and ready..(If I understood the salesman, who sold both)

I would value your thinking on this matter...

[Gumbo]

I agree--Matt, I too would like to hear your comments on the Pinpoint GPS. Email me Dennis@Climbing-Guides.com if you'd rather (somehow my email address is getting munched; Dennis @ Climbing-Guides.com without the spaces around the @ sign).

Thanks.

[Cornhusker]

Matt, I too would like to hear why you feel the way you do about pinpoint Gps. I am a happy owner of a 7520 and 2700. My email is deboer777@cox.net

[fishy1]

Not familiar with what unit you want but I've read that if it's in color it's good for boats with cabins or mostly shaded if it's black and white good for bright sun and has good backlighting at night

[fishy1]

the best way to explain target seperation would be .
depth finder spots fish you catch target .
2nd target wife says you can't go fishing tomorrow aim HOOKS at wife

[CJW]

I've had the pinpoint 7520 and 3700 motor for 2 years now and not a glitch so far, so I don't think its every unit out there!! I'd buy one again in a minute! As Matt said all the rest do not have the scroll rate a pinpoint does, because of that patent pinpoint owns for 17 more years!! Its the highest there is until someone gets it better. Doubt that will happen for some time. Everyone that I hear changing is because of the service they have had since motorguide has taken over. Different issue to me! I'll keep mine I love it. But would like to know the dislikes about the gps too Matt. Craig

[matt thompson]

I guess it's not so much as not likeing the P.P. gps, as likeing some of the others so much more. I like being able to put in my Hot-Map of say, Mille Lacs or the Woods and having that on screen refrence, no that doesn't mean it takes the place of my paper maps, it's just a refrence, and the P.P. does not have that capability YET. I ran a P.P. gps last season, in fact I was one of the few people to have a P.P. gps last season and as it sits right now I think it's a perfect bowmount gps, but without the maps I am opting to keep it on the bow, that being said P.P. has a chance to become the elite in gps with two things in my opinion, one, get the detail, but not in cd form, we need to be able to just buy the chip and pop it in, two, P.P. is the only company with network capability, if we can network the gps info the same way the motor and transducer info is relayed I will be the first to climb the mountain and sing it's praises, until then P.P. gps on my bow, P.P. motor, graph with gps on the bow, P.P. graph on my console and at my kicker, and a Raytheon 425 on my console.

Drifter, I sent you an e-mail a while back, did your service issue get handled? if not give me a call at Thornes. and I'll try to help, I'm at the St. Paul boat show for the next three days but I'll be back on Mon.

Matt

[Geno]

I just bought a couple 7520's, marine radio, Ram mounts, and some other goodies to rig an 1800 Lund Fisherman that just hit town this week. I could have made the purchase locally but bought from Thorne Bros. because of Matt and his knowledge of these products. Matt can sell you any sonar like some of the dealers here in central Ohio, but you won't talk to anyone around here that knows electronics like Matt does. Oh yea, I didn't buy the Pinpoint GPS either. When Matt starts talking, I listen. My $.02.

Hey Matt, the UPS guy showed up yesterday, thanks for the service too !

[Driftr]

Matt,
My 7520 is now at its second destination. The first one was a local to me that just was denied as a Pinpoint Service center. So they told me they were sending it somewhere else. I got a call today from somewhere I have never heard of, Fishermans Friend. All I know is that it is there & fixed. But now the problem seams to be that the old factory service is closed & there may be no record of the service authorization number that was issued to me for the repair. What is the real issue is that I got this back from Pinpoint broken. I originally sent it in for one problem & it came back with a broken backlight. Fishermans friend wants me to send them a copy of my sales agreement which I no longer have. I have about had it & don't know where to turn now. Too bad this company sold out to Motorguide.
This is a total mess
Jim

[Otter]

I bought my Pinpoint (2-7520's and a 3700) when they were an independent company. Customer service was outstanding. Now that they have been bought out I am almost to the point where I would hesitate to buy again. I wish (but doubt) that the Brunswick idiots would read what the fishing community thinks they have done to one fine company and do something to rectify the situation.

[Driftr]

My exact thoughts. I have to say Brunswick does make a good BOWLING BALL. :-)
Driftr

[livebait]

I am in a unique sititation where i have seen alot of the systems on the water with reps and local pros and guides and have seen a wide variety of units.I personally opted for a for the x15mt for the dash and HIGHLY cosidered the 7520 with a 3700 bow mount but decided against it due to two things:

1.I do not want to end up recalibrating the system 2 to 3 times per year from the head taking to sharp a turn on depth lock feature(although from what ive heard its not very difficult but have never seen/or done it myself).
2.The new service has not proven to be as good as years past.

However when and if they do get back to the old service I will consider trading the lpg system off. And if they do intergrate the new gps to run the routes off bow mount systems(and I think this is the next logical step for them)I will be the first in line for it.

One should keep the pinpionts in mind they are a terific system to learn new lakes/rivers or find areas your maps dont show you.