Garmin

[squarehook]

I'm thinking about buying the garmin 168 map/sonar,does anbody have one,and how do you like it? thanks for the info

[FISHINFEVER]

I have a garmin 188, it's just one size up from the 168. I love it. it's very user friendly. It has many options on different screens and different feilds that you can select. Garmin has a top product.

[Upnorthwalleye1]

I just bought the GPS162--Yours without the sonar---Love the unit!!!--Buddy has the GPS182---And that's really nice also!!---The only thing I'm against is having both your sonar and GPS in one unit---Something goes wrong and you loose both--Plus with the 168, it's a smaller screen size and for me, having both up in one window would get to me after awhile---I'm not buying the unit so please don't take this in a negative way ok----Just wanted to give you something to think about-----Good luck on you purchase and good fishing!!!!----Ray---Upnorthwalleye

[rebs]

I really checked out the garmin units and lowrance units

I bought the lowrance LMS-240 and I think it is great, I felt it was more bang for the bucks. no more buying maps for every lake, the map create 6 covers the entire USA and you make custom lake maps with it and load them on a MMC and right into the unit

Gaylans has the 240 for 469.00
boatersworld has it in their catalog for 499.00 and online for 569.00

just my feelings

[squarehook]

thanks for your input'i'll shop around some more and see what elae is out there.have any more ideas please post, thanks

[Pliers]

I was planning to get a 162 this spring. Then I did a lot of shopping around. Garmin's web site lets you do a comparison. I didn't like the fact that you couldn't add a data card (I think) to the 162. I don't think you will be happy with the base map and will want to add data from CD ROM or another source. I ended up purchasing a Garmin 215 new off e-bay. The retail price was around $1400 and I verified in some older Marine catalogs that was the selling price. There were a couple companies that were unloading them for around $400-$450 including the DGPS feature. The 215 has about a 7" screen. I absolutely love it. I wasn't happy with the base map so I bought a lake erie g-chart (chip). It was a wise decision. The charts include depths. The only way to get depths with a CD ROM is to go with the fishing hot spots. You have to pay more money if you want to unlock more than one area (typically a state or group of states). You can view the CD rom map detail on garmin's web site also. That is my 2cents. Oh yeah, I also unloaded my 1996 Raytheon GPS on e-bay for $200 to offset the cost of the new unit.

[Upnorthwalleye1]

Pliers------I saw that unit and thought about bidding on it!!!! hahah----The only thing with those discontinued models is that they don't accept the new HotSpot Map Data-----At least the ones I looked at----Does that unit???--My GPS162 is on the Fed Ex truck for delivery today!!!---Yahoo--I love new toys!----Good fishing to you----Ray...........Upnorthwalleye