Lowrance Color Units

Looking for some knowledge in the Color unit department;
I'm going to buy Lowrance so please don't tell me to look at other brands. Lowrance is what all my friends have and they can help teach me how to use them if I have questions. I have a B/W sonar only that I'm going to keep at my kicker location in the back. I'm looking at a X27 for the dash and wondering about a new color sonar only for the bow, and a color GPS only unit that I can move from bow to stern depending on my presentation that day. What models would you all suggest? Or should I just get 2 X27's and move one from front to back. X112 is out. I want to keep this under $2000 total. I guess I'm wondering about the globalmaps and how they work.
Thanks for any advise.

I bought two of the Lowrance LMS-520C units and love them. I use one at the console and one on the bow. I am running both of them with the split screen sonar/GPS right now when I'm fishing the river. In the summer when I fish Lake Erie I am going to move the unit from the bow back to the console and run one for GPS and the other for sonar. These are great units! With the NMEA network you can share one antenna, share waypoints between the units, add fuel flow meters, etc. You do need separate transducers (or a selector switch) for each unit if you want to see the sonar graph. You can share digital depth between the units.

I don't see how you could go wrong with two of the 27C's. You could also get one 27C and two 520C's for around $2000. You probably won't need to buy the antenna and transducer for each unit. I believe you can buy the "unit only" from Cabelas. I would make sure you have enough room on your console to mount everything. If you use two of the 27C's next to one another that takes up a lot of space.

Good luck and enjoy them. There's a lot of features packed into these great little units.

[CarpetBagger]

Lowrance's Bandwagon Marketing at its finest.....

I will not tell you to look at other units, if you are set on a lowrance get one. However i will say that 90% of the recreational products out there are very similar in operation and "user-friendlyness".

Why is LCX 112 out?. It is a color 10" TFT screan that is extremly bright...Good features include dual 50/200 frequencies. Gps capibilities are also good with the proper software. It is an ok combo unit and you can get one for around $1,900.

___________________________
CB

[Eyez]

"I will not tell you to look at other units, if you are set on a lowrance get one. However i will say that 90% of the recreational products out there are very similar in operation and "user-friendlyness"."


Yeah, I agree. That's actually why I buy lowrance. If nobody else can produce a superior product, I'll buy the brand that's the most popular, if for no other reason than that it will be easier to sell if I decide to do that.

Thanks to SE MI for the thoughts and reviews of the products. I've read CB's gripes about Lowrance and his push for some kind of popular saltwater units that I've never heard of. Like I said I will be buying Lowrance for the reasons stated. The 112 /113 is out because I need more than one unit for my $2000. I'd love to have one but that's just a bit excessive on the pocketbook. Thanks in advance for any other info.

[Eyez]

If cash is a big issue (as it is for me) you can get a little better bang for the buck by looking at eagle models. I'm in the market for a new sonar (my lms-350a works great, but I'd like something color), but I'm having a hard time swallowing the price tag for the newest and greatest lowrance branded product. Eagle electronics are almost identical to lowrance (same company), and operation should be almost identical. An example would be the fishmark 640 and the x510c. The 640 is actually more pixels per inch and it's anywhere from $50 to $100 less than the lowrance unit. Very similar otherwise. Especially in a standalone GPS since resolution isn't as important as on a sonar. Just a thought anyway.

lowrance is coming out with two new units this month, a 37 and a 38 they have 8 and a quarter inch screen. Both are color. Cost is aroun 1500 You could get one of these and a 334 for about 2000

I got a unit from these guys. Saved a few bucks and was pleased with turn oround time. Just be sure you check which unit you want (which transducer...) and hit buy now for price.

http://www.boatersland.com/lowfishfinders.html

You can get equiped nicely for 2K

Rich

[Burr]

For Lowrance, on a budget - I'd look at new, non-current models. For example, you mentioned a GPS only unit (which I would advise against), the 7500 is a 10.4" GPS only unit that retailed for @$1800 and is now on sale for $1000-1050. Spoke with someone last week that purchased one for $650... It may take some time, but watch for sales on non-currents. Cabela's just blew out a bunch of non-current Lowrances.

Lowrance has been replacing their entire lineup every year - buying current year models is nice, but expensive.