Garmin 540s

[MarvJ]

Hi all, Late fall of 2008 I bought a Trophy 1802. I've had it out twice to get use to it and make sure i can get back to where i started. Its been fun getting her ready for the upcoming season.

Anyways, was wondering if anyone has any comments about the Garmin 540s GPS. The GPS portion is in my opinion great. Easy to use and gets me where i want to be. That in itself was the selling point for me. The sonar portion they claim can be used as a fishfinder but i have my doubts and havent really played with it that much. New to fishfinders and was wondering if anyone has used one and/or if its adaquate for the bay. If not what make and model of color fishfinder would anyone recommend.
Thanks in advance . . MarvJ

[waterfoul]

I sell the Garmin units. Their GPS is TOP NOTCH. But their fishfinders just don't compare to a good Humminbird or Lowrance unit. If you can float the coin... check out the new HDS units from Lowrance. You won't believe the clarity and accuracy of these units. And yes, you can buy just and HDS fishfinder without GPS.

[SalmonBum]

Hi all, Late fall of 2008 I bought a Trophy 1802. I've had it out twice to get use to it and make sure i can get back to where i started. Its been fun getting her ready for the upcoming season.

Anyways, was wondering if anyone has any comments about the Garmin 540s GPS. The GPS portion is in my opinion great. Easy to use and gets me where i want to be. That in itself was the selling point for me. The sonar portion they claim can be used as a fishfinder but i have my doubts and havent really played with it that much. New to fishfinders and was wondering if anyone has used one and/or if its adaquate for the bay. If not what make and model of color fishfinder would anyone recommend.
Thanks in advance . . MarvJ

Garim Fishfinders are great in my book, you just hafta take the time and learn to use them, but that is with any unit. I can make a $90 Fishfinder work like you wouldn't beleive when properly set up, or I can make a $3000 fishfinder not work at all. But no matter how well the display is set up, that still means poo if the transducer isn't installed correctly. Personally, I recommend Garmin for guys that have an avg to above average spending Limit. If money isn't a concern, than Simrad is the way to go. From my experience I have seen the most failures in Lowrance and Raymarine stuff. Humminbird use to have their fair share of issues, but I think they have come a long way. High frequencies used to be their thing, but they have been doing the 50 kHz more and more. If I wasn't bolting down a Garmin, I would serious look into one of the new 900 series Birds.

[pwiethe]

I bought a factory refurbished Garmin 545 (chartplotter only) from Tiger GPS for $499. Can't tell the difference from a new unit and it still comes with a Garmin factory warranty. The 545 comes preloaded with US coastal maps (including the Great Lakes). I kept the original Lowrance sonar on my boat, so the Garmin is just for GPS capability.

[MarvJ]

Want to thank everyone who took the time to respond. I'll be spending the summer getting to know my boat and playing with the Garmin unit. As the summer goes on and if i'm not satisfied with it i'll start researching a stand-a-lone fishfinder. Thanks again for you comments. R/MarvJ