Lowrance/nauticpath

[deniseO30]

I have one of the H2O handheld GPS and the nauticpath chart of the usa. It's been real ok for my limited use and experiance. It's always been correct on channels, bouys, depth, etc.

Here's my questions; Almost none of the mainstream sellers sell/offer lowrance? Boaters World sold it to me but even they push Garmin. Everywhere it's Garmin. What's up? The nauticpath mini disc was only $99.00 I think the Garmins are 100 bucks for each area?. I would like to get a larger chartplotter someday so I can Navigate without my reading glasses

[sailingdog]

A lot of the Garmins have the inland or coastal water charts for the US pre-loaded... and as such are a relative bargain. These small chart plotters start at about $500 or so, depending on the model.

[BarryL]

Hello Denise,

I am very happy with Lowrance. My first GPS was a hand held Garmin unit with a built in map. My second was a Lowrance combo SONAR / Chartplotter. It had the charts built in.

My current unit is a Lowrance LMS527CDF, another combo SONAR / Chartplotter. This one has a high res 5" color screen. I bought the same chart you have, and it's great. All the marine Points of Interest are there, including every marina I have ever heard of. It also has tide and current information, etc.

Barry

[SEMIJim]

Dunno, Denise. I ran into the same thing at a WM store.

After researching it (you can find the thread in Gear & Maintenance if you look for it), I was going to go with a current-year Lowrance. Seemed to offer more bang for the buck. But here's the odd thing: The previous year's Garmin, which actually had lower screen resolution than the Lowrance, appeared to have a more clear, readable display. And I liked the "feel" of the unit better. Felt more substantial to me. In the end, going by "best price from a reputable on-line reseller": I was able to get the Garmin 498C with built-in cartography, in-hull sonar transducer and external antenna, shipping and all, for more than $100 less than the approximate equivalent Lowrance unit, by the time I added cartography to the Lowrance.

So I ended-up with a Garmin, after all.

Jim

[deniseO30]

Seems that Lorance is a "back of the store, bottom shelf" item if it's stocked at all. For now and the forseeable furture I'll stay with my H20 handdheld. A friend has a plotter on his boat that's about a 6" square screen (garmin I think) .. NICE! don't need reading glasses! LOL

[JimsCAL]

Denise:

I also have a Lowrance iFinder H2O witb the Nauticpath card. I like it a lot. Defender does sell Lowrance units and has great prices. I bought the chart card from them for under $70. There a number of larger Lowrance plotters that also use the Nauticpath card, so you could upgrade for an attractive price.

[deniseO30]

Duh.. Jim! your right!

[rbensyl]

From my limited amount of research, I am leaning toward getting this H2o unit also, and then later on a Lowrance chartplotter- I like the idea that I can just take my nauticpath card and then use it in the new unit without having all of the costs of starting over again with different brand.