Bargain GPS Sonar Suggestions

I want to put some type of sonar on the tritoon that will plot a course, save a few waypoints, and have some mapping data for the Mississippi River. This is only for cruising and not fishing. My biggest hope is to find something that maps some/most/all of the wingdams for relatively cheap as my wife likes taking it out with friends but “wants a map thing like the fishing boat.” A small screen is actually ideal to take up less console space. It won’t ever be used for fishing either so a bare bones unit is ideal.

Questions:

Will a basic Helix 5 with GPS have the river maps preloaded? My Helix 9G2 does.

Does a Garmin Striker with the GPS have preloaded maps? This unit is nice and slim taking up the least dash space but the mapping I played with in the store didn’t seem to be detailed.

Are there other relatively cheap choices that do the same with reliable mapping?

To get the preloaded maps in a Garmin you have to step up to the Echomap Series

(a big reason why the Striker series is so cheap)

B-man wrote:

To get the preloaded maps in a Garmin you have to step up to the Echomap Series

(a big reason why the Striker series is so cheap)

That makes sense. Thanks. Do you know if that model would show details for the river?

I would get a helix 5 with a power cord off ebay and the proper map chip for it. The wing dams have been there for years so even a used old version of the map chip should work well. I cannot see spending more than 250 bucks total if you went the used route. Ebay has head units for pretty cheep often times.

jbg1219 wrote:

I would get a helix 5 with a power cord off ebay and the proper map chip for it. The wing dams have been there for years so even a used old version of the map chip should work well. I cannot see spending more than 250 bucks total if you went the used route. Ebay has head units for pretty cheep often times.

From what I can see, any Helix 5 with GPS wouldn’t even need the map chip as the preloaded maps show wingdams and such?

If any IDOers are selling a unit with GPS that fits my need, let me know. Spending ~$350+ for a small new unit that does this seems pointless if a used one would do the same.

When you decide what you want to buy check out https://www.boemarine.com/ for the sonar units and Amazon for the map chip.

buckybadger wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>B-man wrote:</div>
To get the preloaded maps in a Garmin you have to step up to the Echomap Series

(a big reason why the Striker series is so cheap)

That makes sense. Thanks. Do you know if that model would show details for the river?

All the units on the shelves should have everything that Navionics shows (Garmin bought them out a couple years ago)