Garmin 7600 Series XSV Units on my WX 2190

I’ve had a couple big changes this year as an angler from an equipment perspective. One, instead of running a Skeeter MX2025 like I’ve fished from for the last 2 season, I’ve opted to go with a WX 2190. Boat photos here >>> New Boat Thursday.

Another big switch this year was the move from Humminbird to Garmin electronics. I figured “in for a penny, in for a pound” so I went with three of the Garmin 7600 series XSV touch screen units. So far I’m head over heels in love with these new Garmin units and I thought I’d start to share what’s worked well for me with regards to rigging and transducer placement as well as show some of the results.

I have my WX 2190 rigged with two units on the dash. On the dash I have a 10″ screen on the left which I use for GPS mapping and a 12″ unit on the right which I use as my primary sonar unit. The third unit has been rigged so it can float from the bow to the rear of the boat at the kicker depending on how I’m fishing for the day. If I’m trolling that third unit gets installed at the back of the boat in the track so I can see it when running the kicker, manning downriggers or setting planer board lines. When I’m jigging or casting that third unit is moved to the bow. All units are networked together using ethernet through the Garmin GMS-10 Network Expander at all locations so mapping and sonar data can be accessed from any location on any unit throughout the boat. So far this set-up is proving to be incredibly versatile and very user-friendly. Easy-cheesy, lemon-squeezy.

In a networked system like this, with the ability to select your sonar source from all available transducers, I wanted maximum flexibility from my traditional sonar, down imaging and side imagine transducers. And I wanted good high speed sonar performance that I was never able to get to work to my satisfaction on previous boats. For that reason I opted to rig the GT-50M Transom Mount Transducer which would provide down imaging, side imaging and CHIRP traditional sonar at low speeds.

Because I really wanted excellent high speed sonar capabilities from my system I elected to rig a dual-frequency 8-pin transducer as well. This additional $83 investment proved to be well-worth it in my opinion. I’m sure once you see the screen shots I’m going to attach you’ll see why.

I have the PanOptix PS-30 Down View transducer mounted on the step along the center line of the hull.

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   skeeter-garmins.jpg
   

Before I get too far I want to show where each transducer is located in case someone else out there is having issues with transducer placement. SBC – Chippewa Falls gets two thumbs up from me for absolutely nailing the transducer placement on my install which just so happens to be the first time they rigged out a boat with Garmin electronics. Thanks Eric!

Far Right in the attached photo is the smaller 8 pin – dual frequency transducer that is used to provide high speed sonar.

At the center line of the boat, highest on the transom (not up under the step) I have the GT-50M. This is my down imaging, side imaging and CHIRP sonar (used at low speeds) transducer.

And last, but certainly not least, the PanOptix PS30 transducer is installed at the center line of the boat tucked up under the step, immediately above the drain plug(s).

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   ducer-setup-2190.jpg
   

The high speed performance from the 8 pin, dual frequency transducer is better than I could have ever hoped.

On my previous boats I was lucky to get a bottom signal of any kind switching between the thru-hull OR external high speed transducer hung on the transom any time I’d get out over 60 feet of water. There were times I’d have issues obtaining a useable bottom return, including depth info, at trolling speeds any time I was in 80+ feet of water which caused me fits any time I fish any of the Great Lakes.

For reference, I’ve attached a photo to show what the Garmin will do with regards to deep water performance. I think we got it pretty well nailed down! Yes, that’s 700+ feet of water at nearly 30 MPH. In both the 200 & 50 khz frequencies. I was actually able to mark fish near bottom in 100+ feet at cruising speeds which is something that would have been impossible in the past.

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Phenomenal!

If anyone has any questions about the Garmin units, just holler. I need to run but I’ll be happy to help or share in any way I can as I get more and more comfortable with these great units. I hate to drop a tease and split but I haven’t even got to the PanOptix yet. It is even better than I had hoped. More on that in the coming days!

Those units are utterly amazing with what features they have.
woulnt mind seeing some playback of some sonar recordings of the Dual CHIRP sonar provides amazingly clear target separation and definition because it puts even more energy onto the target than CHIRP. It gives you the ability to show low/high, med/high or low/med on the screen at the same time, enhancing your ability to distinguish between game fish and balls of bait fish. (Easier to copy and paste)
Did you get the remote control or just gonna use your smartphone?
Congrats on the fine technoligy intalled on a mighty fine rig.

Very interesting on not going with the thru-hull duicer

Does the big motor get in the way of it mounted on the right side when looking toward the port side?

carver wrote:

Very interesting on not going with the thru-hull duicer

Does the big motor get in the way of it mounted on the right side when looking toward the port side?

I don’t have any issues with shadowing of the side imaging or any of the transducers for that matter.

hl&sinker wrote:

Those units are utterly amazing with what features they have.
woulnt mind seeing some playback of some sonar recordings of the Dual CHIRP sonar provides amazingly clear target separation and definition because it puts even more energy onto the target than CHIRP. It gives you the ability to show low/high, med/high or low/med on the screen at the same time, enhancing your ability to distinguish between game fish and balls of bait fish. (Easier to copy and paste)
Did you get the remote control or just gonna use your smartphone?
Congrats on the fine technoligy intalled on a mighty fine rig.

I’ll use my phone if / when a remote is needed. As for sonar recordings I’ve saved some already. As I get more time with the Garmins I’ll be sure to share my experiences as I go along.

James, how fast can you go and still mark fish out on superior? I think I’m gonna do some more high speed fish finding this year up there.

biggill wrote:

James, how fast can you go and still mark fish out on superior? I think I’m gonna do some more high speed fish finding this year up there.

Time will tell on that as I think I can greatly improve my overall sonar performance once I get deeper into the capabilities of my units. Right now I’m barely out of “full-auto” mode and starting to tweak. But I don’t think a guy can go too much faster than what I was going in the screen capture and get useful readings. And Superior itself is a huge limiting factor. When the screen capture was taken I was going as fast as the lake would allow. You know as well as I that there’s a lot of days we need to be happy to hit the low-20 MPH range when the lake gets nasty.

I’ll keep tweaking and report back what I find. There’s a couple key settings, namely shift, echo stretch and filter width, that have the potential to improve on the performance of these already impressive units.

Really interested to see how the Panoptix setup works.

hop307 wrote:

Really interested to see how the Panoptix setup works.

I can tell you this, initially I thought it would be another way to see existing sonar info the way traditional sonar and downview sonar can be different ways to display the same info. But that’s not the case. I’m working out the process for recording the PanOptix video stream and plan to spend some time next week gathering different comparison of what PanOptix can do, what it can do that other forms of sonar CAN’T do, and how I’m using it on the water to catch more fish.

The PanOptix screen can’t be recorded internally in the Garmin units but Garmin has an app you can run on your phone or tablet that CAN record the PanOptix info so it looks like I have a good solution for that problem in hand.

PS – for anyone wondering, that APP is called Garmin Helm. It allows you to control all functions of your electronics remotely from your phone or tablet AND record sonar video, including PanOptix, to your device. The recording of video is the key feature I plan to use from the Helm app… but time will tell what else I find in there after I get a chance to use it on the water.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-go/apps/garmin-helm-/prod152837.html

How are the mapping options? Is lakemaster or navionics available?

muskeye wrote:

How are the mapping options? Is lakemaster or navionics available?

The question regarding mapping was a big one for me prior to making the switch as I knew next to nothing about Garmin mapping offerings. For that reason I did a LOT of digging into what was available. Here’s what I’ve been able to find so far…

Lakemaster used to make maps for Garmin prior to Lakemaster being bought out by Johnson Outdoors. I’ve compared the maps for many of my favorite lakes in MN and WI and my opinion is that Garmin mapping products include the same level of detail found in a Lakemaster product prior to Johnson Outdoors purchasing them.

Here’s what I’ve been able to find about coverage comparing Garmin and Navionics. For the US Garmin offers 17000 lakes with 6,700 of those lakes being 1′ contour lakes.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/maps/on-the-water-maps/lakevu/u-s-lakevu-hd-ultra/prod148922.html

Navionics offers a total of 18,000 lakes with 2,500 of those being 1′ contour lakes.
http://www.navionics.com/en/hotmaps-premium_o

Garmin also offers an additional 13,500 lakes for Canada. Another thing to note, of the 6,700 lakes with 1 foot contours in the US. and 1,600 lakes with 1 foot contours in Canada, the Garmin HD lakes are mapped shoreline to shoreline. That is a big improvement in map quality to me as other HD mapping products start at 3′ instead of the actual shoreline.

Garmin INCLUDES all these lake maps pre-installed on their devices, and the LakeVu HD Ultra product (premium features, same maps) for $199.99 for one single region to cover the entire US. Or one single region to cover all of Canada.

Just so we’re comparing apples to apples, Navionics offers 18,000 lakes for the US AND Canada. Their maps are sold in 5 regions – and you have to purchase each region separately. LakeMaster is also sold by region so you get some serious mapping bang for your buck with Garmin.

If I missed more up-to-date info on map totals, etc., please post in a follow up email. This is the best info I can find to date.

I’ve also been told that Garmin’s cartography department plans to make a big push to add many new lakes over the coming season. I find that quite comforting because it tells me Garmin is serious about their freshwater mapping. Along the way while researching mapping options I found out that Garmin’s cartography department is twice the size of Navionic’s and Lakemaster’s combined. I guess that should have been more obvious given Garmin’s history with making saltwater charts and maps for auto navigation but until I started digging I had no idea this was the case.

So far my experience with the Garmin LakeVu HD Ultra maps I’ve been running is that they’re very, very good. On par with the best I’ve used in Humminbird or Lowrance units. So it would seem to me if your decision to purchase a particular GPS unit came down to GPS map coverage and quality you’ll need to check to see which of the various mapping products best covers the lakes you fish the most. Garmin does seem to be right there at the front of the pack with regards to total lakes surveyed, diversity of areas coveraged and total 1′ contour lakes offered.

So far the maps for the lakes I’ve fished since I’ve had my 2190 (LOTW, Superior, Minnetonka) have all been excellent.

Awesome info on the Garmins Right now I am in the process of switching from 2 humminbird onix units that have given me nothing but fits, lots of software issues. I see all this info on deep water. How does the 2D work in under 20 foot even as or shallow as 7 or 8 feet? I fish a lot of lakes in SD that barely touch that. Also how is the software on the Garmins any freeze ups, or other malfunctions?

Josh Freeseman wrote:

Awesome info on the Garmins Right now I am in the process of switching from 2 humminbird onix units that have given me nothing but fits, lots of software issues. I see all this info on deep water. How does the 2D work in under 20 foot even as or shallow as 7 or 8 feet? I fish a lot of lakes in SD that barely touch that. Also how is the software on the Garmins any freeze ups, or other malfunctions?

@freeseman

I had my rig out on Minnetonka last week and experienced very good performance from the 2D in shallow water with and without weeds. I didn’t have any bottom-lock issues which always plagued the units on my Skeeter last season.

As for lock-ups or freeze-up issues… none. Not even a hesitation so far. The software in these units is proving to be very reliable and stable.

I’ll get some screen caps and video recordings to share for the shallow water performance of the 2D sonar. I’ll be on the water Wednesday – Friday this week. Expect that info to post here early next week.

Awesome! Thanks James!

My Garmins will arrive this week! Excited is an understatement.

Out with the old, in with the new!

Andy Fiolka wrote:

My Garmins will arrive this week! Excited is an understatement.

Out with the old, in with the new!

What units are you going to rig, Andy?

This past weekend while fishing Mille Lacs and using the GPSMAP 7610sxv. So far everything that James has spoke about in his posts above I can attest to as well. I did download the Garmin Helm on my Samsung S6 phone and ran a 2nd unit from my phone as well as used my phone while sitting up front on the bow as the boat I was fishing out of had one unit by kicker and one on console. The Garmin Helm is very user friendly and I can see that it would be very useful with a tablet as well.

After 3 days of use with the Garmin I can say that it was very user friendly, easy to read, and very impressed with the mapping. I hope to have some more time with the Garmin units yet this summer to expand my learning curve as well.

We carry the full lineup here at SBC in both locations, if you have any direct questions I will do my best to answer. Feel free to email me or call.
[email protected] or 763-450-0400

@jamesholst

2 ECHOmap 93sv units, and possibly a third depending on how much room I have.

I would like to mount 2 on my dash, one for Mapping/GPS and the other for Side-Imaging/down-Imaging/2D. The question is how much room I have to work with on the WX1850 dash.

The other unit would be bow mounted, using and networked to share waypoints.

Really, a lot of bang for the buck in the ECHOmap series. More than any other manufacturer in the industry really. A 9″ unit with SI/DI/GPS(preloaded with great maps of the whole USA) and super clear 2D for $1200 is a steal. By far the easiest to navigate unit I’ve ever played with. Without looking at a manual whatsoever, I had figured out how to fly through most functions within 5 minutes of playing with it.

Cant wait.

@andy

Don’t forget Garmin has rebates on all the Echo Map series right now!

Even better @skeeter29

I will do a detailed report of the installation/setup of the ECHOmap units next weekend.