Looking to switch to Garmin…help?

I’m running llwrance now but want to switch to Garmin. I’ve never liked my lowrance, but it’s what the boat had. I was going to go back to a bird, but I love that the maps are all built in on the garmin.

This all said, I don’t know much about the Garmin units as far as differences between them. My budget would be around 500-700. I’d want sonar and gps of course, and then whatever additional features I can (side imaging etc) in that price range. Would anyone have suggestions regarding what units I should look at and why?

The 94SV Plus units can be had for around $700 if you find one on sale and are a fantastic unit for the price. Touch screen with built in mapping, SI/DI/2D transducer included as well.

I think you meant 93SV as that comes with lake maps. 94SV comes with blue water (coastal) maps. I have a 93SV and love it!

For the price range you indicated it would be hard to pass the sales now for the EchoMap Plus 93SV. Cabelas and Basspro both have these on sale for around $599 or less. You may have to call to get the deal as they may not have them advertised. Also if you are on Facebook there are couple other sources which will be in the same ballpark or less. Lots of places are running out of current stock and the next ones out will be higher. These units are also compatible with Panoptix and Livescope if you want to upgrade someday.

Call Reeds.

Make sure you get a 93SV with the GT52 transducer not the CV52.

I too have been looking at these units and have been going back and forth between the striker plus and the ecomap plus. I’m leaning toward the ecomap because of the preloaded maps but with mainly fishing the river and some smaller unmapped lakes I’m not sure it’s worth the extra cost. They both come capable of downloading maps via the active captain app but I’m having trouble finding what maps available to download. I’m also not sure if there is a cost associated with them. If anyone has any first hand experience with using active captain I’m all ears.

popcorn…to answer as simply as I can:
Active captain maps will be on your phone/tablet and not on your head unit.

I would recommend getting the echomap plus.
The features and additional options to add onto the unit are well worth the investment.

I know i’m a bit late returning to this, been exceptionally busy and haven’t had time to get back here yet. At any rate, looking online now i’m mostly finding that 93sv for nearly 1,000 bucks. Anyone have any sources still offering the price closer to 599 as mentioned in earlier comments?

They are getting real hard to find by now. You may have to call or visit in-store at the bigger box stores rather than online. Gander, Cabelas/Bass Pro or Reeds. The are also some lesser known places such as Bass Tank, Briggs Hennesy and more if I can think of them. FaceBook has a couple forums devoted to Garmin where they are sometimes listed, but scarce at this point. Also lots of info at: http://www.bbcboards.net/forumdisplay.php?f=204 where you might find some answers. Also see some on Ebay.

I have garmin and humminbird in my boat. I like the lakemaster chip with the Humminbird vs the garmin preloaded maps.The Humminbird has better Side imaging vs garmin. Haven’t had issues with either one.

Picked me up some garmin’s today. Can’t wait to get them installed!

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I just got the 93sv installed and have been playing with the base maps a little bit, just looking at some of the lakes that I fish. Seems most of them are very well mapped already, though i haven’t been on the water with it yet to see how accurate they are.