Is this a good unit, I really did not want to buy a new gps, especially a combo unit but at under 600.00 it looks to be a very good deal. What are the pros, and cons of combo units

Can't speak to the 198 specifically, however, you may want to wait for the new 298 or 498 which are coming out in March. I imagine the 198 prices will drop even further.

I have a 238 B&W combo unit and it has been flawless for 2 seasons. In the first season the transducer broke right off the boat while making a crossing from MV to Falmouth and Garmin sent me out a new one no questions asked. (There was a known bad batch of Airmar P66 transducer brackets.)

The down side to the combo units is the screen can get rather busy when you are running in a split view and of course, if one function breaks you are out of luck with the other function while the unit is being fixed.

I have limited real estate on my console, however, so the single big screen 238 was a good selection for me. I have the Garmin BlueChart chips for "South Maine" and "Cape Cod" which gives me coverage from Penobscot Bay to New London.

I think I am gonna pass for now, I think a color ff is more important.

I have a gps that works, but I can no longer get the cartography on Micro G cards cause Garmin does'nt make them any more.

we have the 182c, it is the best thing we could have bought for the boat..The color is great, you can see it all the way from the back of the boat perfect! Nights it really helps out to or early morning with fog! go color you wont regret it!

i have the 188c and it is fantastic. i don't have experience with the 198c, but i doubt you would be dissapointed.