Quote:
Originally Posted by nightfighter
I also had the 188c, which I upgraded this year to a Raymarine A78, which I bought off of a member here. So here is my take on what you need to be aware of; The new units often have an internal antenna. The technology of the sonar, downscan and sidescan is what you are really upgrading. The downscan/chirp is very good and when displayed side by side with the basic sonar, you will realize how many ghost images we use to react to. I did not get the sidescan, but could easily make use of it. The sidescan is available with an upgrade of transducer. Transducer is the greatest variable for your cost, imo. I like the touch screen. As for the gps, mine has Navionics gold charts. Not impressed. Preferred the Garmin Bluecharts much more..... Don't know if the Navionics Platinum is worth $199 given my experience with their Gold charts. That said, I am still learning the unit's functions and variable settings. I really need to reach out to someone at Navionics to see if I am missing something in set up. I was expecting more detail. I was originally looking at Simrad, before Peter listed this unit in classifieds, and the entry price sealed the deal. If I were to do it again, I would probably go with Garmin. I am not missing the sidescan but would like to try it. Hope this helps.
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Good info, thanks. I did a lot of research last night, the new sonar tech looks great. But I am not a huge user of the fish finder other than to pinpoint structure or sometimes bait, and I had no issue with what I had been using. So, spurred on by comments by riff_raff & clammer, I am probably going to try to find a used 188c.
Thanks guys! From me & my wallet!!!
Z