Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating - View Single Post

gf2020 · 01-24-2006, 01:03 PM

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.

01-24-2006, 01:03 PM	#2
gf2020 Registered User Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: North of Boston Posts: 444	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.