Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Well, my old Garmin 140 Blue depthfinder died on my ocean going boat. I need a depth finder, as I use it for navigating channels, locating fish, finding the right spot to drop shrimp and crab pots,and so on. So an upgrade is always welcome. Newer technology can make a huge difference, so I bought this for a few reasons. Much newer than my old Garmin, bigger screen, a COLOR screen, and features. I already have a GPS chartplotter so I have no need for a combo unit.
Installing the unit was a snap - the directions were clear and concise. It fit on my dash well, in the old Garmin spot and looks great. The screen is AMAZING... very bright, clean and razor sharp even in direct sunlight. The pixel resolution is fantastic! Having a color unit is great, easy on the eyes and very welcome. Installing the transducer was another story though.
Running the transducer from the transom, to the helm area, was an eye opener. Actually physically installing it was easy enough. But really... a 20ft cable? This is touted as having the ability to run to 1200 feet in depth, and there is a 'saltwater' setting, so one would think a bigger boat. Not many small boats go out that deep, on the ocean, whatever. So you would think they would be thinking people with slightly larger boats would be buying these. So only a 20ft cable on the transducer?!?!? Seriously? And guess what... you can buy extension cables to add 10ft. Way to make an extra buck. Even my old, basic Garmin had 10 extra feet of cable coiled up under the helm! If I hadn't had it all installed, cable run thru the dead spaces, and all... I may very well have returned the unit. I was pretty frustrated. And Amazon does not sell the extension! I was able to locate one, and have it shipped up pronto (thankfully) and it did work.
On the water, it took a massive amount of setting changes to get it to read the bottom accurately, as well as a bit of adjusting on the transducer. The transducer directions were clear enough, but it takes a bit of fine tuning to get a solid, accurate read. It would lose the bottom, it would say I was in shallow water (when I was in over 800') and so on. But eventually I was able to get the angle and height right, as well as the settings. I'm mostly happy with the unit now, although it does seem to flake out occasionally and lose the bottom even when sitting still (It always gets it back in a minute or two). It may need some super fine tuning, but for the most part it is accurate.
I gave the unit 3 stars for the reason of the cable length... it is simply ridiculous that a depthfinder for deep water, and salt water, would only have a 20' cable. I do not have a huge boat... only 24'. And the run from the back of the boat, up the transom, thru any fittings, all the way to the helm station, I would venture a guess that anyone with a boat longer than 17' would need the extension. Had I been smart, and run the cable to size it without actually running it thru all the tight spaces and found out about the short length I would have sent it back. Otherwise, the unit is a 4-5 star unit, depending on if I can fine tune it to stop losing the bottom.
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