Fish finder with GPS

[Troller]

I am looking to purchase a sonar/ flasher/ gps unit any advice out there ??

[steve l]

Hey,
I have a 522C unit and it is awesome. Right now if I was looking to buy I'd look closely at the 5HD unit. It's all of the 522C and more, broadband sonar, ethernet ready, satelite radio ready... great looking unit.

[CaptainKenLee]

I agree with Steve, the 522 is a great unit and the new HD sonar's look awesome, but I'm not too fond of the internal antenna for the GPS, I'd wait and see how those are working before purchasing one with an internal GPS antenna. Check out http://www.tigergps.com they usually have some pretty decent prices and you should be able to find a unit that suits your needs.

[Troller]

Can the 522 be used for ice fishing ?

[pikeman]

I have the 522 with the internal antenna and it never has a problem locking on. And they do have a ice kit you can get for the 522 but I wouldn't use one for icefishing its a little overkill. You could get a lowrance x-67c ice machine to use on your boat and for icefishing and get a handheld gps(lowrance H20).

[steve l]

Another unit suited well for ice fishing and bowmount duty is the X68c. It has gps built in however the unit has its own mapping and doesn't except any map cards. The 522C would be awesome for ice duty but you would have to watch the battery closely, I believe the gps sucks power constantly and limits time out without re-charging- a great unit none the less.

[Frank S]

To me, map cards are a great option. Being able to see the structure before drilling any holes makes the whole location puzzle much easier. Just my personal opinion, I would not have a gps to use for fishing, open water or ice, that did not accept cards. Some of the higher end units have pretty good built in maps, but I've never seen one that compares to map cards. The new Lowrance Hi-Defs may be better than in the past, haven't seen them.

[finaddict]

For use on the ice you can turn the GPS off on the 522 by going to Menu>GPS setup>use indoors. Dim the screen....lasts all day no problem.

Without knowing your budget it is pretty hard to recommend a combo unit for you. I will say that a 5" screen is going to be pretty small when running both GPS and sonar at the same time. You can just use the GPS only when running from spot to spot.

I personally prefer Furuno or Raymarine electronics over any of the other brands, but they are pricey!

Capt. Jim McDonald