From one of the board sponsors and electronics geek over on BBC. Of course, this is opinion only#7 11-04-2015, 07:02 AM went from an 1198 to a garmin 7612 and it was a major upgrade. they all have pluses and minuses so you have to decide whats best for you- side imaging – garmin is even with humminbird with garmin having much better range. lowrance is not even in the conversation. the 3d structure scan may or may not catch them up- down imaging – onix is the best, lowrance second and garmin is about the same as the humminbird core series or the new helix- mapping depends totally on where you fish and what coverage is offered. if your lakes are covered by garmin in HD or by lakemaster then navioinics cant compete. the only thing navionics has going for it it sheer number of lakes covered- 2d – garmin chirp hands down. lowrance second, humminbird last- extra functionality/connectivity – garmin, lowrance, humminbird- forward/360 – for the way we fish here panoptix is the clear winner, humminbird 360 would be my choice if we fished shallow, lowrance failed- customer service – id rather have crappy customer service thats never needed personally. I havent had a single issue with the 7612 but have been in contact with garmin cs with tons of questions. they have been great. humminbird also has great cs, but chances are you may need it for an issue. lowrances issues are well documentedi cant speak for raymarineif you have any questions or need something, pm me
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