Guys: I just wanted to tell you of my experience with the new Garmin 525S combos on the gulf of mexico.
I had to find out what was so special about these new Garmins. you can only read so much on the websites, however there is not much data or testimony from the customers, as i don’t believe, that many have be purchased since there release. I think most were afraid of the new technology because it definitely not the price. Basic units, even with the $200+ vision card, is well in line with most other fishfinders on the market. I had to find out. So i installed one on the friends boat and Howie and myself went out to the gulf on the west coast of Florida. We went out of a place called Crystal River. The channel is winding,shallow, and full of oyster bars. I also installed the G2 vision card for the west coast of Florida, which includes the Gulf of mexico, all the way to Texas. So we put the boat in the water and marked the home location so we can return. This is always the first thing you should do with a fishfinder gps. Also the night before, i took one of howies paper charts and loaded the Waypoints, where he said was the best fishing based on his 35 years of experience. Creating Waypoints is easy to do with the unit, once you get used to it. Pratice on dry land first. I punch the “where to?” on the screen and select ”buoy 28″ asnd we take off. Howie is driving the boat. I’m playing with the finder, trying different things and screens. I select “mariners eye view” and Holy Moly..I was sold American!!!. What is showed was a sort of helicopter view of the whole channel out to the first way point “buoy 28″…. It navigated us throught the many oyster bars and shallow areas. Also part of the screen showed us the depth reading. It is only 9-12 feet deep in that channel and alot of people have run a ground and ruined their day before they ever got started. Howie loved it.
So we clear the channel. I select “chart/Sonar” and I switch to another screen called “navigational charts”. this is on the same screen as mariners eye view. this gives you a split screen. Charts up the top and Sonar on the bottom with the depth reading, temp,mph, and heading. As we progress, we noticed a white line that the plotter is showing behine the boat all the way back to the ramp. It’s a “trail of breadrumbs” so that on the way back, should we want to go back the way we came, we can do so safely.
We get to buoy 28 and there is only one boat tied up to the buoy. I switch to “fish eye view”. This is another feature that will only work if you have the vision card. See the vision card has all the bathymetric data on it and it shows you what the terrain under the boat is. It gives you a visual representation of the boat, the Transducer cone and the bottom and any structures underneath. I originally thought it would show you the fish, but no instrument other than an underwater camera can do that. And really that’s the sounders job. So, we get anchored off and start fishing. I switch to full screen sonar and rather than fool with interepting the floating arches of the sonar readings, I selct the “fish” symbol. Let the unit do it for you. After all ,its a $1000.00 set up. Let it earn its money. WE saw a bunch of fish symbols going under the transducer cone. The conical area as a rule is twice as wide in diameter and it is deep. We were 23 foot deep so the cone detection area would be 46 ft radius and either side of the center line of the beam. So we are looking at approximately a 100 foot area behind the boat and a little underneath.
Well, do you think we could catch a fish? No of course not. I believe these things are spiritual and are up to God. They would not hit on anything. The other fellas didn’t have any luck either. The Gulf usually crystal clear, was all murky. you couldn’t see nothing. Sonar said there were tons of fish underneath. All we wants was 2 Cobia. Not in the cards.
So we pulled up anchor and headed off to our second waypoint known as the “morning star” wreck. WE selected the auto guidance and off we went, following the “purple line”. Here am , Expecting this giant shipwreck. It was just a small sunken 25 ft boat. Of course , Howie says you can usually look down and see it. But not today. Water is all cloudy. The “fish eye view” indicated a wreck and gave us a visual on it and of course the sonar did too. And what else did the sonar do? Again a bunch of fish that we cannot catch. Then the wind picks up fiercely. We are getting hammered. I am ready to blow lunch! Time to go home. Even though it was overcast, i am starting to feel the effects of being “burned at the stake”. So much for sun screen..
So i select auto guidance again and follow the purple line back into port. Then i selct ,at the inlet, mariners eye view back to the ramp.
So did the unit help us catch out quarry. No. that is still up to the fisherman and the fish. Did it help us? Absolutely! It made it easy and safe to navigate. so if you considering a Great unit, and you want to spend the money and not quibble about pennies ,
get one of these new units. The way that they market and price these, is by what is preloaded in them. Some units have the xm radio and extra electronics,(who cares), but it is the basic g2 chart that is loaded in them. some have Coastal data, some have inland data. So you can’t use a coastal unit to fish the lakes. so pay attention if you are not going to invest in a g2 vision card, which i think is foolish not to. The G2 vision card is the great equalizer. Now you can use any one of these units to fish anywhere. And once you try g2 vision, you won’t go back to the preloaded chart. and if you do, You automatically lose 3 key features that make the unit what it is: Mariners eye view, Fish eye view, and auto guidance. Then you might as well go get some cheap one somewhere else. Package deals with the g2 included start at $770 and up. And i am going to insist you get the g2 vision. There are many more of these combos on my site. Take a look!
just some tips from your uncle bj.
thanx and be “efishent” with the new units