My pops is needing a new fishfinder as his is on the fritz. I was hoping to surprise him with a new GPS/fishfinder combo for Christmas. He fishes mainly coastal/inland areas and Sabine Lake. Cannot do deep sea/rough water in his boat. I have a friend who has a Garmin 541s and has a lot of pre-loaded information on his SD card that he would program into the gift beforehand if he gets a Garmin. They discontinued the 541s model but I have been looking at the Garmin Echomap 50s and 70dv. Does anyone have an opinion on these models/any of this? He fishes salt 90% of the time but will occasionally fish east texas freshwater lakes. Thanks.

I have a lowrance hd5 that came with the chip preloaded with everything. I have absolutely no regrets. I rarely use the depth finer portion and typically use just the maps.

Talk to kbassil. I think he deals in these

Thanks for the info so far. If kbassil is around please shoot me a PM or a reply. Thanks.

I have a couple of Lowrance currently and I really like them. I would recommend not to buy one of the smaller models as they are hard to see especially if you are using the map screen. Not a big fan of the Garmin. Had one on my old bass boat. It will get the job done but I think there are better units out there.

Lowrance HDS 7 works well for us. The screen is just about right to run a split screen and still have everything visible. It is a touch screen also which comes in handy once you have it set up.

Most of my customers request Lowrance exclusively, so that's what I would recommend with the limited information I have. That being said, I completely understand wanting to stick with a Garmin unit you're familiar with. Looks like these items are the new versions of that 541s:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/GPSMAP%20500/on-the-water/chartplotters/cOnTheWater-cChartplotters-bBRAND540-p1.html

Anyway, HDS and HDS Touch series have been really popular and I'd probably recommend one of those units.

Here's the really good news: regardless of the unit you chose, we can beat any price on the net. Also, free shipping on any order $100 or more. Feel free to email me any questions at CaptainsTackle at gmail dot com. Love to have a chance to earn your business.

Thanks for the replies so far. It sounds like I might need to switch over to looking at Lowrances if there is that much of a following. A friend used online resources to load structures/poi in several areas my dad fishes on his own Garmin. That's the only reason I started off looking at them b/c he said he could likely directly transfer them to the gift unit for my dad. Its not that big of a deal though. I will likely email you soon kbassil once I do some more research.

Had a Garmin on my bay boat and didn't really care for it after having a Lowrance Gen 2 Touch. I am now running a Humminbird 899 and love it.

Anybody have any recommendations on what kind of map chip to use? I have Navionics mobile and it is okay but I was curious to know if anyone has found something better out there.

As an FYI to all, we are having a cyber Monday deal right now.

While supplies last, Lowrance Elite-5 Fishfinder/Chartplotter on sale for $329.99. Regularly around $550, so a good deal.

Link: http://www.captainstackle.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=LOW-000-11146-001

Usually don't share any deals with TA forums, but this is a short one and worth it IMO.