garmin 168 gps fishfinder

Has anyone got or tried one of these.

I am looking for a gps first and the fishfinder / water temp second.

Seems like a reasonable price for the spec of it although I havn't seen one in the flesh.

Have carried out numerous searchs here and it is a mind field of selections and choices.

Any others to recommend have set aside £500 quid for the toy.
I liked the look of the Navman 450 which had the fuel consumption but alas not the GPS.

Any advise from my esteamed oldies would be most welcome.

:eh: :eh: :eh: :] :]

Surely you mean Garmin? - You cannot go wrong with any Garmin product.

I have its poorer cousin the 125 GPS/Sounder

It doesn't have any background mapping but it does exactly what it is supposed to and I have no complaints.

Sorted the spelling.

It says it stores 2.5 mb of maps in the internal memory - no card slot.

I have no idea in reality what that means !!!!

Is 10 miles 20 miles of coast line or what.

Its no good going on a cruise to Poole if the gps map doesn't go that distance.


;)

Well I have the Garmin 188 - this is a combined Chartplotter and Fishfinder (water temp) all in one.

You can select between nav Chart and Fishfinder screens, or how I normaly have mine set up displaying the chart with a digital display of speed and depth at the top

Looking at the garmin website the 162 you mention is Bluechart compatable and has 2.5Mb of internal memory

To get proper charts on the unit you would have to purchase the Bluechart CD and then download the section of coast you were going to visit into the plotter.

I would have thought 2.5Mb would have given you a reasonable area - maybe say, covering the Solent or a bit more.

With my 188 I have used the Preprogrammed cards, which I think are 32Mb. These cover a huge area, say from Lands end to the Thames and everything inbetween including Northen France and the Ch. Islands.

looks like you get all the cables with the 162 - I've just found these are quite expensive for the 188!!!

Amyway - as said the garmin units - and Bluecharts - are excellent, consider a combined plotter and fishfinder - takes up less space on the console and must save some pennies!

Cheers
Jools

Thanks for that.
The one I am considering is tht 168 which includes the fishfinder water temp gps etc, seems to be the little brother (cheaper) of the 188 which is a little too expensive for me.

The screen is smaller that the 188 but the main diffenence seems to be the 2.5 mb limitation on the extra charts and this is my consern.
Not much point in having to being a laptop along to upload additional coverage !!!

Cost is under £500 quid for the unit excluding the sonar sensor £30 ish +charts

As a newbie I am oviously nervous on getting a unit suitable for may needs. Would love the 188 but the bucks are too high.

A VERY important consideration on a rib is the screen size. Get the biggest you can possibly afford.

One word of warning - whatever model you finally decide on, it will have a 'fish lier' not a fish finder! =)


On a serious note, agree with going as large as practical with the screen. Also ensure that you are happy with the angle of the screen to the helm. Nothing worse than having to strain your neck looking at a badly fitted GPS unit!

I know - Should read liar, not lier!! Two finger typing too fast!:]

HI

If you in any way can afford the 188 go for that one.

I'm considering changing my 176 for the 182 (I have an other fish liar), because of screen size.

Rene

I have the 188c and yes although it was expensive £1k from the Port Solent Chandlers and chart is another £170 it is the dogs and glad I paid the extra. The chart function is great in a rib bouncing about at sea as you can sea exactly were you are going and what is underneath you. Wish they had been available years ago.

Shout if you want to have a look at mine, you are only round the corner from me.

Pete

Pete7

They had your pants down and gave you a right good smacking on that one. Could have saved you over £100.00 , if only you had asked.
;)

OK DIRK so are you a retailer ? Whats the best you can do on the 188
It seems to be the one you guys are recommending

I'm broke after buying the rib so be fair - Cost or below cost would be good.

:)

Thants Pete7 I may take you up on that

Dirk, great, another really useful post from you. You are right about £100. Thats the amount I saved by shopping there at the time (April) having done the research. From a couple of big orders with them I now receive a trade discount. They are also right on my doorstep.

They are doing a good range of fridge/freezer units suitable for a rib at the moment 25% cheaper than normal through bulk buying something which they seem to specialise in often with good deals.

However if you know of a cheaper chandlers then we are all listening....

Pete

Well just went down to Port Solent to try and strike a deal on the 188 and have ended up impulse buying this instead:

http://www.humminbird.com/hb_Products.asp?ID=82

Humminbird NS25

Not as high a resolution as the 188 but OK for my requirements ( hopefully) and at £499.95 including pickup and transducer, is a reasonable price. :eh: :eh: I hope !!!!!

Probably a glass door job and no doubt will have a few guys laughting here =) =) =)

Thanks again

IMPULSE THE ONLY WAY TO SHOP

Jackeen, humingbird have been around a while and its £600 cheaper so you could be on a winner.

Pete

I looked at a bunch of other units including the black and version. I've been extremely happy with the 188 even though it was pricey. I've got charts from Mexico to Alaska that come in three chips that I keep stored in a small Pelican box in my console. The detail on these charts is terrific. I also have it hooked up to my VHF for DSC capability. The fish liar may have helped find a 15 lb. ling cod that I caught last weekend. All in all once I got over the intial price, I haven't regretted the purchase since.
:p

Get your visa card at the ready (I daren't, I really daren't :( )

http://www.mesltd.co.uk/Products/system/indexspec.htm

Hi,

We have now adopted the Garmin 188c as standard fit for our training boats.

We have an article on the new Blue Chart and other Garmin improvements on the front page of Lough Ree Power Boat School (http://www.powerboat.org) . We are not agents for or connected with Garmin in any way !!!

Superb ( one chip ) chart of the South, West and North Coast of Ireland complete with interactive tidal data. We did however have to send off to ( a very helpful ) Garmin cartography Europe ( Sam take a bow !) for a software upgrade for our unit ( supplied quickly and freely on a chip) as our May 2003 unit could not read the tidal data on the July 03 Ireland West chip.

Genuinely sunlight viewable screens, big chunky display figures, flexible data presentation options and intuitive function selection. I reckon that they have improved by 500 % !!

Best wishes,

Stuart

Hello,

I went for the option of the Garmin 182 mono with external antenna, as well as a garmin 160 blue fishfinder.
Once rigged up, the fishfinder outputs to the gps, and the gps outputs to the dsc unit on the vhf. I am very impressed with the way all this works, and particularly the blue chart item.
Whilst going up river to Haverfordwest, I have found the chart plotter to be more accurate than following the other boats - my stainless prop only got one scratch on it from the last trip, and that was when I was turning around so well happy.

At the time, I was pondering on the 188 unit, but the cost was high, plus having 2 I thought was better than 1, so if one broke, the other unit would still work. Saying that, the fishfinder isn't much use when the gps breaks down in thick fog.... at least if there was a rod on board, it may help me find some grub (not that I eat fish).

The only gripe I have about the transducer of the fishfinder (which I assume is the same for the 188) is the size of the damn thing. When going along at 40knots, I find that it pops up every so often, and I have to pop it back down again. If the unit is raised any more, I loose all signal when going over 5knots, and if it's dropped any more it doesn't work above 10knots.

One question for Stuart though, assuming the 188 is similar to the 182, how did you get the tide tables on it? - I thought the garmin stuff only did US tide tables?

Thanks,

-Alex

Alex your right it is a bloody great thing, the lowrance is a quarter of the size. Might try to glue it in the boat so it fire through the hull next but that can wait for the winter.

the other option is the through hull option, but not sure if I want another hole through the hull and trying to find a location that the trailer rollers will clear could be tricky. More work here I am afraid.

I agree with Stuart great sets though.

Pete

Pete,

Yeah, I saw on Garygee's rib that he had his transducer on the inside of the hull.... only downside being that the temp doesn't work, but since I don't actually fish with the damn thing that probably won't make much diff.

Unfortunately, with the bilge pump already in place in my transom well, I don't think it'd be possible to mount the depth thing too. I assume that it has to be pointed forward, and that it cannot be mounted sideways on in the well? - I can't remember if it's just a standard cone firing out or not.

Thanks,

-Alex

Hi Alex,

The Chips from July 2003 for Ireland West Coast have interactive tidal curves for about 20 stations in Ireland from Cork through Galway to Belfast.

We had a stand at the Paris Boat show and persuaded Garmin to include tidal stations on the Irish Charts.

Half a case of Black Bush later ;) and they promised to have it included from July 2003 on. They were as good as their word and we switched from Simrad CE32 to garmin 188C as standard fit on our training boats. And yes after a month of active service I think we made a very good decision.

One word of caution ! If your unit is pre July 2003, you need a software upgrade to read tidal data on post July Chips. Contact a very helpful chap called Sam at Garmin Cartography Europe (cartography.europe@garmin.com>) who will send you out a chip which will upgrade the software on your unit.

Best wishes,

Stuart

As the newbie, I thought I throw in my 10 penneth!

Just spent three weeks in Scillies using the 188c I bought a month ago. I also went for the Blue chart CD for the south coast and a PC/GPS power/data adapter. This setup allowed all waypoint creation with the click of a mouse on the PC. Then with route planning from Penzance across and some inter island routes also completed on the PC, another click of the mouse transferred the whole lot straight into the GPS, which was also on the desk and powered up. This allowed me to get to know the GPS and how to use it whilst 'sipping my Horlicks!', before needing it in anger on the RIB

As others have said, to get the tidal data working and some other nice software changes, you either need a chip upgrade, or in my case you just download the changes direct from the garmin web site, run the file and the GPS auto updates. The update took less than 2 minutes.

In use, the 188c is the dogs b**s. Its easy, reliable and the colour display is good. And now that the price is down to less than £900 and falling, its just getting better.

Cons?...the depth/fish finder works well enough, BUT, the transducer is transom mounted on an adjustable plastic bracket that clicks it into place and is designed to give way under load and flick up. However I have found that on high speed runs or lumpy seas, the bracket allows the transducer to flick up just a little too easily, requiring a push back down before shallow waters are reached! However, still v. happy with it and would recommend it.

ATB

Alex put some water in the transom and dangle the thing in and see what happens. Don't think it makes any difference which way it points if you are mounting it inside the hull. Let me know how you get along then we will all follow your results.

Pete
:)

Originally posted by Pete7

I agree with Stuart great sets though.

Pete

can't be me

Originally posted by Alex Brown
Pete,

Yeah, I saw on Garygee's rib that he had his transducer on the inside of the hull.... only downside being that the temp doesn't work, but since I don't actually fish with the damn thing that probably won't make much diff.
-Alex

FYI, if it matters a bit anyway...
I am shopping for a 188c too at some point, and according to the oldschool naval dealer i spoke too a while back, properly epoxied to the hull it may well work through the hull anyway..depending
on what's down there tempwise...
watertemps will obviously feed thru the hull anyways with very little disturbance unless it's in your inboard engine room or similar...
YMMV