Fishfinders with GPS worth it?

[spoon33]

Looking to get a graph for my boat and was wondering if having GPS is really worth it.  Was thinking about getting the Lowrance 520 model and wanted to get some thoughts on maybe that model and GPS in general, and what you thought regarding internal/external antennas.

The guy at BPS told me internal was better, although its not 100% accurate but within 10 ft just bc of location of graph and transducer.

Also, are there any problems downloading the updates lowrance has on their website onto the graph?

[Triton9]

yes, GPS is worth it.especially if you fish a lot of tournaments or a lot of places where you fish offshore structure.i have 3 electronics units on my Triton, and all three are GPS units.two Lowrance's, and a garmin 2006c.the Lowrance units ,especially the 332Ci up front has had several problems.the internal antenna on the 332 is a pain in the butt, but the X15 in the dash has the external antenna and the Garmin 2006c is an external antenna model also.the Garmin is an awesome unit, and i will probably never purchase another Lowrance unit due to the continuous problems i have with the lowrance units i have purchased.i have had the garmin for two years now and not had a problem.I've had the LMS 332Ci for a year,just put it on at the beginning of last year's tourny season,and i have had several problems with the unit.also, Lowrance was not able to fix the unit when sent back to the factory...twice.and they would not send a replacement unit.but, i have purchased a new unit for this year's tourny season and i have been very satisfied with it so far.hope this helps

[Wayne P.]

The BPS person is wrong about the internal antenna units being better.

The only "better" thing about those units is an easier installation.

The 2009 edition Lowrance units (HDS) are designed to eliminate the shortcomings of the internal antenna units. The 300 and 500 series internal antenna units could not be flush mounted and some users experienced reception problems if they used those units in a tilted position such as at the bow.

The antenna location is where it will show your position regardless of where it is on the boat. For the most precise use for fishing, the antenna should be directly above the transducer.