Lowrance LMS

[yoyo]

Hi, I will be visiting the US shortly and was thinking of buying a Lowrance LMS depth/GPS plotter whilst over there. The 3 models that I have seen all seem to have the same spec! in addition thay use the same depth transducer as my current lowrance X58 depth finder. Can anybody tell me what the differences are in the units at the link below? The only difference that I can see is that one model has an external aerial is this better than an internal aerial? what are the pros & cons?
Any feed back on the units would be very much appreciated.
thanks

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...&storeId=10001

[Limey Linda]

Try below link, they are usually cheaper than west marine

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...cat602012&rid=

[jyasaki]

Not sure what 3 models you're talking about.

In general Lowrance will have 2 models (4, if you count int/ext GPS antennae) of GPS /FF units. One will be single freq (200KHz, usually) and one will be dual (200KHz/50KHz.)

There may also be screen differences between models (though I can't cite examples here.)

LL is right; West Marine tends to be expensive, but they have a pretty no-hassle return policy (when it works.)

I want to say that their showroom makes up for the cost, but I don't like lying.

jky

[Pete7]

Lowrance is always nice kit. Check the power of the sounders some are more powerful than others. Also manufacturers quote differently, Peak as apposed to RMS, worth doing a little research and choosing the most powerful one as it will give great definition of the sea bed. We tend to use the older 180 hz or 200 hz for diving ribs, not sure the 50 hz frequency will give you much more so "nice to have" rather than essential unless you are running two sounders and need different freqencies (I have had 180 hz working down to 130 metres which seemed deep enough)

An internal aerial GPS mounted on a rib would be good, fewer connections and wires / bits to break and go wrong etc and easy to remove for safety.

Pete

[Andy Moore]

We have a LMS-332c and have had numerous problems with it.

The keypad shorted out twice and we are now on our third unit. The sounder has a mind of it own and can't be relied on to work properly.

I reckon there are more reliable makes (Garmin?) available. Avoid.

[PacificNWrib]

Yoyo,

The difference is the external and internal reciever and the dual frequency transducer. I had the the grey scale Lowrance M56 GPS/Depth Finder with the internal antenna and did not have any issues.

I just picked the up the Lowrance 334C-igps for less than $400.00 today at Fisherman's marine in Portland, OR. It has a color 5 inch LCD and has both the internal GPS antenna and depth finder.

It is a discountinued model, but for that price with a color 5 inch screen. I couldn't walk away. The thing is with internal antennas you need to make sure that the unit is not in an enclosed area. That is where you run into issue finding the sat.

You can also download the simulator software that will run on a PC. So you get can the look and feel of the device before you even buy it.

http://www.reliancemarine.com/Produc...iGPS/View.aspx

This is my old boat and Lowrance. The link above is the one I bought today.