Has anyone used a Garmin echoMAP?

[straightShot]

I'm keeping my options open for being ready to jump on a good deal on a findfinder the day after Thanksgiving.  I've narrowed it down to either a Marcum, Vexilar, or Garmin.  For the Garmin, I'm looking at an echoMAP CHIRP 53cv since it has a GPS and freshwater maps.  This may be the way for me to go as I'll be able to use it on a kayak in the warmer months, if I ever get a kayak...

Does anyone have any experience with the echoMAP 53cv?  Does it work well in shallow water?  Can you splash a little water on the ice to see through before drilling a hole?  Thanks.

[DrewFlu33]

I don't have anything to add here specifically to answer your questions, but I have some friends who've opted for Garmin units in their boats recently.  Their "Lakevu HD Ultra" maps are the absolute best out there - if your favorite ice fishing spots have been charted in that detail, that feature alone may make your purchase worth it.  It really surprised me not only how many of my local (MN) lakes were included in their HD Ultra listing, but also how many more they've added in a very short period of time.

Regarding on the water performance (again, not specifically answering your questions - apologies! but I think this is useful info), the sonar performance of the Garmin units both in accuracy and (especially) detail blows away competing units from Lowrance and Humminbird.  There's a reason Garmin is being sued by the others, and after being around these units I don't think it's because they stole any technology.  Garmin jumped into the fishfinder market and is putting the full-court press on and beating the "big boys."  Coming from someone who currently runs Lowrance and has used Humminbird: Garmin will be the next units in my boat, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them for my ice fishing either. 

[Drift Dodger]

I have nothing but good to say about the Garmin echoMAP 75sv acquired for my boat last spring ... great quality and features. I wanted a unit that included integrated mapping as there is very limited mapping available for water bodies in my province (Manitoba). Subsequently, with 'Quickdraw Contours' I have mapped several hundred acres of my primary fishing waters, and hope to use these maps to seek out ice fishing structure as well.

I expect the echoMAP CHIRP 53cv would be an excellent GPS/sonar combo and perfect size for ice fishing, although for that it would require the (only) ice ducer offered by Garmin, the GT8HW-IF. My only concern would be the rather large minimum cone angle of the ice ducer which, according to Garmin specs, has a user selectable beam width from 16 to 24 degrees. I like to use the narrow 8 degree beam of my Marcum LX-5 when fishing over drop-offs.

[mszczep1]

I bought an Echomap 73SV for my boat this spring, and used the Quickdraw features to add 1' contours on the map for the lake I fish in winter, so I'm excited to try it.  I don't have the ice ducer yet, though.  I haven't heard anything about the target separation, and whether there is a signal lag between moving my jig and seeing it on the monitor.

[stripernut]

I own a Garmin EchoMap 50s, used in in the boat in both fresh and salt and would buy it again... I use a smaller Garmin on the ice and wrote this review;
Here is my thought processes for my latest sounder, I hope that it might help someone else thinking about getting a sounder. I am starting a new topic, other than take over some one else's;

I don’t spend much money on ice fishing, 1, I am fugal (wife says cheap) and 2, I like to tuna fish and that take most of the little money that I spend on fishing. When I was looking for a portable sounder that I was going to use primarily for open water, I know that I would most likely set it up for ice fishing. So that eliminated most of the “Ice Machines” out there, there is nothing “wrong” with any of them, but for the money they ask for, their use is too limited (for me).  I wanted color if I could find it for the right price. When a good color unit is tweaked out right it can often tell you what species of fish is down there. If you don’t believe me just ask a Captain of a good charter boat for cod or haddock, most of the time cod show up as red and haddock as blue… Spending most of my time on the Ocean (Guiding), instructing boat owner how to use their electronics, I have had the pleasure and frustration of using (then teaching the boat owner, how to use) almost every brand out there. I do have a favorite brand; Raymarine, its abilities blows the socks off of most everything out there, but they no longer make any smaller units. They did for a short time, but they found it was cutting into there sales of their more expensive units so they stopped making them…
I found the Garmin 300C Fish Finder to have all the features that I was looking for; Color with a high pixel count, a gain that lets me see tiny jigs in 40+ feet of water, a split screen with zoom, a flasher screen if I needed it, but best of all, all for about $200.00.  It does not come or have available from Garmin an “Ice Transducer”, but Ice Shanty is full of ways to get around that. Now that I have used it a number of times, I can say that it performed very well. NO lag what so ever.  I did not get to try it around other user, so I can not speak about interference, but for me that is not a problem. I did on a couple occasions in very shallow water have trouble with the bounce back from the ice, all I needed to do was restart and it went away. Not a real problem for me, I really use a sounder in 4 ft of water, but I was testing the unit out… I use 2 rechargeable 6 volt batteries ($20 total) in series for a total of 9 amps (cheaper than 1, 7 amp 12 volt battery). I tested the batteries for about 18 hour in two day and still had not gotten the batteries below 11.5 volts (unit work down to 10 volts).
It would not be the right unit for every one, but it has almost all the features of units selling for twice the money and will work even better for open water use.
Tight Line!

[ErnieLearns]

I have echo 73SV and I love the Garmin maps and the custom mapping with Quickdraw.  If you are fishing on foot I would recommend a Garmin echo series if you also plan on using it in the summer.  Then you can quickdraw any body of water you fish.  It would save you time when you are on foot.

Other issues:
If you have a 73 SV or 93 SV they will take the Garmin iceducer.  I am told you will need an adapter from Garmin because the pins are different, but it will work.
 
I myself will be taking my 10 year old Eagle 502c with the Lowrance ice kit.  Partly because it does what I need, partly because of the GPS, partly because it has a 10 year old Navionics  chip (I know the Garmin and Quickdraw are better but it does the job and they come preloaded), and mostly because I do not want to expose my $800 Garmin to the cold when the Eagle will work just fine.

All of that being said, I am a big fan of using Lowrance, Humminbird, and Garmin summer fishing units with an iceducer.  Why buy a flasher that I would only use a dozen times a year?  (I do apoligize to flasher fans. I am not trying to start a religious war and I understand the advantages they have).

[straightShot]

Everyone's input is appreciated.  The positive comments about other Garmin models are a good thing.   I like the fact that the echoMAP has their LakeVu HD mapping on it.  I don't really 'need' it, but I think that it would be nice to have when walking around on the hard water in search of a spot.

I think that the echoMAP 53cv would need a Garmin GT8HW-IF transducer for ice fishing, and I would need something like their ice fishing "kit" to add a battery, case, and mount.   I'm not sure where to get the best price for this package, but I've seen the 53cv for about $280, the transducer for $110, and their Striker kit for around $100.  It's just shy of $500, but a sale at less at less than $400 total would be much better.  I could just jump at the Striker package, but the mapping wouldn't be there.

[straightShot]

I found out that Garmin ClearVü (CV) is the new name for the fishfinder that was previously called DownVü.  CV refers to the new transducer design. CV technology replaces DV and though the technologies are similar, when paired with a CV transducer, CV provides a wider image than DV.  All that being said, in looking for a Black Friday 53cv sale, I couldn't find any.  Only the DV models are on sale.  It doesn't look like I'll score this Friday and will just wait a month to see what happens.

[tacklebox07]

I have 2 echomaps on my boat, 73sv(non chirp) and 73 sv chirp. I love the quick draw map feature, you really see
how different the lake bottom is from the older maps. When I map a lake I record down view on one unit and side
view on the other. Run quick draw on both, just in case I mess up on one unit. You can view the recordings in HomePort from Garmin for free. I have talked with Garmin and here is no way to view quick draw on a computer. I found a way to print paper map w/quick draw image. You have to make screen shots of sections of the lake and then paste them together. Time consuming, but then I can see the map without using the 73sv. Maybe someone sharper with computers can come up with a better way.