I've been studying up on locator/gps combos and went out to Bass Pro to give them the final stare test. I ended up going with a garmin unit. For me it came down to Raymarine and Garmin and I picked the Garmin because I've had excellent experience with garmin gps in the past, and something as simple as the buttons on the raymarine aren't backlit. sounds trivial but if you've done any night fishing/navigating little shit like that makes a bigger difference than you may think. I was really intrigued by the Raymarine bluetooth function. You can bluetooth to a phone or tablet and see your display on either. Not sure how practical it is but a cool idea. And the garmin has an sd card slot to add maps, which the other ones didn't have.

They had a pretty good sale at BPS on last year's unit and I had pretty much talked myself into not needing CHIRP technology (the latest trick sex in sonar). But to be honest, the old fucker they had working the marine electronics counter purty much pissed me off. It was all I could do to get a fucking question answered. He wasn't rude or cranky, but from the first nanosecond when I introduced myself and shook his hand and got a dishrag and glazed eyes, it really turned me off. From then on, he pretty much talked. I tried to explain how I use a locator and GPS but he wasn't interested in doing anything but blowing a bunch of bullshit acronyms by me and when I wasn't impressed he moved on to someone else.

So I ordered it from Amazon. Life's too short to put up with assholes. I even debated writing Johnny Morris, but I doubt he give much more of a shit than his employee.

Anyway, if you're in the market, BPS has a helluva sale on last year's unit from Garmin, about a $300 savings.

BkB