furuno ls-4100 comments please

[cuda]

i am having 1 fitted to my new boat, i was looking for comments good or bad from anyone that has or knows someone that has 1, unfortunatly i can't afford much more but it has to be better than the garmin ff80 that they were going to fit, i just have to pay the difference in cost price
also getting a garmin gps72 with the boat again any comments would be welcolme again upgrading from the garmin geko 201
Gary

[wessel]

Garmin FF80 - Utter crap. Avoid at all cost - Anything else has to be better than this thing. We fitted one on the club boat here and after having read what other units are capable of compared to this thing, we are upgrading.
I have a Garmin 120 Blue water series - Nice enough but not enough detail to know if you are looking at a school of sardines or a school of jellyfish:)

Garmin GPS units are good - How many bells and whistles depends on your budget. The basic models with no map is great in telling you exactly where you are, but it is useless if you need to know in relation to what is out there. The kind of information that can be critical when you are trying to find a boatramp when the fog blew in and you can see jack-sh*^t in front of you. Over time I have a lot of waypoints programmed in to my little handheld which makes it kind of usefull but am always wishing that I bought the next model up that includes a basic map of the area you will be spending most of your time in.

Small tip - Always keep an extra set of batteries for your handheld GPS with your flares in a waterproof bag. That one is from experience learned the hard way.

Comments on the Furuno - None / Have never even seen one in action but anything in the market has to be better than the FF80.

Enjoy the new addition to the family mate

Regards

Wessel

[craigie]

Cuda,

I have just had fitted the Furuno ls4100 to my rig. Only paid $500 for the unit inc Transducer.

Still don't know how to use all the functions but it seams to be a top unit, great definition, transducer still reads the bottom at WOT.
The screen lights up very bright at night, but like most sounders the sun-light can play havic with it during the day but it is still o.k.

Cheers
Craig.

[whiteman]

Cuda

Seems there's a lot of us looking at new sounders! If you go to somewhere like BIAS BOATING who stock a large range of sounders you get to compare the screen performance between the different models. I had a quick look at the LS4100 but not enough pixels - 240x320=76,800 - for the price ($495). Have a look at the Lowrance X125 ($549) which has 480x480=230,400 pixels. Considerably more for the price.

I'll probably spend an extra $100 and go the X135 or the Eagle Seafinder 480DF as they pack more power @ 500RMS. The nearest colour sounder of worthy specification is the Raymarine DS500X ($1099) but I'd like more pixels! I'll use the B+W model for a couple of years and wait for colour screens to improve.

[wessel]

Gary

Trailerboat Fisherman magazine had a review on the LS 4100 in their Mar/Apr 2004 issue.

A reasonable unit with one flaw in the transducer mounting bracket being too weak and broke off. Allover scored a reasonable to acceptable rating.

Personaly, the ouput is low and the comments of Mr Whiteman is worth listening to. Spend the extra money - it is worth it in the long run.


Regards


Wessel

[cuda]

thanks for all the comments guys much appreciated
the problem i have is that were i'm buying the boat from has the garmin ff80 fitted as standard and i wanted to upgrade to something better the only problem is they don't have much of a choice to pick from and the furuno was about the best i could afford to upgrade to at the moment the next 1 up from that is a couple of hundred dollars more that they have. just wanted to make sure i wasn't fitting a total piece of crap, most places i have spoken to say they are about the best in that price range
have now spent an extra $1500.00 in extras for the boat since we sighned up
still have another 3 - 4 week wait for the boat
hope you guys leave me a few fish to catch by the time i get the boat
Gary