I am looking for a $400 fish finder to use on my fun fishing boat on small water.

I've not used either brand and want to get down imaging, side imaging and GPS plotting. I would also like the ability to add local lake maps to the unit in the future.

Pricing is the same on the two, it looks like the down and side view frequencies are similar. Lowrance has a micro SD slot, which I assume will accept local maps. The Garmin only has connectivity through the ActiveCaptain app [sounds less appealing]


Help me decide what I should get!

active capt. will add to maps with updates, they also own navionics but navionics will not load into a garmin yet. my 93 sv echomaps have good maps, easy to use and my side/down is great.

if you can swing a little more the 93svhd plus I think are on sale at bass pro/cabelas for around 580.00 (saw some sort of ad a few days back).

had birds for decades prior and like the garmins a lot better so far.

Are there maps preloaded in the Garmin Vivid 7sv units? I know my Hook2 5TS came with cMap maps in it.

X units like th 7X do not have mapping they have GPS for trails and waypoints but no Background Map. You need the Hook Reveal 7 TS which is fully loaded with SI, DI, Sonar and Maps. If you don't want SI get the 7 SS which is DI Sonar and Maps