Anyone have any experience with Simrad GPS/Sonar units. I am wondering how they compare with Garmin and Hummingbird? I have heard Simrad is owned by Lowrance but not sure about that.

Lowrance and Simrad are both owned by the parent company Navico. The Simrads have a very similar user experience/operating system and support most of the featured their little brothers the Lowrance supports.

I run Simrad on my offshore boat and Lowrance on the flats boat.....they both do a great job.

Casey?
If so, PM me.

I was using a Simrad Go7 XSE up until a few years ago. In my opinion, overall it was great. I believe it is essentially the same technology as Lowrance Elite Ti, but completely touch screen. I think Lowrance and Simrad have the same parent company. I have a hummingbird helix 12 now.

Simrad pluses:
Touch screen (except operating in wind/waves), pinch to zoom.
Lower frequency 2D (83 hz?). I really liked the wider cone.
I thought the side scan was a very good picture. The fish on Simrad side-scan seem to show up bigger (relatively) IMO, making them easy to pick out.
A truer customization of screen settings.

Simrad minus:
The transducer was very, very long.
I couldn’t tell that their higher frequency side scan improved anything over their lower frequency.
There are a few less “dials” to tweak on the sonar (although, IMO, it’s auto settings were really good).