Advice on Buying GPS Chartplotter / Features

[saleen8927]

Hello, I'm shopping for a pretty basic color GPS chartplotter ($400-$600 range) and need some advice. If anyone has any recommendations on brand/model that you like (and why in particular you like that model), it would be helpful. However, I'd also like some explanation of different features. I know all about how GPS works, WAAS, waypoints, routes, screen size, etc - just about any unit is sufficient for my needs in those areas. The questions I have are in the differences between different units. For example, Garmin and Lowrance both have several units that by description look almost identical, but vary greatly in price. Some newer models have satellite imagery - is that preferable to traditional imagry? The price looks to be the same for a model with or without satellite imagery. Built-in coastal basemaps - are these sufficient, or will I need to purchase a card/software? Any other features I should know about/look for? Any help on this topic would be appreciated - I am pretty tech-saavy, but I find there's a real lack of true information on these units out there. There's plenty of info on how to choose a unit based on basic features, but nothing that goes deeper than that.