Garmin 740s.

J

jmeirhofer

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Just noticed that West Marine will be selling these on sale tomorrow for $749.00. Can not even find used ones that cheap. Since they have stopped making this one I suspect Garmin and West Marine are trying to get rid of remaining inventory.
 
I noticed someone on this site is selling one or two for $850 never been used but not new, and this is a reasonable price. I know I looked them up a few weeks ago for someone that was looking and I did find them on Ebay new but an unknown source for the same $749. I would feel much more comfortable buying them from West Marine.
 
Does the 740s have a fish finder built into it... or is that an add on? It shows a lot of features, but I'm not clear on what you get for the $749 price tag.

I need to replace my ancient Magellan 6500 and was going to go with the Garmin 640... but if the 740s is a better unit, I might pony up the additional $ for one of those.

--Rick
 
I'm not familiar with the 74x models, but what I found in earlier models 4xx vs 5xx was that it was important to consider the size of the screen display AS it would be in use in the BOAT. It's one thing to demo the features indoors, good lighting, good glasses on, etc. It's another to try to see it in the boat underway in the sun. Be sure you have "enough" display.
 
There's no issue viewing a 740 in direct sunlight. I've been running a 640 for years without issue. I'd just on the 740 but I don't have room and it would cost a small fortune to upgrade the SiriusXM satellite antenna (the 640 used a much more affordable "puck" antenna at $250 vs. the $700 mini-dome antenna the 740 uses).

Rick, the "S" in the model number stands for "sounder". You simply mate it with a compatible Garmin transducer. Both are good units. Unless the newer 640 models have been upgraded, the 704 I messed with was much quicker at rendering charts and changing screens.

On a related note, I was trying to get some specs on batteries and noticed West Marine is only carrying a very small selection. Gone are SeaVolt (re-branded Deka/East Penn) and most of the rest. They only carry "Mastervolt" AGM batteries now.
 
The 740S is nice with a pretty good size screen. Get the "S" if you want sounder capabilities but you need a transducer. It works great with the XM weather service and I get very accurate storm/rain overlay. Decent depth readings at speeds up to about 45 mph. Any faster and I lose readings due to turbulence created by my hull freeing up. It has great visibility but i'd suggest adding a anti-glare film.

helm_zps934f81f6.jpg
 
My favorite electronics installer says he is no longer recommending Garmin products because they do not support their units as long as Raymarine and Furuno does. He says they are more interested in getting your money for new stuff again and again and again.
 
Have you tried dealing with Raymarine tech support now that they were bought out? I'll take Garmin any day.
 
Kurt,

I have had great "information & help" support here: http://raymarine.ning.com/

I have never needed any kind of warranty problem support, however. That might be a different kettle of fish.
 
I installed a Raymarine auto pilot on my boat. The installation manual didn't match the components included (including an entirely new "communications" platform). Raymarine tech support was a bit "snippy" about it. After that was figure out I still couldn't get the AP to communicate with my Garmin chartplotter. Raymarine wouldn't assist since it wasn't their chartplotter. Garmin, on the other hand, had notes of Raymarine products and walked me through it.

Different people get different results and impressions of different companies. I don't know why, but it seems to be a truth in life.
 
quote:
Originally posted by mixman

Have you tried dealing with Raymarine tech support now that they were bought out? I'll take Garmin any day.

Click to expand...


Me too.
 
I'm a huge Garmin fan. They support products as well as any other manufacture. Try getting support for any marine electronics device older than 5 years.
The 740s has great direct sulight visibility. To add sonar/ fish finder you'll need a transducer.
I have one of the 1st releases of the 740S. Garmin has been great with free operating system upgrades (they are free).
Bill
 
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