I need some advice on these.
I want to buy something soon, and I'm still on the fence about the models.

I want a depth finder, the g2 capable (3D whatever).
color coded, or ToPo lines to define the channels of the body water.storable paths etc,etc
I think the 540s or the 555 is what I want.
What are some of you guy running?
what would you get?

I have the Garmin GPSMAP 478 loaded with G2 charts. I love the portability of it. It goes in the truck and the boat as needed. It is an expandable system and I know you can add satellite weather, sonar and radar. Biggest drawback is that it has a fairly small screen.

John

I got the 545 last year, works great. also has xm capability.

Easy to see in any light, and good size screen.

Santa forgot my g2 chart this year, I must have been a bad boy.

I have the 276c and the 3010c. Have the weather and xm hooked up on the 3010. Love the ability to transfer info between the two and program from my laptop.

The 54X series is pretty sweet and has a decent sized screen. I wanted one last year but couldn't justify it for the 3D and Satelite images. I'd recommend something with at least a 5" screen, anything smaller than that and it may as well be a handheld.

I ended up with a 398c, haven't hooked up the transducer yet but I absolutely couldn't live w/o my plotter. Nothing better than running at night, and knowing exactly where you are, especially up on Erie.

Sorry for jumping in on this forum since what I'm asking won't help you. For Christmas I was given a garmin nuvi 660 which is for land use and we tried it out over the weekend and it works great. It's all touch screen. I would like to have on for the boat also so are the ones for marine use touch screen also or do you have to always use the buttons along the side?

No doubt. Especially the western end.

I have read so much bad stuff about Garmin on OSO, by my experience has been good. I bought a 182c when they came out a few years back and have no complaints. It has the transducer option, but I was already running a sep depth.

I have the 545 and do not like it. The screen is too small and it is not very customizable compared to the Lowrance 3500C on my last boat. I talked myself out of putting another 3500C in and regret it.

I borrowed a G2 3d chip and by the time you zoomed in (because the screen was so small), the 3d overlay was distorted and blurry. It would work fine on a larger screen, say the 5208 or 5212 though.

It is also not very user-friendly when panning as it sometimes just puts the cursor in random previous locations. And yes I have the most recent update installed.

Who makes those models?