Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I finally got around to installing my Garmin 431s today and it wasn't too bad. The hardest part was cutting into a perfectly good dash. The other hard part was for an old man with a bad back to play under the helm. And it worked when I was done.

Carl, It came out perfect, we had a Garmin on our other toon and never had a problem with it.

Carl, I've got the same unit and it has worked great for three years now.Ever so often Garmin puts out free updates that you can download and install. Your installation looks great and makes me wish that I'd had room to mount mine indash.

Carl... did you ever decide what you wanted for the garmin 95? Does it still work. As we talked about before I could be interested in buying it for my son's boat. Only thing I'm waiting on is for him to decide if he is going to sell his boat or not?

ROLAND wrote:Carl... did you ever decide what you wanted for the garmin 95? Does it still work. As we talked about before I could be interested in buying it for my son's boat. Only thing I'm waiting on is for him to decide if he is going to sell his boat or not?

Roland, I sent you a pm and yes it's for sale and it works perfectly. $50

Nice, clean install. No room on my helm to do that.

How do you like the 431S so far? I'm about to pull the trigger on the 421S (same thing but without the preloaded US charts).



LC.

LocoCoco wrote:Nice, clean install. No room on my helm to do that.

How do you like the 431S so far? I'm about to pull the trigger on the 421S (same thing but without the preloaded US charts).



LC.

Actually, I installed it yesterday and haven't been out yet but I'll let you know. I found this on buy.com and after I bought it the price went up $100.

Excellent job Carl..........Any one know which model of the Garmin Nuvi would be the best, thinking in the 180 to 250 range. Plan on using it both in car and boat

doc

Super nice job Carl. We have the same helm as you it looks like and the Garmin 95 factory installed. We added the Huminbird up top. I'm thinking of adding some new switches down below it and am real hesitant about cutting the helm fiberglass. Any suggestions?

Drago wrote:Super nice job Carl. We have the same helm as you it looks like and the Garmin 95 factory installed. We added the Huminbird up top. I'm thinking of adding some new switches down below it and am real hesitant about cutting the helm fiberglass. Any suggestions?

I guess it all depends on what the switches look like. If you're doing rectangular ones like are already there, drill a hole in each corner then a small saw blade or jigsaw will do it. Use tape over where you are going to cut and make sure nothing is behind it.

Nice work Carl!

Nice job Carl, the install looks very clean. I bought a 431s and unfortunately found that it wouldn't fit anywhere on my helm without either a) looking completely bogus or b) a LOT of custom fabrication. I ended up returning it and going with a Humminbird 385ci, which fits perfectly in the dash and looks like a factory install (it appears the mounting point in the helm was specifically sized for this unit). I liked the Garmin much better and wish I could have made it work, but the Humminbird does what I need it to do.

cwag911 wrote:...Actually, I installed it yesterday and haven't been out yet but I'll let you know. I found this on buy.com and after I bought it the price went up $100.

After reading many great reviews, I ordered one. The best price I could find was $400 for the 421S that included the transducer (some sneakily say "Sounder" but don't include the transducer). Also ordered the Canadian BlueChart g2 (non-Vision) for $150 and the Garmin HomePort trip-planning software for $25. With shipping and tax, nearly $700 for an entry-level unit, but as I said to the wife, cracking the motor on one hidden rock can cost 3 chartplotters.

I still wanna hear what you think of yours once you try it out.



LC.

LocoCoco wrote:

cwag911 wrote:...Actually, I installed it yesterday and haven't been out yet but I'll let you know. I found this on buy.com and after I bought it the price went up $100.

After reading many great reviews, I ordered one. The best price I could find was $400 for the 421S that included the transducer (some sneakily say "Sounder" but don't include the transducer). Also ordered the Canadian BlueChart g2 (non-Vision) for $150 and the Garmin HomePort trip-planning software for $25. With shipping and tax, nearly $700 for an entry-level unit, but as I said to the wife, cracking the motor on one hidden rock can cost 3 chartplotters.

I still wanna hear what you think of yours once you try it out.



LC.

We went out on the lake friday and really liked the gps for knowing where we were on the lake. Was amazed at how well you could see the screen in the sunlight (very clear). It showed all the channel markers as we went by them and the contours of the bottom. I didn't buy any extra software and was just working on the preloaded stuff. I don't know the difference of the 421 vs. the 431 but I think your gonna like it.

cwag911 wrote:We went out on the lake friday and really liked the gps for knowing where we were on the lake. Was amazed at how well you could see the screen in the sunlight (very clear). It showed all the channel markers as we went by them and the contours of the bottom. I didn't buy any extra software and was just working on the preloaded stuff. I don't know the difference of the 421 vs. the 431 but I think your gonna like it.

Glad you like it. Fedex should be dropping mine off today. The only difference between the 421/431 is that the 431 comes preloaded with charts of US inland lakes. Great deal for you but useless for me in Canada. And the standard Garmin basemap has about enough detail to show that you're on water, so I had to order the extra charts.



LC.