Garmin 276C or Lowrance iWay 600c?

[lwg]

So I am having trouble deciding between the Garmin 276C and Lowrance iWay 600c to replace my aging Garmin V. I already have a Garmin Nuvi for the city and travel stuff, but it sucks with the topo maps. Some friends have the laptop GPS's with the SIRF III Chipsets and they rock, however my wife would divorce me if I made her sit next to those massive RAM mounts.

Here's what I know.

For the most part the price is a wash if bought off of eBay.

Neither have the latest and greatest antenna, thus an external will be required, my Garmin V barely gets a signal in the forest of Oregon.

Lowrance screen is 5", the Garmin is a tad under 4".

Lowrance is touchscreen, Garmin isn't

Lowrance is hardwire, Garmin will run off of battery and is (somewhat) portable.

Familiar with Garmin software, guessing the 276C uses the same Mapsource as my current Garmin V.

The only real question remains about the actual maps. Anybody have any hands on with the Lowrance vs the Garmin Topo maps? Also, is it possible to build a route on a PC and transfer it to the Lowrance like you can with the Garmin?

 

[peter sherman]

Larry I don't have much to offer in the way of Lowrance besides they are a good product. My Bro had Low chartplotter on his boat & I found it a little less user friendly than Garmin but it was way different than what you are looking at. I have had years of Marine exp with Garmin. If they come out with the G2 Vision Topo it would knock your socks off.
I just bought today a 478 cuz I like the portability & [it has the shit I need in it allready]. Thats a huge plus..
The 276 compared to your old one will be waaay better.
I can probly scrape up an external ant if I look hard. It ain't pretty but it will work & mount to a 1" bar if you have a rack..

 

[garrett]

I am partial to Garmin products and software. Good customer service, product and software all around, so I've never had a reason to look anywhere else.
The 276 is a nice unit and 10X better than the V. You can use any version of Mapsource software with the 276. It's always upgradeable via the Garmin site.
You can hardwire the 276 easy enough too.

I don't think the maps will be all that much different. I have Mapsource and Delorme software and they both produce very similar maps. The base information is the same for the most part across the board, since everyone is getting that data from the same place.

My Mapsource software is circa 1999-2000 and my Delorme is 2004. The Delorme is a little sexier, but the Mapsource is a little more intuitive.

 

[lwg]

I agree with both of you guys. I am very familiar with Mapsource and thus am leaning towards that. My only complaint is that the topo's are 1:100k, kind of wish they had a more detailed map, maybe 1:76k or 1:50K. I guess the same software hasn't gotten me lost yet, and they appear to have recently updated it.

Plus I usually carry maps anyways...

 

[peter sherman]

Larry I don't know topo like I said but if Garmin releases a G2 vision topo hold on to your socks. Vision shit is very cool. Just was playing with my 478 you won't believe how fast this generation is..

 

[lwg]

That's good to know. I've now been doing some research on UMPC's. Ultimately I've always said I would love something with a 6" or 7" screen, touchscreen if possible, my own SIRF III antenna, software and possibly Linux running underneath. Essentially the ultimate truck based (yet still slightly mobile) GPS. Starting to realize that everything exists to do this and it will give me the capabilities to run 1:24k Quad style maps if I'd like...

 

[Roxtar]

I just bought my iWay 600 and haven't been able to use it much yet.
I love the big screen and it seems loaded with features.

Try PMing Alex. He's been using the iWay for a while now.

 

[lwg]

I've talked with Alex a bit. I'm starting to consider just getting a UMPC, software and GPS antenna and building my own! Can't seem to find what I like in the open market.

 

[gmookher]

I use a GPSMAP60Csx for topo, its handheld and quadrafillar antennae make sense for wheeling, seems immune to tree cover and works in canyons where patch type antennas fail.

its waterproof and rugged, but for road tripping, I prefer a streetpiolot over any of the newer crap garmin put out.Mines a 2820 but I actually preffered my old 2620.

you can load topo to a streetpilot, IIRC, but its a paint to enable the maps when you go wheeling

the DNX5120 is looking good for a dual din sized option, but I dont care for the flip out motorized screen in my rover, and am using a adhesive, living with a smallish screen,dash mounted which doesnt look factory at all

unless anyone has a single din sized gps option that works...