New Sounder Question

Tim Richards · #1 08-08-2007, 12:24 AM

Gday everyone

My sounder has died a slow death so it is time to upgrade, I am going to go a combo unit and am chasing a bit of advice. You can basically get an external or internal antenna for the modern GPS units, is there any advantages or disadvantages in either style?

would you get better reception with an external antenna?? The price difference is negligable which ever way I go, I just want to make sure I do the right thing.

cheers

Tim

#2 08-08-2007, 12:27 AM

hey mate,
ive currently got myself a humminbird 997c it has a external aireal hasnt givin me any problems and im really happy with it eather internal or external shouldnt really make a diffrence.

cheers brad

Emo · #3 08-08-2007, 01:33 AM

BB, a mate of mine has a combo unit with no external antenna and the GPS worked fine in his Quintrex freedom sport, but he recently upgraded to a BarCrusher which has a hard top and the GPS is loosing signal occasionaly.
He did some enquiring and was told that the hard top can cause issues and that he should get one with an external antenna.

So if your fishing in an open boat there should be no problem with a built in antenna.

(I think he may be selling it so if you want any info on it PM me)

HTH

bigtez · #4 08-08-2007, 02:14 AM

I have an eagle cuda 240i with an internal aerial and it only drops out when passing under a bridge. I haven't had an external aerial gps before so I don't know if that would fix it. Other then that it has worked flawlessly.

Terry

bucaneer · #5 08-08-2007, 02:21 AM

I went through the same exercise last year when I bought my Lowrance 332. I phoned Lowrance and the guy I spoke to was quite emphatic; external antenna.
He did also give me a very good reason, but I think I just lost another couple of brain cells, 'cause I can't remember

It may have been that the external antenna received a much stronger signal, so was far more accurate than the internal.
Cheers,
Andy

Rod · #6 08-08-2007, 10:21 PM

Benefit of a inbuilt aerial is less holes drilled, easy to move form boat to boat, and obvious space saving. But if you have a hard top then the Ariel needs to have a clear site to the sky.