Garmin 93sv Review

My opinion purely. I have a HB 998HD on the console.


Ok so far including 2 long days Saturday and Sunday spent on the water running the 93sv. I am still messing with the adjustments some looking for the sweet spot. I have a HB 998 HD on the console. The Garmin screen just appears Huge compared to the HB. The Garmin is sharp and clear. The 2d and Downvu is hands down better. The Garmin sidevu on mine is Not better than the HB 998 for scanning fish. Side structure scanning the 93sv is better but for pure fish scanning looking for and finding fish the HB side scan is better. No question what so ever presently in my opinion. I have not found where I can really fine tune the sensitivity and other options to really make the fish jump out like they do on the HB.

The other thing I have noted. The 2d and downvu on the garmin seems to lock in on the tops parts of a school of fish. Example: 25fow.....bait fish and school of whites stretched from 8ft to 18ft deep with the bottom being 25ft deep. The HB reads the bottom all the time and the Garmin keeps locking in on the top and middle part of the school reading 8ft deep as bottom depth. The image is great but this seriously suxs not being able to read and display all the way the bottom. The 2d on single or small schools is no issue but on the larger ones is where I saw this. I know the lake so I knew this was wrong and checked the HB on the console and it read fine. Seems like a software issue. The other issue I am noting is only having 1 card slot is a major drawback when on is filled with the map card. In this price range there should be 2 slots. The Garmin Ultra Lake mapping chip is the best I have ever seen.

I know I as one of the new owners of a brand new product I am sort of a beta tester but.......this is what I am noting. I fish 30fow or less 90% of the time. The more I run it the more I am starting to be convinced that it does basics better than anyone else out there but for detail work it lacks the ability to fine tune.


Auto mode does not pick out fish very well for me.I tried to take some screen shots but ran into a problem with the unit not recognizing my 8gb sandisk card. Sandisk Card works fine in home computer. I bought a PNY card for it as that is the same card the Ultra Lake Map is on. I will try the new PNY card this weekend for screen shots. I slipped the Ultra Map back in and read it fine.

The other thing noted is scrolling speed . You have better adjustment with the HB as there are 10 settings and 4 with the garmin. The HB side scans better at very slow speeds and the garmin seems to do best above 0.8mph. If you are just barely crawling along the HB I think does better.

I will be fishing Sunday and will really scrub the user manual to do mostly just scanning to mess with the unit to see what I can do.

So up to now in my opinion.

2D: Garmin
Downvu: Garmin
Sidevu Fish: Humminbird
Sidevu Structure: Garmin
Screen: Garmin
Detail settings; Humminbird
Mapping: Garmin
Ease of use: Garmin
GPS: Garmin
Card Slots: Humminbird
Bottom Lock: Humminbird
Beam Select: Humminbird 455/800 (garmin only has 455)
Networking: Humminbird
Price: Garmin
Warranty: Humminbird (2yrs)
Product Support: Humminbird simply because Garmin tech support does not know much about the 93sv

KAG-thanks for doing the beta test for us!! I feel better now about ordering new H'birds. I can wait a year or two for Garmin to improve the things you mentioned, (or for H'bird to improve theirs!). I attended an H'bird seminar this weekend and the topic went to CHIRP. The rep said that true "CHIRP" transducers are, at minimum, the size of a football and the better ones are twice that big. He said that what mfg's are calling CHIRP is only a very small % of the freq's that true CHIRP covers. But he also said that since one mfg is saying they have CHIRP, this means H'bird (and others), will have to put the same technology in some of their new models in order to keep up.

New software update is out so i will load that up and see

Great report

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Originally Posted by vic n

KAG-thanks for doing the beta test for us!! I feel better now about ordering new H'birds. I can wait a year or two for Garmin to improve the things you mentioned, (or for H'bird to improve theirs!). I attended an H'bird seminar this weekend and the topic went to CHIRP. The rep said that true "CHIRP" transducers are, at minimum, the size of a football and the better ones are twice that big. He said that what mfg's are calling CHIRP is only a very small % of the freq's that true CHIRP covers. But he also said that since one mfg is saying they have CHIRP, this means H'bird (and others), will have to put the same technology in some of their new models in order to keep up.

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Been telling folks that have a so called "CHIRP" sonar that cost maybe 700 bucks that it was not true CHIRP. The same as you say....true CHIRP costs a lot of money. I spent 31 years in the radar and missile field which is where CHIRP was first used. Most of those so called CHIRP units are nothing more than software enhancements of 2D sonar. Not bashing any brand of sonar but true CHIRP....no matter the brand, cost big money.

Regards

Thanks for the detailed report ...... Keep it up:ThumbsUp

I have one of these on the way. I will be retiring my LCX 27c. I have wanted a DI Si unit for a past few years. Reading your reviews convinced me to try a Garmin. I am pretty excited.

Thanks for the non biased report.

Might not be true CHIRP but certainly better than standard sonar even in shallow water.

I will load the new software tonight and fish it tomorrow afternoon. The Garmin has already done one thing to affect the industry.....made others be more competitive in their pricing

Update completed. From version 2.30 to 2.40. I had 2, 8gb sandisk cards (brand new) these will NOT work in the Garmin unit. I had a brand new PNY 8gb card that I tried and it loaded and updated without any problem. Do not use Sandisk Micro sd cards in these units.....or they refuse to work in my Garmin. I did test them and they worked fine in home PC, in cell phone, and my G Pad.

I saw nothing different in the menu options afterward. To update you turn the unit on first and then after it completely boots up you insert the card and the unit takes over......follow the prompts.

Thanks for the update on the updates. Have you seen them doing many software updates? I will test a few different brand cards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ILMarbleye

I have one of these on the way. I will be retiring my LCX 27c. I have wanted a DI Si unit for a past few years. Reading your reviews convinced me to try a Garmin. I am pretty excited.

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Good choice,

took a bunch of screens shots today

Towards the bottom I scanned a crappie structure then took a regular photograph of it. It did not scan well I think

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Ok the Photo is the crappie structure I found and then i scanned it.......you decide

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Great Pictures KAG in 2.5 Ft I think it turned out ok on the structure . did you scan it with the Bird to compare ?

Quite normal pictures for 455kHz and that depth, what about 800kHz? Did you try it, or it does not look good?

It does not have 800khz on the 93sv

I like the Inverse palette ... (or whatever Garmin calls their version) ...

Rickie

Thanks for the review Kag. For the price point, it is definitely in the running on my next boat. While I love high-end technology, I find there's a point of diminishing returns where the technology doesn't yield more or better fish in the boat, but rather consumes more time and money.

The pictures you posted pretty much show the unit can produce defining images in all 3 modes at a decent resolution :ThumbsUp

Post a few out 80 ft or so on L and R side scan if you get a chance,
thanks

In shallow water ...

20 ft will be fine ��

I plan to install the new trolling motor parts tomorrow or Saturday and log some water time so I will scan it out to the max reach in different depths.

a couple shots with my first time out with the 93sv (all on auto.) Just learning to play with it...

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Impressive

I got my unit yesterday. So far I am impressed but there are a few things I have to look into. One, the left arrow seems sticky compared to the others. it works fine but just doesn't have that same return feeling. The other thing is I have the Ultra map but yet I can't see in the unit how to enable the dynamic lake level or depth range shading. Not sure how I can't find that.

Here is an update today. Called Garmin. Told them I see no option for depth range shading or dynamic lake level. They told me that if I am not on the water with the transducer submerged it won't work. Now that doesn't seem right to me as I am a pretty technical guy but whatever. They said I could put it in simulator mode and that would show those options now. Well it doesn't. I have tried with the transducer attached or unattached in simulation mode and not in simulation and still do not see those options anywhere. I even downloaded the most recent firmware even though I didn't need it. My question is to people with this unit and the ultra maps, do you see the dynamic lake level and depth range shading buttons? if yes under what menu. Any help is appreciated. Going to call Garmin again tomorrow.

The next time i am on the water I will check this. To be honest I never even looked for as it's a feature I don't use but I guess at some point I could find it useful in the right situation.

Been using the garmin a lot lately. I have gotten better with using it but so far the assessment I previously stated is unchanged.

I have found the answer. If you are not on the boat, on a lake, it will not work. To trick the unit you have to turn on the simulator and then set your location to the lake you want to look at. Then depth range shading and lake level are active in the menu.

Here are the memory cards I have found that work with the unit.
Attachment 200510

PNY cards work great on mine.

I really am impressed with the screen of the Garmin compared to my HB HD screen. Just crisp and clear and the longer I use the Garmin the better I am getting with it. The soft target issue is still an issue for me but the hard target display rocks. The 2d and down vu are amazing with the 2d imo just being on a completely different level the way the returns are separated. The jigging feature is what I always thought it should be.

Does this unit have any means to do custom mapping for lakes not built in. Similar to SonarChart or AutoCharts?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tundah

Does this unit have any means to do custom mapping for lakes not built in. Similar to SonarChart or AutoCharts?

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You might want to check out Reefmaster ...... I don't know for sure if it can be used for Garmin .... but I think it can.

Great product review. Thank you!

KAG, any further assessment? Have you been able to play on the water much?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KAG

Update completed. From version 2.30 to 2.40. I had 2, 8gb sandisk cards (brand new) these will NOT work in the Garmin unit. I had a brand new PNY 8gb card that I tried and it loaded and updated without any problem. Do not use Sandisk Micro sd cards in these units.....or they refuse to work in my Garmin. I did test them and they worked fine in home PC, in cell phone, and my G Pad.

I saw nothing different in the menu options afterward. To update you turn the unit on first and then after it completely boots up you insert the card and the unit takes over......follow the prompts.

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Did you try formatting the new chips with FAT? I've found that sometimes that works.

I got some great shots on the water this morning on the unit....got home and no pix on the card. Whoops, the "mark" button doesn't screen capture, gotta hold "home" for 6 secs...

Ya. reformat to Fat32 should work