Thanks Michael. I had been wanting the Garmin 478, probably more for me than him (and its his b'day). Your post made me look very hard at the Garmin. I rode out to West Marine to look at it and others. One of the things I wanted with the garmin was the ability to use it on the coast and on the lake. The lake map for our lake was all but non-existent-- just an outline of the lake. The 478 is not AIS ready and weather requires a $250. add on and and subscription. He really has all the chartplotters he needs so the 478 was looking like a pretty expensive toy.
I think he would enjoy an auto GPS-- so I bought the Lowrance. We already have lots of Lowrance charts which will fit the 250C and it is a $100 toy in stead of $1000. Again, thanks for the good advice.
I'll let you know how I like it when it comes in.
Garmin 478 Review
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