Garmin vs Lowrance Fish Finders

When it comes to fish finders, both Garmin and Lowrance are names often touted as offering the best fish finders in the business. There is no denying that both of these are strong brands. However, they make completely different fish finders from one another. While Garmin may be a great brand for one person, Lowrance may be a better brand for another.

On this page, we are going to pit Garmin vs Lowrance fish finders. Hopefully, this information will help you to decide which one is right for you. 

We are not going to discuss things that are virtually the same between the two brands e.g. installation, or even GPS. We are going to focus on the differences that we, as well as several other users of these products, have noticed. 

Pricing 

We know that a lot of people choose their fish finders based on price. We don’t blame you, to be honest! Some of the fish finders on the market can easily reach thousands of dollars.

Generally speaking, Lowrance fish finders tend to be a bit cheaper than Garmin fish finders. Although both of the brands will have fish finders that cover pretty much every single price point, there shouldn’t be too many issues there.

In our opinion, if you want the most bang for your buck, then Lowrance is probably going to be the route to go down, particularly if you are looking at the lower end of the fish finder market.  The affordable Garmin fish finders don’t have anywhere near as many features as the more affordable Lowrance products.

UI

A lot of people want a fish finder that is easy to use. After all, there is already enough to do on a boat. You probably don’t want to be spending an age fiddling about with a variety of settings.

Now, both the Garmin and the Lowrance models have decent UIs. You can tell that the design team for each of these companies understands what their customers want.

However, in our experience, the UI for Lowrance tends to be a little bit more intuitive. Although, this may be down to the fact that Lowrance fish finders tend to have fewer features that you need to navigate through.

If you want a fish finder that is going to be an almost headache-free experience while you are out there on the water, then Lowrance is probably going to be the choice for you, although Garmin isn’t going to be too far behind. 

Features

This is where we start getting into a discussion where you kinda have to know what sort of fish finder you want. For example; you need to know whether you are going to be doing most of your fishing close to the coast, or whether you want to brave the oceans or some of those larger lakes to catch slightly different fish. This is because the feature sets for both the Garmin and the Lowrance fish finders are designed for completely different situations.

Lowrance

Lowrance models aren’t really designed for the pro-angling setting. Instead, they are designed for those that want to be able to head out on a short recreational fishing trip or perhaps want to drop their line under a mile from the shore. 

This means that they may be lacking certain features that can make navigating open waters a little bit easier. The GPS is there, but it is not as good as the Garmin on the open waters (map wise)

The Lowrance models generally also won’t really be able to work well in really deep waters. Well, at least if you opt for one of the cheaper models on the market. 

Finally, most Lowrance models don’t really have weather functionality, something which is often required when you are fishing deep waters. They really are designed for trips of no more than a few hours. 

Garmin

Garmin tends to have better features that will aid the angler heading out for hours and hours, sometimes days, on end. The features often are geared towards working in deeper water too.

The one thing that we want to point out here, however, is that Garmin models are not too brilliant on the mapping front. They do not play well with most mapping software. This means that you get some basic maps. This is another reason why Garmin products tend to be better for the open waters. You don’t need maps there (as much), you need waypoints.

This is not to say that every single Garmin model is going to play well in deeper waters. Cheaper units are still going to be a bit better for those that want to stay close to the coast.

Scanning Features

Both of the Garmin and Lowrance tend to be pretty similar on the whole scanning features front. At least, They both offer CHIRP, SideScan, and DownScan.

However, in our experience, Lowrance doesn’t really offer multiple scanning modes with the cheaper models that it has available. You don’t start to get the multiple scanning modes until you opt for the more expensive models that Lowrance have. This means that you have to spend a fairly healthy sum of cash if you want something that is a bit more versatile.

Most of the models (but not all) of the Garmin models tend to have multiple scanning modes right out of the box. Although, that is to be expected. They are made for the people that are planning to head out on longer trips where versatility is a must.

This means that if you have a Garmin model, you get more versatility, but this means that the fish finder is going to come in at a more expensive price.

When you get to the upper end of the market, pretty much both Garmin and Lowrance will offer the same scanning modes. This is something that you only really need to think about when it comes to cheaper models. 

The Readings 

Don’t get us wrong. Both Garmin and Lowrance produce units with some amazing readouts. However, we feel that the tech used by Lowrance just pips the Garmin units to the post…at least when you get into the more expensive models.

Lowrance has a few features that you may find in their products. You have FishReveal technology. This is a cool innovation that will look for anything that could be a fish. If it does feel that it is a fish, then the fish will be ‘revealed’, sometimes with an audible alarm. This can be great for those that can’t look at the fish finder for the entirety of their journey.

Lowrance products sometimes also offer LiveSight technology. This will actually allow you to get a sonar reading on your lure and see how it is reacting in real-time beneath the water. This means that you can adjust your cast to ensure that you are aiming for the fish that you have identified.

All in all, the Lowrance features tend to be aimed at fishermen that want the whole fishing experience to be as hassle-free as possible. 

That being said, Garmin doesn’t cut corners when it comes to imagery either. Their sonar readouts are some of the most fantastic that we have seen. Some of the things that they pick up from the sonar are so clear that they almost look like a 3D photograph.

The LiveScope feature from the Garmin also functions very similar to LiveSight, although it pumps out a whole lot more detail. You will be able to see even the smallest of fish with crystal clear clarity.

Although, of course, once again, if you want to enjoy these features with the Garmin, then you are going to be spending a lot more cash. 

The Display

Both the Garmin and the Lowrance models tend to have decent displays.

Lowrance does focus a lot more on the smaller displays than Garmin does, though. Although, Garmin is known to make displays a few inches tall, in some cases.

Both of the companies offer full-color read-outs. This will make it a bit easier to read what is beneath the water. However, as we said before, Garmin tends to have a bit more clarity in the images that it produces.

Perhaps the major difference between Garmin and Lowrance comes in the way in which the screen operates.

Lowrance tends to have button controls for their displays. This helps to keep the cost down. They do have a few touch displays, but these tend to be at the upper end of the market.

Almost all of the products that you can find in the Garmin range will be touchscreen models. However, do remember that this does not necessarily make things easier to navigate. Garmin tends to have a more complicated UI, after all.

Conclusion

As you can see, both Garmin and Lowrance fish finders are great. In our opinion, if you are looking for a budget fish finder that is still packed with features, then opt for a Lowrance. They work well on shorter fishing trips. If you are heading into deeper waters, then you can’t beat a Garmin.