Humminbird vs Garmin

It’s easier today than ever before to get your hands on a quality fish finder – thanks in large part to companies like Humminbird and Garmin.

Both of these marine electronic companies enjoy almost legendary reputations.

Both are highly innovative. Both are constantly pushing the envelope. Both are always rolling out new fish finding units to help anglers better track down monsters in the deepest depths.

But how does Humminbird stack up against Garmin and vice versa? 

Well, that’s exactly what we dig deeper into throughout this detailed breakdown.

Let’s jump right in!

Humminbird vs Garmin Showdown

Humminbird is absolutely beloved by anglers not just in the United States (where they have a particularly passionate fan base and following) but all over the world.

Since 1971 this Alabama based company has been pumping out some of the best technology in the fish finding world.

This is a company that has gone out on the bleeding edge and pushed these units further into the future than almost anybody else – and they stay out there on the bleeding edge constantly dropping new products, innovating new technology, and shaking things up regularly.

Combine that with the fact that these high-technology fish finding units are still made 100% in the USA (something that not a lot of other fish finding companies can say), the legendary customer service and support, and an amazing warranty.

It’s not hard to see why people love Humminbird products.

Garmin is no slouch of a company, either.

Sure, most people know Garmin for their GPS technology then their fish finding solutions.

But it should come as no surprise to anyone that Garmin would jump headfirst into the deep end (no pun intended) to produce a world-class fish finding product lineup that could go toe to toe with almost anything Humminbird offered, too.

These are two titans of the fish finding industry to be sure.

Industry Reputation

As we mentioned a moment ago, Humminbird has one of the most dedicated and passionate fan bases of any marine electronics company – to the point where it’s almost impossible to find anybody out of the water that hasn’t owned or that doesn’t own right now some Humminbird tech (and absolutely loves it).

Garmin doesn’t have quite the passionate fan base (no surprise there, though – this is a huge conglomerate after all).

But that’s not to suggest that the Garmin reputation is into rock solid throughout this industry and with anglers all over the world.

Garmin for a long time now has been the gold standard when it comes to GPS and mapping technology. Their marine electronics division is a little bit younger than their GPS systems, but they’ve hit the ground running and release some really exciting and really innovative products.

Truth be told, you really can’t go wrong with either of these companies. They are going to get you the tech you need to land bigger fish more often. 

Feature Set

Garmin offers a lot of the “basic” fish finding features you would expect to get out of top-tier hardware in this industry.

Where these units really shine, though, is with the introduction of Garmin down imaging technology, side imaging technology, and (of course) the absolutely legendary Garmin GPS technology – all of which is standard fare at every level of this product catalog.

To have that kind of tech as the standard is almost unreal.

On top of that, you’re able to take full advantage of Panoptix and Livescope transducer technology in a lot of Garmin fish finding units as well. This is going to help you big time when you need to do some chart plotting and when you need to analyze the scanning that you are doing of the waters your fishing.

Humminbird units have been leveraging the CHIRP sonar technology for a while now – and to great affect!

A lot of Humminbird units have also started to make use of impressive down imaging technology, side imaging technology, full chart plotting systems, and advanced GPS that is (almost) as good as the stuff coming out of Garmin.

On top of that, though, Humminbird units just sort of feels like they are built by serious fishermen and anglers – and that’s because they are!

The people that build this stuff use it all the time out on the water. That’s why the user interface feels so refined, that’s why the technology “just works”, and that’s why you never end up feeling like your Humminbird is stuffed to the gills with tools and tech you’ll never use.

The Smart Strike feature, for example, takes into account the kind of contours pulled up from the imaging technology via the LakeMaster Digital Charts. 

Proprietary algorithms unique to Humminbird systems then help you find the most likely spots for big fish, crunching the imaging produced but also taking into account specific species of fish, current weather conditions, and even things like the time, time of year, weather conditions, and wind!

You’re not going to find that anywhere else.

We love the GPS mapping tech of Garmin, but those fish finding tools from Humminbird gets the nod in this department.

Fish Finding Tech

Both of these companies – Humminbird and Garmin – have excellent reputations for being very forward thinking, very aggressive when it comes to innovation, and always pumping money into research and development.

Humminbird has built their business on the back of very well-made pieces of fish finding technology, but recently they have also started to dive deeper into the world of technology, Big Data, and making use of the information their fish finders pull out of the water. 

In addition to the Smart Strike system we mentioned a second ago, Humminbird units also take advantage of MEGA down imaging technology.

This technology allows for fish finding depth readings of up to 200 feet beneath the surface of the water, all while producing 20% increases to overall clarity and detail on Humminbird displays.

On top of all that, you also get a full 360° imaging break down so that you know exactly what’s underneath the water at any one point in time.

Garmin utilizes some pretty cool “creature features” when it comes to finding fish as well.

The Panoptix system in specific directs sonar beams horizontally from your boat. This lets you see whether or not fish are moving towards you or away from you, but it also gives you a “side view” of structures that aren’t just underneath your boat – but are up to 100 feet away as well.

REALVU and FRONTVU technology from Garmin gives you a super detailed 3D breakdown of the imaging pulled from the front of the boat. This includes details of the fish your technology picks up on (with real-time location spotting) as well as the structure under the water that you are passing over.

LiveScope from Garmin is another game changer. Not only will you pick up on the depth measurements of the fish you are spotting, but sometimes you can even break down details of the fish you have uncovered – down to the point of watching their fin movement in real time on the imaging tech. 

That’s wild!

Both of these companies offer amazing fish finding tools, there’s no doubt about that. It’s a bit of a push here with both companies doing a great job to make sure anglers land more record breakers.

Mapping Tools

 It should surprise no one that Garmin gets the edge in this category.

Garmin is the undisputed tightening of GPS technology. This is a company that better understands GPS tech than pretty much anybody else, but also has found a way to make this technology accessible to anyone and everyone

Garmin leverages the Blue Chart mapping system right out-of-the-box. But you can also swap out different mapping tools – like the ones from Navionics – if you have a specific set of tools you prefer to use.

LakeVu US and LakeVu Canada mapping tools are available for Garmin units. You’ll get bathymetric maps of lakes, major rivers, minor rivers and creeks, reservoirs, and all kinds of other waterways with this sort of upgrade.

Humminbird doesn’t drop the ball completely when it comes to GPS mapping. They just don’t do quite as nice a job as the legitimate industry leader in this space (Garmin).

LakeMaster and NOAA mapping tools are available with Humminbird units. It’s probably a good idea to spring for the HD version of LakeMaster maps for the areas that you plan to fish on the most. That date is hugely important to make the most of your new Humminbird fish finder. 

All things considered, though, Garmin definitely does a better job than anybody when it comes to the mapping components of fish finders.

Humminbird vs Garmin – Which One?

When you boil everything down there’s a lot more in common between Humminbird and Garmin fish finders than major differences.

Both of these companies put out fantastic fish finding tools. Both of these companies heavily invest in effective technology. Both of them are innovative, and both of them are serious about giving anglers the chance to “spy” underwater.

That being said, Humminbird is still the favorite for serious anglers and fishermen. 

Garmin has exceptional mapping tools (don’t get us wrong) – but Humminbird brings home the bacon when it comes to overall fish finding solutions. And Humminbird mapping tools aren’t half bad, either.

You can’t make a mistake with either of these two companies.

But if you want the best of the best in fish finding technology today it needs to be a Humminbird unit.