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 Post subject: Garmin 536s Use Report
PostPosted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:34 pm 
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Shark

Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:17 pm
Posts: 133
Location: Reno, Nevada
This year I upgraded from a mounted Garmin GPSMAP 76 (hand-held GPS with a 2.9-inch diagonal screen) to a mounted Garmin GPSMAP 536s with a 5.0-inch screen. I did this because the only good mounting location on my Sundowner 255 for a GPS is just over an arms length away while driving and I could not read the small screen anymore.

We use our boat on large inland lakes and reservoirs and mainly cruise. We often travel 70 to 120 miles a day just going to a remote destination and then returning. The 536s includes sonar and water temperature sensors. I have had previous Garmin products and find them reliable and have a similar structure to their options menus. So my learning curve for this unit was short.

Here is what I like about the unit:
1. The display is much larger (3.4 times more area), very bright is direct sunlight, high resolution, and has large letters and numbers for these aging eyes.
2. The display can regenerate very fast (in much less than a second) so you can zoom in and out quickly and you do not need to wait for the the image to slowly build up on the screen.
3. It can display two views at once on a split screen such as a chart and time track of sonar readings or a chart at two different scales.
4. The chart display has two separate modes, the first (navigation) I programed to display detailed depth contours and no land features for running in shallow water where I want to avoid hitting something. The second mode I programed for cruising to display depth as a color strength, land features included, with the direction of travel as up. You can switch back and forth between these mode easily.
5. The sonar display shows the depth and strength of multiple returns so you can see fish, trees, rocks, and the bottom. The data are displayed showing present depths and what you just went past. This allows trends to show and provides about 100 times more information than watching a simple digital readout of the current depth. For those of use that learned to read bottom information on a flasher depth sounder this all very familiar and very useful. A digital display is providing only the average depth and not the information that says you have strong returns ranging from 15 to 50 ft. The sonar always held the bottom depth reading in water over 400 ft deep while traveling at over 35 mph.
6. The unit is highly programmable and has a large selection of digital information that can be placed on the screen wherever you want it. The information on charts is also highly programmable for detail and types of data.
7. Through a NEMA 2000 interface I could add fuel flow meter as well as fuel level and engine information. Maybe next year I will put in a NEMA backbone cable.
8. I easily imported all of my existing waypoints, routes, and tracks from the GPSMAP 76 through Garmin MapSource software. So I can program waypoints and routes on my computer and then load them into the unit specific for that lake via an SD card.
9. It can display a three-dimensional perspective view from above and behind the boat or even behind and below the boat. I also purchased the optimal inland satellite imagery that is then rendered on the land surface for both the chart display I use for cruising or the three-dimensional perspective view that changes as you travel. This lets me know what each canyon on Lake Powell looks like before I get there.
10 The unit makes my point-to-point navigation tasks and shallow water rock avoidance maneuvers much easier. It also supports my firm opinion that the helm of any good boat should be nearly indistinguishable from the helm of the starship Enterprise.

Here is what I think Garmin could improve upon:
1. The 536 is part of a family of units (531, 536, 541, 546) that are intended inland and off shore uses and as such the various units produce different amounts of power and frequency for the appropriate fresh water or salt water transducers (1,000 to 400 watts). There are many compatible transducer options that include dual beam (80 and 200 htz), and with and without temperature sensors. There are also compatible in-hull, through-hull, and on-the-transom transducers. What I wanted to do was replace the factory original in-hull transducer and maintain all of the unit's capability. This was impossible to accomplish, so I now have two independent depth sounders and two independent transducers on the boat that can be used simultaneously (so they must have different frequencies).
2. It was impossible to learn the power of the 536s unit on the Garmin website before purchase (I found it on the box to be 400 watts) so that I could match it to a compatible non-Garmin transducer.
3. The provided helm mount for the unit allows the unit to rotate right and left and tip up and down. The amount of tip can be locked in one position but the rotation cannot. The rotation mechanism did not hold the unit firmly and it allowed a lot of jiggling while underway. I needed to rework the mount to remove the rotation feature and permanently point the screen toward the driver.
4. It would be nice to have a second 12 volt power cable to use when the unit is removed from the boat for updating, programming, and playing.

Would I buy this unit again? YES

_________________
2006 Sundowner 255, 5.7 GXi, 320 hp
"Simply Irresistible"


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