I got myself a Lowrance Mark 4 gps/finder recently, taken it out eight times so far. I had an X-4 Pro before, which was a hardy little unit that lived up to its water resistance rating on many occasions. Handy thing about these two models is the transducers are the same, which could be useful for fishers with their trannies glued in.
One difference though is the Mark 4's transducer comes with a plastic nut on the back of the plug which is used to lock the plug into the head. This made the plug too big for me to pass through the bung (I use a wet mount and pack away my transducer) so I'm using the X4-Pro's tranny which works fine, though I'm yet to take a full wave over the bow and find out if it's any less water resistant.
The big feature that led me to this model was what they call Trackback. In the past with a separate gps and finder I'd notice structure after I'd pass it, and getting an accurate mark on it was pretty spotty. Maybe I'd look away from the finder and miss a little reef completely.
What the Mark 4 does is cache several screens of sounder readout, and embed the coordinates in the sounder readings. So I can scroll back in the sounder display a few screens to a dropoff, put the cursor over it and get a waypoint to it. This made the penny drop for me in understanding the utility of a combo unit; it makes it more than the sum of its parts. Today I marked a bunch of lumps and bumps at my local spot.
I might just sum the rest up
In short, the extra clarity and GPS features make this, to me, worth the extra $120 over the X4-pro, but it definitely seems a bit more delicate. There have been some reports of moisture entering units in the Lowrance 4 range, though I don't have the impression it's wide spread.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's got a Navionics silver chart for a Lowrance about how much detail is in the depth map. It's funny how the charts cost more than the hardware you stick them in
One difference though is the Mark 4's transducer comes with a plastic nut on the back of the plug which is used to lock the plug into the head. This made the plug too big for me to pass through the bung (I use a wet mount and pack away my transducer) so I'm using the X4-Pro's tranny which works fine, though I'm yet to take a full wave over the bow and find out if it's any less water resistant.
The big feature that led me to this model was what they call Trackback. In the past with a separate gps and finder I'd notice structure after I'd pass it, and getting an accurate mark on it was pretty spotty. Maybe I'd look away from the finder and miss a little reef completely.
What the Mark 4 does is cache several screens of sounder readout, and embed the coordinates in the sounder readings. So I can scroll back in the sounder display a few screens to a dropoff, put the cursor over it and get a waypoint to it. This made the penny drop for me in understanding the utility of a combo unit; it makes it more than the sum of its parts. Today I marked a bunch of lumps and bumps at my local spot.
I might just sum the rest up
- $120 more than an X4 Pro[/*]
- Had trouble finding it in shops, maybe because it's monochrome and less eye-grabbing. Got mine here: http://www.chsmith.com.au/Products/Lowrance-Mark-4-Fishfinder-Plotter.html[/*]
- Power consumption apparently about 0.25 amps. 7 amp hour SLA, 3.5 amp hours to be realistic so ~14 hours runtime?[/*]
- When I let my old SLA die, the sounder was still running at six volts before it turned itself off[/*]
- Resolution on the sounder is way better, I guess the tranny is better than the X4 Pro could show on its screen. I can confidently tell weed from sand now, and fish schools are clearer.[/*]
- Screen backlight is super bright, I need to find a setting to wind it down a bit actually. It's an evenly distributed white light rather than a little yellow highlight at the bottom[/*]
- Extra port (NMEA) doesn't come with a cap so I gummed mine up to keep the salt off[/*]
- You can customise the info overlaid on the sounder display and how it's arranged; for instance add a steering arrow so you can navigate to a waypoint without switching away from the sounder display mode.[/*]
- I wish waypoint naming was done with a grid of letters rather than scrolling each character alphabetically but the buttons are easy on the fingers[/*]
- Saying this thing has a base map is being generous, markings disappear once you zoom in any closer than "all of Australia". Out of the box with no Navionics data, it's really a chartless GPS.[/*]
- Split screen GPS/finder mode is a bit cluttered on a screen no bigger than an X4s. Nav arrow over the finder display a good compromise.[/*]
- Same IPX rating as the X4 but I don't like the look of the rubber lid on the SD slot so I have a strip of gaffa tape over it for now. Haven't got around to playing with importing and exporting waypoints and such yet; that should make naming much less hassle.[/*]
In short, the extra clarity and GPS features make this, to me, worth the extra $120 over the X4-pro, but it definitely seems a bit more delicate. There have been some reports of moisture entering units in the Lowrance 4 range, though I don't have the impression it's wide spread.
I'd be interested to hear from anyone who's got a Navionics silver chart for a Lowrance about how much detail is in the depth map. It's funny how the charts cost more than the hardware you stick them in