Customer Reviews

Garmin GPSMAP 430S 4-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We installed this unit on our boat and got it working immediately, no problems whatsoever. We bought it for all the inland lakes in Michigan and it has details on all the ones that we boat on. However, we are going to have to pay an additional $130 for Lake St. Clair! Granted it is not an inland lake.
The included lake maps do provide useful outlines of the lakes.
The depth sonar and gps both work well on the lakes and we have had no problems.
However and but... Here are the reasons why I only rated it 3 stars and not higher.

1) Garmin customer support is seriously lacking. It is way too difficult to get a straight answer out of Garmin if you can even get an answer!

2) Garmin's advertising is misleading. We have found this to be true on every Garmin unit we have bought (and returned some for that reason). If you buy a Garmin unit, be absolutely certain what the Return Policy is from where you bought it. One place wanted a 15% restocking fee (which was NOT clearly displayed) but I discussed this with the manager, stating the the salesclerk said it was returnable and did not state that there was a restocking fee and the unit itself did not perform as advertised. In that case the manager acquiesced.

3) The biggest problem with this particular unit is that the detail displayed for the inland lakes is insufficient for navigation! Many of our lakes have very shallow areas (less than 5 feet) and you do not want to be at speed when traversing those areas. This unit will NOT show the lake depths, on the Navigation display screen, to any degree of usefullness even if you zoom in/out! I carry both printed maps and satellite views of any of the lakes we go out on. But with Garmin's statements, descriptions and pictures, I was led to believe that I would not have to refer back to paper maps!

If you want some good printable lake maps, go to Sportsman's Connection https://www.sportsmansconnection.com and they have some very good topo lake maps at a reasonable cost.

the product does what it claims to
the mapping is excellant with many icons for personal spots and it brought us back to within 3 ft of the center of the channel on our return trip
the fish finder works in a little as 5 ft of water so far but i havent been deeper than 90 ft so far but it seems to be just fine out there also
and the tide tables, and moon phases is a nice extra.

all in all for the price you get a lot of product

I specifically purchased this marine GPS so I wouldn't have to buy any additional maps. I live on Lake Murray, SC and don't plan on taking my boat to any other lakes or rivers. I choose the 430S because it came pre-loaded with inland lakes with contour lines. After instaling the GPS and trasducer I discovered it showed the same level of detail as the Lawrance GPS that was a hundred dollars less.
I called Garmin and was told that the contour lines for Lake Murray should be on the pre-loaded software. Garmin's customer representative told me to send an email stating what was not shown and that Garmin updates the software annually and would send me an email when the updated software was availabel.
All I will have to do is give then a $200.00 deposit and thewy will send me a SD Card that I can upload the current software. Then I send the SD card back and they will refund me $125.00. So I pay $75.00 to cover Garmin's oversite!
I just ordered Inland Lakes card from Amazon for $75.00 to get what I thought I was getting in the first place!! At least I can use auto-guidance with the card, which is a function you can't use unless you purchase additional maps.

This garmin gps/fishfinder does exactly as the company says, easy to use ,accurate,and very compact .I would reccommend this product to anyone that needs a good gps/fishfinder at a great price .you must buy the enhanced g2 card for superior sattelite imagery detail

I explore back waters here in Florida and this model is really working well on keeping me posted as to where I am. It provides details that I did not expect that were useful. I did not have a speedometer before and with the 430s I trimed the boat engine to gain 5 mph.

lake greenwood chart, sc looks like a ROAD map ! that's not what I thought I was getting when I purchased the inland lake software ! it shows the bottom right under the boat very well, but not where I want to go. does anybody know where I can find a unit with lake greenwood bottom detail ? other than this, I like the unit. thanks, gt