Customer Reviews

Garmin GPSMAP 545S 5-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter with Dual Frequency Transducer

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

 

 

The unit is easy to install, and looks great. It works very well, too. The display is very crisp and easy to see in bright sunshine. It doesn't have much glare, and the unit is easy to use. It's small and lightweight.

It takes a long time to acquire a signal. I have to remember to turn it on at least a couple of minutes before we shove off.

The user interface is disappointing. The unit has a great information display, including the time of day, battery voltage and heading--plus a bunch of user selectable numbers displayed in big numbers that you can see from the other side of your boat. There's also the map and sounding charts. But switching from one to the other requires four or five button presses. This is unconscionable--switching between each should take a single key press.

The will draw a straight line to navigate to a particular point unless the user manually adds turns to avoid land. In the complex Puget Sound, it's time-consuming to enter enough turns manually (and accurately!) to get a sensible course. Garmin requires that you buy an extra map chip in order to get a guided map.

The array of available transducers and sensors is great--but it's also quite confusing. Finding information about which sensor is best for me and my boat required a call to Garmin's customer support. With the sensor I chose, though, the sonar and depth finding is just about perfect.

I've used Garmin products for more than 15 years--since I bought my a hand-held 12XL to take hiking. The products are bullet-proof, and this product is no exception. I wish these problems were fixed, but it's really great product just the same.

I have had this for almost 2 years. I have taken my boat to the bahamas twice. It works perfectly. I added a vision card, satelite weather and a Fuel flow sensor. The satelite weather is excellent but pricey through xm at $50 a month. But there are two lower tiers. They also let you cancel off season. You will need a $300 antenna for that. The sonar works great except for high speeds but that is an issue with my boat hull design I believe. The Fuel flow sensor was a huge pain to wire but it is nice to have. I also have it hooked to my Marine radio which will transmit and receive coordinates. Great visiblity in sunlight. No complaints. Xm radio controls from unit with weather. A visoin card is key for upper level funtions and routing. Great price for this.

I "upgraded" to this 545s unit from the gpsmap 478.. Simply because the connection on the back of the 478 were not up to the task of saltwater spray for both the XM antenna and power cord... I wish i hadn't. Yes, it's a bigger screen, BUT.. you have to push many more buttons to get to where you want to be on the machine. There is not a simple waypoint entry.. while cruising on a vessel. You have to make multiple entries to save it. The worst loss is of the NOAA forecasts that were on the 478. Now all you get is a little graphical icon and current conditions.. Come on Garmin... make this a useful piece of equipment instead of a boat anchor.

I have found this item to be everything I expected and more. The same goes for my experience with the vendor.