I have the Striker 7SV which is chirp sonar, side and down. Alpha knows about all that technology in regards to chirp, but i can tell you i love mine. Correct on no mapping...but you can still log routes for trolling and drop waypoints which is pretty accurate. The 2d chirp sonar is REALLY good. Its also got a flasher if thats your thing. Speed, temp, ect.
I will say though, if i were to put a label on my striker 7sv, i would call it a "beginner" unit. And why i say that is you dont get all the fancy adjustments like you do with a HB or Lowrance. It has your basic adjustments (scroll speed, noise, contrast, color, ect) but it lacks the finer tuning from there. More of a plug and play unit. Thats not a bad thing! its very simple to use, has a pretty good SI picture too. DI is clear as well. Better than my POS lowrance unit.
If you can swing it, the striker 7sv is $499 everywhere unles somebody is running a sale on it...but if you can split that....go for the bigger unit.
Knock on wood, i havent had 1 single issue with my garmin to date. No glitches, software BS...nothing. if they made that unit in 12" i would have one!
Since my garmin doesnt have mapping, i use its waypoint feature along with my Navionics on my phone. Works great, an added step but saves that $$$$. lol.
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