Garmin GPSMAP 546s Marine GPS Receiver with Dual-Frequency Transducer

After reading reviews and descriptions, I was prepared for the graphics to be not much better than my old 498 unit. I was pleasantly surprised to find the graphics are clearly better than the old 498, even without the add-on detailed map purchase. It is annoying that Garmin decided that they needed to modify the base/clamp that holds it in place, forcing me to replace that as well. Sure, one was in the box, but did they really need to make me take the old one out and put the new one in? And, of course, the wiring harness is different, again forcing me to swap out wires. Given that I'm using my "old" (from the 498) transducer and my old external GPS antenna, it seems silly to me that they couldn't have left the wiring alone. The unit is clearly an improvement and I'm happy to have it. But the lack of backward compatibility with the clamp and wiring harness strike me as silly waste of engineering effort (or a typical engineering attitude of "I can do it better" than what is already done and working) that doesn't actually provide any improvement.

I have an older Garmin chartplotter with a black and white display that is used every day on a water taxi and tour boat in Alaska and it has worked flawlessly for the last eight years. I got this new one for a different boat and it works as advertised but I can't customize the display as well as I could the older one. The display is nice and bright and is readable in bright sunlight with dark glasses. The unit is mounted inside the cabin and the built in antenna has no problem tracking satellites. The standard charts already installed for North America seem to be adequate for my needs so I don't know how it would work with the BlueChart g2 Vision. Reading the tide tables are not as easy or convenient as on the older one. The depth/fish finder seems to work fine. It is nice having the duel frequency transducer. I would have rated it five stars but I really didn't see any mprovement in functionality in eight years.

I upgraded from a 498s just three months ago embraced with the idea of new features like XM weather, better looking base maps and increased sensitivity.Although 546s has better resolution in the 480x640 5" picture display, the "Garmin US Coastal base maps" show the same (cartoonish) level of detail as before, so nothing gained there and I feel the upgrade was unnecessary for this purpose.Yes I understand the (getya) here is to buy the BlueChart g2 Vision SD card at $300 but think the unit was a bit pricy to get better mapping detail around the costal areas, say 1/8 of a mile. There are just about half a dozen docks and marinas missing or not shown on my new unit that where on my 498.On the XM weather capability, get ready for sticker shock $600 for the antenna, YES THAT'S RIGHT THE XM/GPS ANTENNA COST 1/2 THE PRICE OF A 546S BRAND NEW. I would like the Weather but feel Garmin is being down greedy and ridicules with there pricing.I did find the unit is more sensitive and remained accurate when zoomed in, if you navigate up and down the ICW and the zoom out you will see your boat on land not water.In summery, I actually like my old 498s better and in hindsight would have not spent the money to upgrade as I feel it was not worth the price....Although I like the Garmin product next time I'm inclined to upgrade, Garmin may lose my business in view of the competitions offerings.

The Garmin GPSMAP 546s is leagues ahead of my old Garmin 188 GPS.The reason I did not give it 5 stars is because my old 188 had a feature that is missing from the 546s.You could select a hazard and assign a distance ring around it and if the boat went inside this rangering you would get an alarm. Very handy feature and I do not understand why this was dropped fromthe new and somewhat improved GPS's. Other then that I am happy and would recommend this GPS.

Asked for this Garmin 546S GPS as my Christmas present this year. Installed it in January and have used it quite a bit as my boat is in Florida. I'm happy with the GPS but feel $900 is too much. I would give it 5 stars if it were cheaper and if Garmin moved their manufacturing back to the U.S. I think $900 for a GPS made in China is just plain wrong! If it were made in the U.S. I'd pay $900, but made in China by someone making $2 a day?

I have been out of boating a while so these new things just blow me away.. I always used a compass but this GPS is great, It takes a little getting used to but once you master it WOW.I am new here in Fla so I haven't Mastered the land marks,but who needs to with this.. I can always find my way home.THIS GPS IS GREAT!!!

I have found this to be just what I need to both use as a navigation tool and to catch fish with here in South East Alaska. The addition of the Juneau to Wrangell card was also a great help. I highly recommend the 546s.

Very easy to use. I thought there would be a little more depth info on the screen. I'm getting a bluechart chip that should give me the info I need.