By Tim Carini
Special to BassFan
My first and really only experience with Garmin was with an old Nuvi automotive GPS. It’s about eight or nine years old and I still use it today, an antique by many standards.
I'm surprised it has held up as well as it has considering how many times it has been tossed around in the truck while traveling to new fishing locations. It’s that durability that led me to try out the new Garmin GPSMAP 1040xs.
Overview
The GPSMAP 1040xs is a big unit, with a 10-inch color screen and features DownVu and SideVu technology, Garmin’s version of the latest sonar trends with down- and side-viewing capabilities. This unit also came pre-loaded with Garmin’s LakeVü HD, which allows contour shading and includes many lake maps with 1-foot contours.
The sonar also includes CHIRP technology, the latest buzz term in the industry. Standard sonar sends out one frequency at a time, say 455 kHz or 800k Hz (we have all seen this in our settings, but don’t know what it means). CHIRP technology, as I understand it, sends out an array of sonar frequencies from low to high and deciphers the information using all the data which results in a clearer picture.
Installation and Setup
Installing the unit, the scanning sonar model, and transducer was very easy. Programming the unit to show the various windows (map, sonar, DownVu, SideVu) that were most important for my fishing was also simple.
Customer Service
Prior to the maiden voyage I wanted to play around with the mapping capabilities and mark some new areas to scout at Guntersville, one of the more than 5,700 lakes that come pre-loaded with 1-foot contours. Navigating Garmin’s operating system was not very difficult at all, even after years of being accustomed to other manufacturer’s systems. I found it relatively easy to find the features I want, except one. For a half hour, I tried to figure out how to shade shallow warning areas and contour ranges so I can easy see shallow sand bars for a shad spawn and sharp drops on the ledges.
The DownVu screen clearly shows a school of shad at the Coosa River.
Finally, I broke down and called Garmin's customer service. To my surprise, my call was answered in a matter of seconds and a customer service rep walked me through the process. Some features, like contour shading, are not available unless you are on the water or put the unit into simulation mode – a helpful tip for those of us who like to explore new water in our driveway.
Over the past few months I’ve called customer service a few times and every time my call was answered in under a minute, no wait. Impressive and pleased are the two words that come to mind.
Maiden Voyage
With my shallow water shading set at 3 feet, meaning everything less than 3 feet being shaded in blue and my contour shading set at 12 to 18 feet, I had two sets of blue shading that easily showed me the best sand bars and ledges. The DownVu and SideVu images were extremely crisp and clear, and unlike some other sonar units that get darker on the outer edges of side sonar, the Garmin was bright all the way out to the edge. Perhaps that was CHIRP technology at work.
During installation I found two transducers that looked identical so I figured one was for the stern and one for the trolling motor. After launching, I realized the one still in the box at home was for traditional sonar. Oops.
One of the author's favorite features of the GPSMap 1040xs is the real-time weather data.
Thankfully, I know Guntersville well enough that running aground was not going to be an issue. As I accelerated down the lake, I was in for one really big surprise – the SideVu and DownVu worked at speeds exceeding 50 mph!
From other units I have used, those features black out above 8 to 10 mph and I didn’t even think it was technologically possible for those features to work at high speed. It has been three months now, and I have yet to install the 2D transducer, as I don’t see the need to do so. Even at 50 mph, the DownVu/SideVu seem to be very accurate and fast to process giving me real-time information on the depth below the boat. Impressive is a word that comes to mind, again.
Other Features
For those anglers who are also tech-heads, the Garmin GPSMAP 1040xs also allows Meteor 300 black box compatibility to play music through the unit, including AM/FM radio. Also with Garmin Helm, an angler can control the unit from a smartphone or tablet.
Last but not least, with BlueChart Mobile, one can play music from their iPod, iPhone or iPad. One feature that I really like is the current weather option. With one click of a button I can see the wind speed/direction, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure – data that is helpful in determining fishing patterns.
Overall Conclusions
The unit’s display screen is very sharp and bright. The DownVu and SideVu images are extremely crisp and clear, showing me more out to the sides with no dark areas. The mapping is accurate and customizable, although I’m still getting used to the look and feel of the new mapping/boat trails.
Brush piles are easy to recognize with the DownVu and SideVu capability of the GPSMap 1040xs.
I guess after 10 years of looking at a certain map design, it will take some time to get accustomed to these maps. The customer service with Garmin is superb! Literally, I can’t say enough about the speed in which my calls were answered and the knowledge these customer service reps have to guide me with any issue or question. If the durability of this unit is anything like my antique Nuvi, this will be on my boat for years to come.
To learn more about the GPSMap 1040xs, click here.
To learn more about Garmin's other technology for anglers, click here.
