I'm looking at getting either the Humminbird 180 or 176i and I am hung up on weather I want the 180 tri-beam with better bottom coverage and being able to tell which side of the boat the fish are on or the 176i which is a dual-beam with gps to mark spots.

 

The problem with the 176i is that I would be taking the finder on and off the boat/battery and would lose my saved spots by taking it off the battery.  As far as I have seen, if you disconnect it from the battery it looses the waypoints saved.

 

I really like the tri-beam coverage so pair that with not being able to save waypoints with the 176i I am leaning towards the 180.

 

What are your guys thoughts or suggestions at the $100-$130 price range?  I can't really go outside this range.

 

You don't loose your GPS data when you disconnect the power.

 

You haven't seen very far, LOL

When you save a waypoint, it is stored in the unit's memory in the Waypoint Library until you intentionally delete it.

The 176i saves 500 wapoints in memory. I'm no expert but I'd bet they won't erase when the battery is disconnected. For under $200 the Lowrance Mark4 has an SD card slot and map capability. It doesn't look like the lower end HB's offer that

Alright, I was wondering.  One of the reviews said it lost its memory when disconnected from the battery, I thought that couldn't be right but didn't want to find out he was right the hard way.  

 

I am really relegated to the 100-130 range I'd like to step up to the mark5 or Lowrance elite series but its not going to happen.  So you guys are suggesting going with the 176i?  The problem is I really like the wider coverage of the 180 (i know its not helpful at deep depths), which has me indecisive. 

When I didn't have gps, I didn't miss it. Now, for me, it's a necessity on unfamiliar water. This year I'm going to do some exploring on my home water with the SI and gps to see what I've been missing for the last 10 years. You need to weigh what's most important to your fishing style. You can then add additional graphs in the future as finances become available.