The Garmin Fishfinder 250 is Garmin's latest addition to their family of marine chartplotters, handheld GPS, fish finders and GPS sounders and its already gaining a great reputation amongst the angling community.

We met up with Johnathan W Ross, a surgeon and keen fisherman to find out his views on the new Garmin 250.


FFR How long have you had the Garmin 250?
JWR I purchased the 250 fish finder as a replacement for my obselete Garmin 160 fish finder. I have had the 250 for six months and I'm more than pleased with it.

FFR How do you find the display compared to the Garmin 160?
JWR The display on the Garmin 250 is much more detailed than the 160. It has twice the definition of the older model which means that what you see on the screen is in great detail. Something called Depth Control Gain gives really detailed images.

FFR Do you fish different types of water?
JWR I fish in both fresh water and salt water, and the Garmin 250 works well in both situations.

FFR Did you notice better performance in shallower waters?
JWR I have the version with dual-frequency sonar which is made for deeper waters, to a depth of 1500'. There is a version of the Garmin 250 with single-frequency which will be better for shallow waters, and its cheaper too!

FFR Have you customized your 250 fish finder?
JWR I have connected a Garmin GPS receiver (which I bought separately) to the unit. I can now mark waypoints directly from the Fishfinder's keypad.

FFR So is the 250 a fish finder that is easy to use?
JWR Very easy. It works out of the box, so no complicated set-up. It's very slim so it doesn't get in the way when its mounted - I've got mine on the bow. Its mounted on a swivel so that it can be viewed from any angle. The buttons are easy to use, too, even with gloves on.