Humminbird 161 Combo 4-Inch Waterproof Marine GPS and Chartplotter

When it comes to marine guidance equipment Humminbird is a name many boaters trust. The 161 Combo 4-Inch Waterproof GPS and Chartplotter is everything and a bucket of bait.

First off, it’s waterproof. This may seem unimportant for a unit that mounts to the helm and won’t likely end up in the water, but consider the environment that it is in. There is water everywhere, and especially when mounted in a low-riding bass boat or a single rider kayak, the likelihood of water coming over the sides from a wave, or even the tail swish of a feisty fish is good.

The chartplotter feature is an exceptional element for a GPS. This lets anglers mark where they found that prize catch so they can find it again. It is also a great way to mark your journey before you leave so you can just follow a route if you’re out for a slow cruise. The Humminbird 161 Combo 4-Inch Waterproof GPS and Chartplotter uses a combination of map marker system with the navigational aide of a global positioning system (GPS) to take a lot of the guesswork out of traveling across broad expanses of water where you lose sight of land. It’s helpful in other areas, too, but if you can’t get your bearings on land, a fog rolls in, or you find yourself in rough weather you will want to take that GPS and give it a great big kiss.

The 4-Inch screen is an important feature. It doesn’t help to have a bunch of options if you can’t see them. You need to be able to read the screen when your hands are busy steering the wheel in difficult conditions, when you will [i]really[/i] appreciate having a GPS system.

Images must be crisp and clear so there is no guesswork when you need to know exactly where you are in relation to obstacles in your way. You should be able to read the screen from several feet away, in bright sunlight and dim light equally well. The Humminbird 161 Combo 4-Inch Waterproof GPS and Chartplotter gives you plenty of viewing screen on a high-contrast, high-resolution LCD screen.

A really excellent feature of the Humminbird 161 Combo 4-Inch Waterproof GPS and Chartplotter is the Fish-ID+ that also gives you the proper target depth and helps you pinpoint exactly where fish are with a TrueArc system that makes it extremely accurate. The system comes with a back light to make night fishing a breeze, too. When you leave the dock at 3 am for those early morning fishing trips, or go out at night for big fish in the ocean, your Humminbird 161 is right there ready and able to give you accurate easy readings.

Finally, the unit mounts on a swivel base that lets you read the screen from any position in the boat. If you are up by the bow using a trolling motor, you can keep an eye on the contour of the river, lake, or ocean bed below, and where the fish are as you move just as easily as if you were at the wheel, or by the stern.

I rate the Humminbird 161 Combo 4-Inch Waterproof GPS and Chartplotter at a 5 on a scale of 1 to 5. It has all the features that make it a great fishing companion or cruising unit and the MSRP is $279.99, but you can find great deals online as low as $194.99 new.