New depth finder recommendation

[soccerer]

I want to buy a new fish/depth finder and I have about $500 to spend. Can anyone offer and suggestions, based on experience, to what I should or shouldn't consider? I fish mainly panfish, walleye and smallies. Thanks fellows!

[Grimsbane]

We need some more info, like where do you fish, saltwater, freshwater, how often do you go to lakes or areas you don't know / etc.

[soccerer]

I fish in freshwater usually Lake Ontario and its bays and rivers also the Finger lakes. Most of the time the fish I'm after are in water under 100 ft. I have a 17 ft. aluminum boat with a 50hp engine. Most of the waters are at least somewhat familiar to me but I do like to go to new places. If you need me to answer any more questions just let me know. Thanks again.

[Grimsbane]

That's why i wanted to know/ my experience with depth finders around here is only up to 30-50 ft deep max/ average depth around here 15 feet or so. Sorry I can't help you, but I know there are a lot of Great Lakes Fishers here so it shouldn't be long.

We are all minor lake fishers around here. so my experience is nil.

[Bassbum]

go with a Lowrance......I just upgraded to a x510c color

unit on my bow and it is awesome.....very clear and easy to read in sunlight and the resolution (480x480) is crisp as can be. Lists for $499.

[King Bait Co.]

I got the hummingbird piranna max 220. Its only a $120 but it works great compared to some I have seen. I think it goes down to 600ft, 60 degree beam with 20 dgree in the middle of the 60. It has temp I belive you can add speed for under $75. Has a pretty good screen thats lited and most of all fisherman friendly. I really only use it for depth, to see any trees and to find out how high the weeds are under the water. Ever time fish show up on it never catch fish. Then no fish on the screen I catch them. I would get a cheaper finder and with the extrs money get the rod or reel you always wanted. They catch the fish and if you think about it that helps you find the fish. Sorry not much of a tecno freak on fish finders.

[DropShot'r]

I have an Eagle at the back of the boat and my beloved Humminbird flasher at the front of the boat. I would suggest going to Cabelas & BPS web sites and start checking out the various models and manufacturers looking for features you want. The big thing with those two sites is that customers rate the products, so most deptfinders should have a good number of reviews.

Hope this helps,

DropShot'r

[soccerer]

Thanks but if anyone wants to throw in their 2 cents please feel free

[WannabeeFishing]

I'm a Lowrance guy all the way. Look at the Eagle models. Same basic design and functions as their Lowrance big brothers, but they leave out some advanced features and have really good price points. The unit on my console is a Lowrance LCX 26c HD with GPS, so it was considerably over your budget ($1400). I run an Eagle 320c on my bow and really like the performance for $200.

[thedude]

save a few more pennies and get a humminbird 797c SI unit. hate to say it, but lowrance will be a thing of the past after these units come down in price a little. (i run both and would replace the lowrance with another SI in a heartbeat)

[soccerer]

I will check out the Hummingbird 797c SI Thank you all very much.

[basssj]

If you go with the lowrance, I would get a 520c head unit only from three rivers marine electronics for $349.00 and add a transducer for your application for another $50-70. The 520c is gps capable where as the 510c is not, plus the 520c ends up being a few $ cheaper bought as I suggest. If you want to add the gps later all you need is a lowrance gps puck for about 165.00. I think the Lowrance has better picture quality than the Eagle models. Everyone that I have talked to swears by the hummingbird 797 side imaging. I would like to see one in action before forking over the 1,000 for one though. Rumour has it that Lowrance may be coming out with side imaging of their own in the next year or so.

[Mac10]

I have a Humminbird 535. It's a black and white model with a cone within a cone making it a 60 degree wide angle as opposed to a normal 18 to 20 degree cone angle. Excellent for picking up structure and cover which other narrower cones may miss.

[WannabeeFishing]

Check out this post for a Lowrance 520c w/GPS for sale from the crappie.com forum. Price looks to be about $100 under retail and apparently includes shipping.

I have no connection with the post. I just noticed it and recalled this thread.

Lowrance 520-C with GPS - Crappie.com

Happy shopping.

Edited May 28, 2008 by WannabeeFishing

[Mac10]

Humminbird 535 is a wide angle black and white....60 degree cone....nice for picking up structure and cover otherwise missed with a narrow cone.

[Hobbes24]

is it possible to get Canadian maps for the Hummingbird 797c SI. My fish finder seems to have grown legs and wandered off... so i need a replacement before i go to the cottage this sumer.

[thedude]

humminbirds run navionics chips

navionics has both a "Canada East" and "Canada North" chip that cover part of ontario (amongst other states and provinces) for marine navigation. The hotmaps chips cover most of canada on 1 chip, you would have to check to see if topo is available for the lakes you are fishing.

Navionics: The Leader in Electronic Charts

Edited June 3, 2008 by thedude

[MTfishingrods]

I have been following this post because I needed to purchase a replacement also. However my daughter just purchased a Humingbird 141c for me for me as a gift and I am actually very happy with it. It doesnt have the GPS capabilities, but I have my portable gps I would rather use anyways because I already have the maps and software purchased for it. But for the couple hundred dollar price tag I am happy with it.

[Mac10]

In support of King Bait Co.,

My buddy just got the Humminbird Pirahna 220 wide angle for under 100, nice looking and really like the 60 degree cone angle. Great for locating cover, structure......otherwise possibly missed with the smaller cones.

[fishcrazy]

I have the Humminbird 787c w/gps and for the money $1000 with both chips for northern U.S. and Canada I wouldnt consider a different model unless I came up with some extra cash for the 997 model. My brother has this model and the side imaging for finding channels and under water structure is incredible. Waiting to see if another company comes out with this technology so that ther is more competition and drives the price down

Mike

[dino]

Garmin in my opinion makes a pretty good combo unit for the money. I bought the 440 series. It comes preloaded with your choice of charts and on a couple of nights when I just wanted to try one more pass before heading back up the river to dock, I was amazed how accurate and reliable this unit is. It is also user friendly as I can barely type:)

[BobP]

I think Garmin and Lowrance have very good basic sonars. I've used a Garmin on the front of my boat for 8 years and it works great and has a nice sharp screen. Number of vertical pixels is where it's at when comparing sonar screens. The more pixels, the better the unit can distinguish fish from cover or the bottom. 480 x 480 is nice and can be had on some Lowrance units.

If you add GPS into the mix, the field narrows. I'll only use Navionics map chips because they're the best - and Garmin uses a proprietary map chip, so they're out as far as I'm concerned. That leaves Lowrance, Eagle and Humminbird. BTW, the map chip adds an extra $100-150 bucks to the cost.

Lastly, if you want Side Imaging, you are now down to Humminbird ONLY. The 797 is their base SI unit. SI is wonderful! I use a 987C on my boat and love it. But its big transducer has to be externally transom mounted so it can "see" out both sides of the boat. That's usually do-able on most boats but not always. And guys want to protect that expensive SI transducer from damage (replacement cost $200), so many mount it in a protected higher area and operate a 2nd thru-the-hull transducer when cruising on plane. A Hbird switch connects both transducers to the head unit. The 797 uses an external GPS antenna you need a place to mount. The good news is the 2009 Hbird antennas are now 50 channel and give a VERY exact position (within a very few feet). Anyway, when all is said and done, your $800 797 is now $1000 after adding the 2nd transducer, Hbird switch, and $100 Navionics map chip.

To me, GPS and SI are worth the expense and hassle because of where and how I fish. Both features can make you a much more knowledgeable and productive fisherman and a little safer on the water. But they aren't for everyone. You need to decide if those features provide info that fits the way YOU fish, as well as your budget.

[jatman1988]

At the $500 price point I would say a Lowrance lms 522c would be the best bang for your buck, especially if you don't have a good place to mount your gps antenna, it is internal on the 522 other than that it is the same as the 520.For double the money you can get into a side imange from humingbird, they are sweet but you will pay a pretty penny for the new technology.

[WannabeeFishing]

I've seen the SI in action and it's really cool. But I'd like to see some more players get in the game to maybe drive the prices down.

Lowrance is rolling out it's new high-def units in Feb 2009. You might watch the clearance pages for Cabelas, BPS, etc to watch for deals on the older models. Also watch for last year's Navionic chips. You can really save some money, but you have to check the pages regularly.

[BobP]

For those of you interested in mapping GPS units like the Humminbirds or Lowrance, you can go to the Navionics web site and find lists of lakes that are covered in their Hot Maps and other chip families. The Hot Maps Premium cards seem to be the most comprehensive for fresh water lakes. I use one on my H'bird 987C and it has been great. Now JMHO, I like the high end H'bird units with sidescan sonar if you can afford them - they aren't cheap! For less expensive sonars without GPS mapping, I have enjoyed using Garmin units because of their very clear displays, good service, durability. But I don't like that Garmin only sells proprietary GPS map cards that will not work in any other brand. The wide applicability of the Navionics map cards allows that company to update their lake maps more often and includes many popular lakes in "HD", that is 1 ft interval topography via custom surveys. You also need to think about future upgrades to your system. If you are running a Lowrance or H'bird unit now and you plan to move it from the helm to the front trolling motor while upgrading to a bigger/better helm sonar, you want to get the same brand unit. That offers the possibility of networking the 2 units. It also allows you to troubleshoot one unit with components from the other same brand unit if a problem arises.

Edited June 30, 2010 by BobP