What Fish Finder?

[BaitCaster]

Hey all, the next big investment for Livin Large will be a fish finder. I am holding off buying one for now because I am waiting until my birthday (or maybe even Christmas) so Mrs. BC can buy me a really nice one! That being siad, I have no idea what is the best fish finder for me. 99% of my fishing is for bass in shallow to moderately shallow inland freshwater lakes and rivers.

Whatever fishfinder I get I plan to mount it on the bow of my boat with the transducer mounted on the trolling motor.

A combo GPS/depth finder wuold be nice, but not a necessity. I was thinking at some point down the road I might want to add a second fish finder and/or GPS at the stern.

So here is your chance to weigh in. What fish finder should I get?

Cheers,
BC

P.S. - Side scan is out of my price range.

 

[Ictalurus]

Maybe not the most popular choice, but I went with the least expensive model I could find on my last boat, the Eagle Cuda. It worked great, no problems or complaints. When I modded my PolarKraft this year, I bought another one (Eagle Cuda 300). Mainly because the newer ones include a voltometer, which kept me from having to add a battery gauge. I mainly fish small lakes (150-300 acres) that have a no wake limit, so I'm not sure if there are any issues w/ readings at higher speeds. But if your looking for something to get by with, it probably wouldn't be the worst choice. I put the mount on the middle bench w/ a RAM mount, that way I can adjust so it's visible from anywhere in the boat and kept me from buying two.

 

[Troutman3000]

The Cuda 300 is fine but, the resolution is horrible and seeing fish on it is really a chore. I have one but for me telling what is structure and what is fish is hard. i suggest getting the Cuda 350c I believe, its affordable and has a bigger screen and much better resolution.

 

[BaitCaster]

Maybe not the most popular choice, but I went with the least expensive model I could find on my last boat, the Eagle Cuda. It worked great, no problems or complaints. When I modded my PolarKraft this year, I bought another one (Eagle Cuda 300). Mainly because the newer ones include a voltometer, which kept me from having to add a battery gauge. I mainly fish small lakes (150-300 acres) that have a no wake limit, so I'm not sure if there are any issues w/ readings at higher speeds. But if your looking for something to get by with, it probably wouldn't be the worst choice. I put the mount on the middle bench w/ a RAM mount, that way I can adjust so it's visible from anywhere in the boat and kept me from buying two.

Thanks - the fish finder I get will be used only at trolling motor speeds.

 

[Troutman3000]

Maybe not the most popular choice, but I went with the least expensive model I could find on my last boat, the Eagle Cuda. It worked great, no problems or complaints. When I modded my PolarKraft this year, I bought another one (Eagle Cuda 300). Mainly because the newer ones include a voltometer, which kept me from having to add a battery gauge. I mainly fish small lakes (150-300 acres) that have a no wake limit, so I'm not sure if there are any issues w/ readings at higher speeds. But if your looking for something to get by with, it probably wouldn't be the worst choice. I put the mount on the middle bench w/ a RAM mount, that way I can adjust so it's visible from anywhere in the boat and kept me from buying two.

Thanks - the fish finder I get will be used only at trolling motor speeds.

If you want to see fish dont get the 300 - get the next sized up - if you just want depth and temp The Cuda is great for that. I have some pics from a cuda 242 to illistrate this point. Teh 242 was the old 300.

 

[redbug]

if you want to get a quality "DEPTHFINDER" you still need to find the fish..'
get the one that has the most vertical pixels it will give you the most detail.
Everything past the right edge of your screen is behind you so the horizontal isn't going to help that much.
The easy way to look at it is:
if your unit has 100 vert pixels and you are in 50' of water each pixel would represent 2'
if you have 380 vert pixels round it off to 400 and in the same 50' of water you would be getting a much clearer picture of the water under you at 8 pixels per 2' in shallower water the detail is even greater.
Color units are coming way down in price and well worth the cost IMO.
If you are going with a combo unit sonar/gps I would suggest getting the largest screen you can afford
It just makes it easy to read the gps maps on it

 

[bassassassin8]

We just bought a Hummingbird 570. For our purposes, it is great. We're very happy with the one we chose versus the units the guys at Bass Pro were trying to sell us. :wink: When we looked into buying one, my main concerns were the water temp, water depth, type of bottom, locating structure/channels, drop offs, etc & locating baitfish. For our intents & purposes, this unit works great! I'd highly recommend it.

 

[Waterwings]

I have a Humminbird 525 with the transducer mounted on my tm, and it works fine for me in the shallow water I fish. I like the Humminbird because it has large numbers I can actually see. I use mine mostly for the depth readings.

 

[cavman138]

I have a humminbird 535. Haven't used it yet, but will mount it on the TM. I think it may be discontinued, but I got it for a great price at BPS. I was going to get the 525 because I have had experience with it, but the 535 was a better price.

What are you thinking as far as price?

 

[BaitCaster]

What are you thinking as far as price?

I am thinking, because it will be a "gift" from my wife , something in the neighbourhood of $500.

 

[zerofivenismo]

The new Lowrance Elite 5x $450 (non-gps) color graph is within your wife's means. I just sent a defective X125 to Lowrance and upgraded to a new Elite 5x. I haven't received it, but have played around with it at BPS and Cabelas. Nice unit, but I'm contemplating selling it due to other boat/bait monkey needs.

 

[redbug]

in that price range you can get a great unit. just do yourself and your wife a favor. and look around for pricing..
I always see guys saying they spent x amount of money on something from bps or cabela's and think they got a great deal.
if you look around you could save a bundle or get the next higher unit for the price you pay at the big 2...
I just did a quick search and found a Lowrance HDS-5X Fishfinder w/ 83/200 new with free delivery for $529
as opposed to cabela's asking $599 plus shipping for the same unit

 

[fender66]

I am thinking, because it will be a "gift" from my wife , something in the neighbourhood of $500.

Does your wife have a sister? :mrgreen:

Sorry...couldn't help myself.

 

[russ010]

I just did a quick search and found a Lowrance HDS-5X Fishfinder w/ 83/200 new with free delivery for $529 as opposed to cabela's asking $599 plus shipping for the same unit

don't get the 5x... I've got it and it's ok - but you have to have another HDS unit (other than the 5x) to upgrade it... it's a Pain in the butt to ever get it upgraded

This however is a GREAT unit (it's on the back of my jon..), and if you look hard enough, you might be able to get a better deal (but don't be afraid to call Brian at BBG Marine for pricing... :lol: ) Humminbird 788ci https://www.bbgmarine.com/GPS-&-NAV...th-Transom-Mount-Transducer/product_info.html

 

[gregk9]

This however is a GREAT unit (it's on the back of my jon..), and if you look hard enough, you might be able to get a better deal (but don't be afraid to call Brian at BBG Marine for pricing... :lol: ) Humminbird 788ci https://www.bbgmarine.com/GPS-&-NAV...th-Transom-Mount-Transducer/product_info.html

that's a nice unit at a good price but holy cripe - 190 bucks for the East chip!!!????? :shock: :shock: I sure wish they didn't stick IL in that chip. I'd need the North chip too because I fish in WI and the UP......so that would be another 190.00??? :shock: Not good!! [-X

 

[TampaJim]

I know that color is all the rage. However, I have enjoyed great success with the high resolution B&W units and they are especially inexpensive nowadays.

Consider the Humminbird 570. You will get a 5" display with 640 x 320 resolution AND a dual transducer. Quite a deal for less than $200 IMO.

Later, add a handheld GPS. They are handy for all kinds of other events AND you can take them when out with a friend on their boat.

Jim -

 

[longjohn119]

I got a color Garmin (300C) last year and I'll never go back to greyscale. It't the first fish finder I could turn off the Fish ID and read the arches the way a fish finder is really meant to be read. I was a little worried about the small screen size (Resolution is decent with quarter VGA 240 x 320 pixels) but the LCD they used is really amazing and bright. Since the color really makes the different surfaces really contrast each other you can read it anywhere in the boat. I wish I could find a laptopwith a LCD as good as the Garmin. I was a toss up between this and another Cuda GPS because what I needed was a NMEA depth output. Since I didn't really need the GPS in the Cuda (I had an older version without the background map, the laptop/netbook is so much better) I took a chance on the Garmin which is fairly new to the fishfinder market but has a good reputation and I don't regret my purchase a bit. The fishfinder is far superior to the one in the Cuda 250/GPS line (It's essentially a Cuda 168) and I wasn't wasting money on a GPS I didn't need. The transducer is odd looking compared to the Eagle line but it slices through the water and I don't have the problems many people have with the tranducer spraying everywhere no matter where I mount it on the boat.

Here's a picture of it next to my touchscreen computer. It's on the night setting (Black background versus white) and the LCD light is set on 4 out of 10 and it still jumps right out at you