Thread: Fish finder question

I posted this on the fishing electronics forum but I wanted to get as much feedback as possible.

I am in the market for a fishfinder. I have been asking some opinions and reading some posts regarding different units. Hopefully what you guys tell me on this question will he me make up my mind. I plan to primarily crappie fish and do a little striper fishing on Norfork Lake (in north central Arkansas). I think I have decided on going with a Lowrance unit of some type, but I may go with a Hummingbird. Anyway, my question is - what is the reason for getting a 4000 watt unit versus a lower watt unit. Is it strictly dealing with the depth the unit can detect with precision? Does it affect the clarity of the display? I am having trouble deciding between a unit with GPS or one without, however, I was pretty sure I had narrowed my choices down to the X135 for a unit w/o GPS and the LMS-480M for a unit with GPS. Today I went to BassPro and looked at the different units and talked to the salesperson about the different units. While talking to the guy, he told me that if I was only fishing local lakes or lakes with a depth less than a few hundred feet that any unit over 1500 watts was overkill. He said unless I was fishing the Great Lakes or saltwater a unit like the ones I listed above were more that I would need. He recommended a unit like the X96 with 1500 watt power. What do you guys think? I don't mind spending the extra money if I need to, but on the other hand if it is something that will not make a difference with the places I fish, then I don't see a reason to spend the money. I appreciate any information you can give me. Thanks

Hey Hunter:

The watts of power doesn't affect how good your display is but the pixel count definitely does. Since I've started using a color unit (HB 797c2 SI) I've learned to appreciate color and wouldn't want to go back to grayscale.

I would recommend getting the largest screen with the highest pixel count you can afford. You'll end up with more watts of power than you really need but that's not what makes the better units more expensive.

You'll want a GPS for crappie fishing but you can get a separate hand-held unit like a Garmin Map76 or Map76Cx (color) and use it in a marine mount with a power supply. With a handheld unit you can take it in another boat, out on the bank and use it for hiking, hunting or driving, etc. Also by having a separate GPS you can devote all of the screen on your graph to sonar and not have to switch back and forth from sonar to GPS.

Ditto on what Jerry said. I'll add that now days you don't have to get an expensive unit to get a good one. If you're looking for grayscale the Humminbird 500 series units offer good resolution. If you want color, the Humminbird 585c will give you ample bang for the buck.

Have used Eagle graphs all my life and no matter how well I take care of them they still have to be sent in for repairs.
I am definitely changing over to Humminbird. I've got friends that are still using the same units they started out with!
I'm holding out to be able to get the best SI unit that I can afford. I need a good power drive trolling motor first. Now days my old steel shaft Minn-Kota foot control trolling motor causes me knee pain and causes me to shorten my fishing time.
My main concern is which one will be the easiest to put up and down. I have a Tracker stick steering rig and can't reach all the way up to the motor very easily. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Originally Posted by slabbandit

Have used Eagle graphs all my life and no matter how well I take care of them they still have to be sent in for repairs.
I am definitely changing over to Humminbird. I've got friends that are still using the same units they started out with!
I'm holding out to be able to get the best SI unit that I can afford. I need a good power drive trolling motor first. Now days my old steel shaft Minn-Kota foot control trolling motor causes me knee pain and causes me to shorten my fishing time.
My main concern is which one will be the easiest to put up and down. I have a Tracker stick steering rig and can't reach all the way up to the motor very easily. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

The MK Terrova is much easier to deploy and stow than the older power drives. The Copilot takes the load off the feet and legs.

I'll chip in with my 2 cents also. I have followed the advice of Jerry & darryl, and it has paid off. I am a humminbird man. I haven't made the jump to color displays, but I own a matrix 17, and a 535. the resolution on these 2 units are very similar. I also have a lowrance h20 gps. the 2 depthfinders that I use, I have the 535 on the back, & the matrix 17 on the front. This gives me the option of watching depth changes, & the gps while I'm steering my boat (tiller handle), & then when I'm up front fishing, I can keep up with the same on the front finder. to me, it's very advantageous to have 2 sets of "eyes" under the water for when you are in both positions. if your depth finder has a swivel on it & it's positioned in the middle, you could go with one. So, the other consideration would be what type of boat will you be using. you can get 2 depth finders @ $150-$200, a hand held gps for $200-300, so you can do that, or spend 700-2000 on a big display color unit. The humminbirds that I have owned are great, easy to adjust your setup, sensitivity, alarms, depth (if you have the sensor on the trolling motor. Also, there is a member here, humminbird greg (i think that's his screen name) that can give you more pointers. You've come to the right place for some answers though. the other consideration is how much will you really be fishing. All things to consider, but you should be able to get at least a decent finder for $200-$250.

All of these guys have a good set-up. I would definately recommend the separate GPS unit for mobility. The Garmin GPSMAP76 and the Lowrance H2O are both good units. I really like Randy's color H2O, but haven't seen too much of it, except for all of those waypoints...:D