Your best and quickest deal is to call Brian at BBGMarine. Several units at deep discounted prices right now. Explain to him you situation and I bet you come out with a better unit than you expect.
The lowrance console fishfinder on my 17 foot 1985 charger bass boat seems to have bit the dust. I want to replace it with a down imaging fish finder/gps combo. While I wish I could spring for a nicer unit, my finances are limited to sub $500 so I know I am looking at 4-5 inch unit. I want one that swivels so I could view it from the front or the back of the boat, which seems to eliminate the humminbird helix (yes I know I could get a ram mount- but why didn't humminbird make a swivel mount like other manufacturers? too logical I guess). Most of the lakes I fish are not on a chip, so I am very interested in mapping them myself which seems to leave me down to Garmin and Lowrance. Am I over analyzing this? Which sub $500 unit would you choose? Thanks in advance!
chimneyman thanked you for this post
Your best and quickest deal is to call Brian at BBGMarine. Several units at deep discounted prices right now. Explain to him you situation and I bet you come out with a better unit than you expect.
Proud Member of Team Geezer
Charlie Weaver USN/ENC 1965-1979
Have you checked out Cabela's Lowrance sale. This maybe what you are looking for.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/boati...Tz_stype%3DGNU
Be safe and good luck fishing
I just put a garmin on my boat and love it. 7" garmin with gps and di with 2d color chirp sonar for 399 cant beat it
Jim
I just got a Garmin 73sv (non chirp) for $499 at BPS. I have not used it yet but plan to tomorrow. I will let you know what I think of it tomorrow evening.
crappieGod LIKED above post
Have you thought about a used unit off the classifieds here or on BBC you should be able to find a slightly used 8'' or 9'' unit for that like a Hummnid 859DI or something similer.
kjsmith97 LIKED above post
As already mentioned the echo map 73sv is on sale at cabelas for $499 normally $999. This unit gives you mapping,2d sonar, down imaging and side imaging. That is a lot more than most sub $500 unit. A nice feature it has is quick draw mapping. This allows you to map your own lakes with contour mapping in one foot depths. You would have to buy a ram mount to get it to swivel.
Like others have mentioned I think you will be able to find quite a nice unit for under $500. I just bought a one month old Hook 7 with GPS and DI for $300 and it came with the Lake Pro 16 card (surprisingly it had more lakes than I thought). The same place had brand new ones for $399. As someone else mentioned there are some Garmin 7" units with GPS for under $500 as well.
kjsmith97 LIKED above post
I got to use my 73sv today and am really pleased with the results. Below are some pics I took with my cellphone so please ignore the quality.
Thank you for your responses. Bluesraider, how do you like your hook 7? Have you used the insight genesis? I am thinking about putting it on a RAM Mount or Johnny Ray swivel so that I could view it from the bow. If I did that do you have any idea which mounts to use? It is one of the models I am considering, especially now that BPS has it on sale for $399. I know BPS is not a sponsor, but I have several gift certificates that I could use there. Thanks in advance.