Fish/ Depth finder
Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 7:51 pm
Any suggestions on what would be a good choice? Is there anything good in the $300 range.? Thanks
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Cabela just had the Lowrance Mark 4 DSI on sale for 199.99 ( hundred bucks off). I was fortunate to live only 7 mins from Cabelas and here is the kicker they had them in stock... I have installed, but have not water tested. It had enough transducer cord to switch sides on my pontoon to stay away from swim ladder.(old owners depth finder broke cause of swimmer stepping on ouch!) Also, the features listed man, seems like a lot of unit for the money. (thats what she said)Ron Burgundy wrote:Absolutely. Lowrance or Garmin have good units around $300.
I thought it might be a good idea to be able to see underwater structures. Keep track of my depth for safety and be able to see fish. Mostly trout or bass. Maby on fish that small they wouldnt show up well any way.steveiam wrote:What are you wanting from the new unit deckedout?
The less expensive units can give you basic information on depth, and bottom details, maybe a bit more as you learn it.
I had a basic unit Lowrance and could never figure out how to find baitfish (shad).
Upgraded probably more than I needed to but am VERY happy with a better unit as I can now find shad in deeper water and see details of structure like never before.
Before I go on I was just wondering what you want out of your new FF.
What are you wanting to see underwater?
To be honest with you I would recommend you go somewhere they sell these units and if you can find someone that really knows their product, and I know that is hit or miss, but if you do find that someone that is where you can get your best answers on the most current FF's.deckedout wrote:I thought it might be a good idea to be able to see underwater structures. Keep track of my depth for safety and be able to see fish. Mostly trout or bass. Maby on fish that small they wouldnt show up well any way.steveiam wrote:What are you wanting from the new unit deckedout?
The less expensive units can give you basic information on depth, and bottom details, maybe a bit more as you learn it.
I had a basic unit Lowrance and could never figure out how to find baitfish (shad).
Upgraded probably more than I needed to but am VERY happy with a better unit as I can now find shad in deeper water and see details of structure like never before.
Before I go on I was just wondering what you want out of your new FF.
What are you wanting to see underwater?
Thanks I go check out the local Cabel's and see what they know.steveiam wrote:To be honest with you I would recommend you go somewhere they sell these units and if you can find someone that really knows their product, and I know that is hit or miss, but if you do find that someone that is where you can get your best answers on the most current FF's.deckedout wrote:I thought it might be a good idea to be able to see underwater structures. Keep track of my depth for safety and be able to see fish. Mostly trout or bass. Maby on fish that small they wouldnt show up well any way.steveiam wrote:What are you wanting from the new unit deckedout?
The less expensive units can give you basic information on depth, and bottom details, maybe a bit more as you learn it.
I had a basic unit Lowrance and could never figure out how to find baitfish (shad).
Upgraded probably more than I needed to but am VERY happy with a better unit as I can now find shad in deeper water and see details of structure like never before.
Before I go on I was just wondering what you want out of your new FF.
What are you wanting to see underwater?
They advance so much each year its almost like describing new cell phones.
Good info thanks.steveiam wrote:I will add one thing I think is important--
I have an HDS 8 with structure scan unit and I absolutely love it.
That being said I am on a very active fishing forum here in Texas and I have seen this type of question come up quite a bit.
The one thing I do hear a lot is that Hummingbird give very good service when someone has a problem, and I hear many times that Lowrance is not near as responsive on the same type things.
With my Lowarance I have to have two separate transducers, one for sonar and one for structure/sidescan.
The newest Lowrance may have come down to one transducer on the newest FF, but the Hummingbird only uses one from what I understand.
You should be able to get some very good used deals from folks upgrading to the newest units and still be getting a very good unit that will last many years and yet making your budget stretch quite a bit over a new unit.
If this is appealing look for a generation 1 unit ( gen 1 ) gen 2 qnd 3 are out so you should be able to find a great deal on one.
I've had my used one for about 11/2 yrs now.
When I bought my Unit it was three years old, the guy still had the boxes for them (it comes in two units,structure scan and sonar) and he paid right $2400.00 for it.
No way i would spend that much but now that I have had this level of FF, I will always have this level if I can. LOVE IT!
This also has the Navonics map on it and that is a great help also.
Anyway I hope this extra typing does someone some good.