Fishfinder for large lakes

[Illinoid]

I have a tritoon that I plan on using multipurpose and want to add a GPS fishfinder and I am trying to sort out what I need buy. I would like to keep it under $500 unless there is a reason to justify spending more. I am retired and haven't fished since I was young. Will be fishing large lakes in north Arkansas, 20,000 plus acres and up to 200 Ft deep. Bass, Stripers, Crappie... I am looking at Hook 7s. There seem to be different levels but I am not sure what I need. All help and recommendations will be helpful.

 

[Sprig]

The Hook 7 is a great unit for the price, definitely under $500. It will do everything you want it to do. It has a 7? screen and I wouldn?t go smaller. There?s a lot of different units out there but you won?t go wrong with the hook 7.

Mode EDIT: competitor removed

 

[dingbat]

Typically, what you need, want or can afford are three different things.

As a beginning fisherman, your needs and expectation of a sounder will evolve with your skills. Do you address this evolution now or in the future?

There has been one major improve in (consumer) sonar in the past 40 years and that?s spread spectrum or CHIRP sonar. Everything else are simply gadgets and gizmos used as sales pitches.

Beware of any unit labeled as CHIRP without a multi-frequency transducer. Lots of games being played in advertising. They perform better than the old, but nowhere near as good as the real thing.

IMHO, Down scan is pretty useless. Side scan has some promise when fishing deeper bodies of water with known structure. Otherwise that falls in the gadget and gizmo column as well.

As a competitive angler, I don?t care that many sonar doesn?t have WiFi or can post pictures and maps directly to Facebook. I want a good performing unit that is easy to adjust (auto mode sucks) and will be supported past the next year?s Black Friday sale.

 

[G_Dabrowski]

Standalone fishfinder: If you just want to see what's below, dedicated fishfinders give the biggest display and the most performance for the least cost. If you have a small boat that you use for fishing small inland lakes or are on a limited budget, a standalone fishfinder is for you.