fishfinder/depthsounder

Any suggestions for a good ,inexpensive sounder for my boat. I don`t have a lot of experience with them but I want it for a 14` fiberglass runabout for fishing and letting me know what depth is under my bottom. My brother borrowed my other boat last summer and broke a piece of skeg off and chipped the prop...lucky that was all the damage and he did fix it....I want to avoid this. Do they work at any speed up to say 40mph ?
thanks for any replies

Re: fishfinder/depthsounder

I purchased the Hummingbird Piranha. It was a good price and it works for me. I paid 79 dollars for it. It locates fish and tells depth even on full throttle. I have caught a lot of fish with it. You do get what you pay for though and I know there are fish finders/depth sounders up to 1K. If you want to stay under 100 then I would recommend the Piranha.

Re: fishfinder/depthsounder

Any of the locators will tell you depth and some work better at speed than others but most, when properly installed, will work fine at 40 MPH. The problem with avoiding hitting bottom is that at 40 MPH, (or 15 mph for that matter) when the locator says you are too shallow, you've already hit the object. Locators do not see what's ahead -- they tell you what you just ran over. If you watch the locator closely however, you can see the depth change (and it can change rapidly) so you need to understand what you are looking at and be able to correct accordingly. You can easily follow a river or creek channel once you get familiar with your locator and understand what it is showing you.

Re: fishfinder/depthsounder

thanks for the advise.......I can now ask Mrs Santa for a unit within her budget.

Re: fishfinder/depthsounder

I have an Eagle Cuda that I've used for a number of years now. You can get one for less than a 100 bucks and they are nice units. It will cover up to 600' in depth. Also gives you water temperature, fish alarm, etc. Pretty cool rig. Mine is on constantly. It also gives you a shallow water alarm that you set.