Buying a Fishfinder

[Dennis1958]

I'm looking at 3 different fish finders right now. The Hummingbird 565 the Lowrence x125 and the Eagle 320 (not color)

The eagle is $145 and the hummingbird is 199

After a rebate I would get the x125 for $199 as well.

199 is my limit..any thoughts or other suggestions for my price range.

Thanks

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

Eagle or Lowrence just the long haul!

 

[Dennis1958]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

Eagle or Lowrence just the long haul!

Are you saying you would prefer the Eagle or Lowrence over the Hummingbird? The man at Bass Pro said that the Hummingbird had a wider range looking at 20 degrees as well as 60 degrees. I have to admit I didnt know what that meant but he sounded convincing .

 

[JB]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

The man at BassPro is selling them, not using them.

Silvertip uses them. Who you gonna trust?

I use them, too. My last four have been 2 Lowrances and 2 Eagles.

I've had a couple of H'birds that were on boats when I bought them. All those features are not much use when you get no signal. Neither lasted 2 trips.

 

[ratracer]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

Friends don't let friends buy Hummingbirds.

On paper the x125 would get the nod over the 320 because it has better resolution (480x480 vs 320x320 pixels) and power (300W RMS vs 188 RMS). Do you think you have needs that the 320 wouldn't handle though?

 

[Triton II]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

I'm with ratracer. I had a Hummingbird on my first Quintrex and it was useless. Now I am a Garmin convert as they're easy to use and with my tired old brain that's the most important thing. My cousin has got a 160C on his 15ft Savage and it works really well. Good luck!

 

[Dennis1958]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

I'm with ratracer. I had a Hummingbird on my first Quintrex and it was useless. Now I am a Garmin convert as they're easy to use and with my tired old brain that's the most important thing. My cousin has got a 160C on his 15ft Savage and it works really well. Good luck!

I appreciate the responces so far. Im not saying I trust the Bass Pro guy...I just didnt understand silvers answer... so he is saying eagle or lowrance. My brother told me that Garmin is the best. I have to be honest and say Im a novice fisherman but would use a fish finder to find fish if my spots were slow... so I will take any input on the Garmin as well...and if you could put your buying price in there to so I can see if Im paying to much
Thanks everyone for your input

 

[JB]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

Garmins are good units, Dennis. I would buy Garmin if I wanted a GPS/SONAR combo unit.

I think it is the "skimmer" transducer that makes Lowrance products, including Eagle, so much more useful. The H'birds I have had flat face transducers that just couldn't hold signal on plane.

 

[Dennis1958]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

Ok.. lets rule out Hummingbird then.
I fish 3 weeks out of the year on Lake Tanneycomo for trout and a few times I go crappie fishing. I hope to do more crappie fishing. So I would say Im a novice fisherman.... that being said... how much of a finder should I purchase? is the x125 to much? should I step down in class to something more simple and less costly?

I was considering putting a speedometer on the finder? Are they accurate ?

 

[jtexas]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

General rule...3 most important features of a fishfinder: resolution, resolution and resolution - get the most vertical pixels per inch you can afford.

Eagle fishmark 480 (same as x125) should be less than the x125 (Eagle is usually priced below lowrance)

The power diff is only a factor in really deep water (100+). Otherwise they're the same except resolution.

I use the 320...it is outstanding...IMHO the best value for your dollar...I've fished with the 480 on other boats...it's probably worth the extra $50...but I'm satisfied with the 320.

My friend has the 480 with the speedo...it reads different from his in-dash speedometer which reads different from his GPS. But it does let you know if your boat's performance is improving or degrading.

 

[Dennis1958]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

So I can get a $100 rebate from Lowrance on the x125. If that makes it less money than the Eagle 480 you would get that?

Do you know the differences between the 320 and the 480 for the additional $50 ?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

Dennis, the 20 and 60 degree transducer means the sonar signal is a beam that is either 20 or 60 degrees. Like an upside down icecream cone. The narrow beam is most popular since it shows whats in an area immediately around the boat. A 60 degree beam would be so wide that in water over 10 feet deep you would be looking at way to large an area. I have two Eagles and a PinPoint 7820 (now theres a device that if it weighed a little more I'd use it as an anchor). It will get replaced at the end of the season with another Eagle. I have nothing against Humminbird -- but for best results over the long haul you can't go wrong with Eagle or Lowrence.

 

[jtexas]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

So I can get a $100 rebate from Lowrance on the x125. If that makes it less money than the Eagle 480 you would get that?

Yes!

Do you know the differences between the 320 and the 480 for the additional $50 ?

Apart from screen resolution? Not sure...both have built-in water temp...mine has another socket maybe for speedo? not sure. The transducers are interchangeable. The units are identical (except for the name), same buttons, I'm pretty sure all the menu functions are the same.

 

[KaGee]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

I was looking at the BOTTOM LINE 320 or 480.

I just found out they are now part of the same group that owns Hummingbird.

 

[Dennis1958]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

Thank you for all your help. I'm going to focus on the Lowrance x125 and the eagle 320. I will try to find out
the difference in price and fucntion before I make my final decision.

 

[rottenray6402]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

I'm probably going to get whacked for this but in our area we use our fish finders much more as depth and structure finders. There may be places where the water is clear and the finder shows only fish but around here you never know if you are looking at fish or weeds suspended or air bubbles. I agree that Lowrance and Eagle are by far the best. I have found that Eagles work just as well as Lowrance for my limited knowlege at a lower price. As was brought up earlier Hummingbirds don't hold a signal on plane and that is when you want to be able to see the bottom and the shallows, etc.

 

[Blackgang]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

What do you guys think about a through the hull transducer on a humminbird?:devil:


What we do in life, echos forever in eternity!

 

[Tail_Gunner]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

General rule...3 most important features of a fishfinder: resolution, resolution and resolution - get the most vertical pixels per inch you can afford.

Eagle fishmark 480 (same as x125) should be less than the x125 (Eagle is usually priced below lowrance)

The power diff is only a factor in really deep water (100+). Otherwise they're the same except resolution.

I use the 320...it is outstanding...IMHO the best value for your dollar...I've fished with the 480 on other boats...it's probably worth the extra $50...but I'm satisfied with the 320.

My friend has the 480 with the speedo...it reads different from his in-dash speedometer which reads different from his GPS. But it does let you know if your boat's performance is improving or degrading.

Agreed, i was a bit skeptical of the 320 @ first. Having kid's tha game on the net (Serious fanatics) they almost convinced me to go with the 480 for the better res. At the last moment i went with the 320 with the speed transducer and couldn't be happier.True the 480 graphic's are different but better? :devil: When i am trying to find walleye's laying on the edges and trying to hold a certain line in windy condition's controlling the speed and feeling for that ever so light hit.........res doesnt come into play. And the 320 dispaly's quite nicely both the bottom any potentail holes i might have to linger over.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

A couple of points. First you should know Lowrance and Eagle are the same company.
Also you can go to Lowrance and Eagle web sites and down load a emulator that will run on you PC. Basicly you run the unit with you mouse instead of your finger.

http://www.lowrance.com/Software/PCSoftware/demos.asp

http://www.eaglegps.com/Downloads/Emulators/default.htm


Vertical resoultion very important in deep water but if your fishing 15 to 30 feet for Bass, Crappie and trout you will not see the difference.

Deep water and Salt water Power is very important but lower power actualy works as Good or better in Shallow water.

Standard Transducer cone angle for 200 KHZ units is 20 degrees. This means if fishing 10 feet deep transducer will cover about 3.3 foot circle right under the transducer. If fishing 30 feet you will see about a 10 foot circle right under the transducer. Basicly take the water depth and devide by 3 and that will tell you how big a circle under the Transducer you are looking at.

What under your Transducer will be displayed in the right most vertical row of you LCD Screen. It is then moved one row to the left and a new ping will again show what under the transducer in the right most vertical row.

Fish finder most usefull for finding structure. It will also show fish if you turn up the sensitivity but I do not think I ever caught a fish straight down from the back of the boat.

Lowrance and Eagle I think the best in shallow water. Saltwater over 300 feet then I would look at Furuno and Garmin.

Lowrance web site has a good Tutoral about how fish finder work that you may like to check out.

http://www.lowrance.com/Tutorials/Sonar/sonar_tutorial_01.asp

My 1985 Lowrance unit works as good today as the day it was new so take your time get the unit you want and consider spending a little more to get the unit you really want. Color? Point being if you take care of your unit you will have it for a very long time.

 

[Blackgang]

Re: Buying a Fishfinder

Will trim tabs mounted close to the transducer cause interference or other problems?


What we do in life, echos forever in eternity!