Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

[Honey-Do]

I am replacing my Hummingbird 300tx (Junk) with either a Garmin 240 Blue or a Lowrance X-91. They seem to fit my budget. Does anyone have experience with these units and/or recommendations. I'm leaning toward the Garmin because it looks more user friendly and has a dual frequency, temperature & speed transducer. I fish in the Chesapeake Bay in up to 100ft. I run at 30mph and need good readings of depth at that speed. (The Hummingbird goes blank). I want accurate fish readings at slower speeds in waters from 15-100 ft. Any comments??

 

[dmessy]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

I put a Humminbird 300TX on my boat this summer and am pleased to report it works great. Speed/temp. are spot on per a hand held GPS and extra water temp. gauge I had. Readings were good to 120'(deepest I've ever been in yet).I suspect you had a bad or incorrectly set up(no offense)transducer.

 

[snapperbait]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Ditto dmessy's comments on Humminbird... I have a Wide Portrait model and must say it's the biggest bang for the buck$$$ depth finder I've ever had... Always reads bottom up past 30 mph with no problems and speed and temp are spot on accurate.... I too suspect an improperly installed transducer...<br /><br />If your dead set against the ol' Humminbird then the Garmin will be the best bet.... Not that Lowrance does'nt make top notch stuff, but I played with the X-71 and X-91 and found the features (menu) rather complicated to control, in my own opinion....

 

[highandry]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

I'm using an Garmin 240 Blue and love it... but, it really depends on what you are looking for in a fishfinder... depth? fish? bottom? gain works great on the 2X and 4X of the 240...fishing in salt water to find good fish you got to find good bottom.. that is where gain comes in....<br /><br /> good luck<br /><br /> highandry

 

[Honey-Do]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Thanks for the input. I have messed with the 300tx transducer and made numerous adjustments while transom mounted, then moved to inside of the hull in a pvc well filled with liquid. It still loses contact with the bottom at speed or chop. It's driving me crazy. When it's working, it is fine, but I can't depend on it. Maybe it's just a bad apple.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

I have an Eagle Fishmark 240 which is the same as the Lowrance X91, except half the power. I love this thing but, as I fish smaller lakes, I don't need to go deeper than ~300 ft so I don't miss the power. This is rated for 800 ft (fresh) but I will never use it that deep. Was much cheaper than the X91.<br /><br />I have it in my 18' and I bought the portable mount so I can use it in my 12'. I have a combo sonar temp unit and bought (but haven't installed) a speed sensor.<br /><br />I had a Hummingbird Portable and the Eagle blows it away for seeing fish/structure etc.<br /><br />Haven't seen the Garmin in real life, but I think it did spec out the same resolution etc.

 

[clop321]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

I'm also looking to buy the Garmin 240 Blue, looks and sounds pretty impresive. Can anyone tell me the pro's/con's when using the transom vs the through hull mount with any unit ???

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

I can't seem to find a transom location that doesn't come out of the water at speed. I thought about a thru hull but really didn't want a hole in the boat and was worried about dragging my boat up on rocks and onto the trailer with the sender under the hull. I could use a shoot-thru as I have an aluminum hull. I understand they work well if installed correctly (no air bubbles etc.)

 

[Boatist]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Tacklewasher<br />Shoot thru hull will not work on Aluminum. Go with the transom mount and a kick up braket and mount your transducer deeper if you can not find a location that will work with normal mounting.<br />What is the power of a Eagle Fishmark 240, the Lowrance X91 only has 375 watts RMS or 3000 watts Peak to Peak. The X91 will only see fish to about 100 feet of Salt water or 150 feet in fresh water with the 20 degree transducer. A little deeper with the 8 degree tranducer.

 

[SJ Striper]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

I am on my second 300tx. The 1st one used to lose contact at high speed. I sold that boat and put a new 300tx on the new boat. I followed the mounting instructions for the transducer to a tee, and the things works fantastic, at slow and high speed. I do a lot of structure fishing and the split screen zoom is an awesome feature. Very pleased with the 300tx.

 

[Honey-Do]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Thanks "SJ Striper", Maybe I should fool around with the transducer mount some more. My boat is a Deep Vee and the stern is angled, so the transducer is straight. I had it there before, adjusted it, followed the book instructions, etc, etc, and it still lost contact with the bottom. That's when I moved it inside the hull, still loses contact. I appreciate the positive comments from you guys that have 300txs and I'll try again before I trade to Garmin. Does "Striper" mean you fish for Striper. I caught a 36" one chummin this week in the Chesapeake.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Honey-Do<br />The unit it self could careless what speed you are going. The transducer needs to shoot straight down. Think of it like shinning a flash light at a mirrow on the ground. You want the light to reflect back to the flash light. To get it to reflect back must be pointed straight down. Your transducer is the same way. No matter what type of V your boat has your transducer needs to pointed straight down.<br />You need to find a location on the transome where the water is green with no air bubbles. On many aluminum boats with rivets this is very hard. Some manufactures make a special kick up bracket the allow the transducer to run deeper below the air bubbles and still kick up if it hits something in the water. Even in perfect location on most boats when on plane you will need to lower the sensitivy to get a good bottom signal. Also if your unit has a setting for surface clutter turn that up to get a better reading. Remember will not see fish at planeing speeds as fish are not under boat long enough to draw any arc.<br /><br />One last thing to consider is transducer do go bad and are sensitive to vivbration. Also on most older units I think the newer style transducer work better.<br />Good luck

 

[Honey-Do]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Hey, thanks guys for all the comments. What I gather from all this is Hummingbird 300tx is OK and I really don't have to change brands unless I want to. I need to mount the transducer correctly on the transom probably deeper than before or perhaps I have a faulty transducer. I'll give it another shot at adjustment and if I still have problems, look for it on ebay or tied to my anchor. Thanks again.

 

[SJ Striper]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Honeydo, Yea striper is for striped bass. My best surf bass is a 55 inch 57 pounder that won the Massachusetts Governers Cup in 1994. My best boat bass is a 46 inch 40 pounder. I fish for them from April to December(water temp needs to be 50+) I love to catch them/eat them. SJ

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Guess I shoulda been following this thread.<br /><br />Sorry boatist, I meant to say I couldn't use one cause of the hull. Just poor typing on my part.<br /><br />The Eagle is 1/2 the power of the X91. I don't get to salt water so it doesn't matter to me but if I did, I'd spend the extra on an X91 or better. But with the standard transducer (I thought it was a 20 degree) I can get as deep as I need or about 400' in fresh water. I haven't tried it deeper yet

 

[Boatist]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

Tacklewasher<br />The standard transducer is 20 degrees. Have you actually used your unit and seen fish in 400 feet of water or are you just going by the specs that Lowrance/Eagle puts out. My Lowrance unit has the same power as the X91 and they say will work down to 900 feet of salt water. I can see a bottom signal in 900 feet but no fish. 20 degree tranducer will see fish down to about 100 feet of Salt, or 150 feet of Fresh. Had to buy the 8 degree transducer to see fish in 300 feet of Salt water. I must admit only used the 20 degree deeper than 150 a couple of times. along a dam looking for trout and salmon, and in the delta where still have some salt looking for sturgeon. My unit has a feather where you can set it to look at the bottom and up so many feet. I usually set it for bottom and up 20 feet in fresh water or bottom and up 50 feet in salt water. I sure wish the new Lowrance units had this feather.

 

[Tacklewasher]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

My unit didn't come with any feathers <br /><br />I can zoom in to the bottom with it but the fish are not usually on the bottom so I would rather zoom in to 40 - 80 feet where the fish seem to hang out.<br /><br />But now that you ask, I'm not sure if I've seen fish down to the bottom with this thing yet. I've only used it once deeper than ~ 100 feet of water and I honestly don't remember what I saw, just that I didn't catch fish that day. Most place I fish are under 50 ft deep except for one lake about 120 ft, but the fish sit in the 40 ft range.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Garmin/Lowrance fishfinder

I agree in Fresh water do not usually fish that deep and a times 4 zoom works good there. For me though usually fish the bottom. Black bass spring and summer 12-25 feet winter down to 60 feet. Stripers 8 to 40 feet normal, Sturgeon 20 to 150 feet but only deep on a very slow tide or need too big a weight. Sixgill, Sevengill, and Leapord shark 50 - 200 feet. Salmon in the river 15 to 50 feet. Halibut 10 to 60 feet. Salmon in ocean trolling 30 to 50 feet in 100 to 300 feet of water. Rock fish or Bottom fish 60 to 420 feet of Salt water. Salmon Mooching in ocean 30 to 150 feet of water but up 20 off the bottom. Also fish for Catfish but only use fish finder there to locate structure. We fish mostly on the bottom and a good fish finder has help us spend more time in waters with fish.<br />I know many Lakes where trout fisherman never fish the bottom.<br />Our fishing is probably much different but a good fish finder either way can keep you over fish and stop you from running a ground.