Looking to get a new fish finder help

[ILMuskieHunter]

I have a real old one and its time to upgrade but i have been doing research and there are too many options now and stuff on some of them that i didn't know was possible and i just need help... guidance if you will on what a good one and what really isn't needed thank you

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Looking to get a new fish finder help

What do you want to use it for? There are lots of choices and you can spend anywhere from $70 to $2500 on a fish finder.

Personally, I've used simple monochrome fishfinders and have been happy with what they provide, depth, fish arches, speed and temp. More money will get you a color screen, GPS, maps,,, but and I haven't seen the need for that, yet. I like Eagle/Lowrance and have had good luck with their units, though 2 of my 10-20 year old units are showing their age with dead pixel lines, I guess any FF could have that happen at that age.

If you shop around you can pick up a decent unit for $100 or so, I got an Eagle Fishmark 480 for just over $100 last year. And a BottomLine 480MAX 2-3 years ago for $45 on clearance, it had terrible reviews but has worked fine for me, so far

What ever you buy, look at the reviews, some of them have terrible track records. I don't rely on reviews being 100% accurate though, a FF could have problems if installed poorly. You have to read between the lines and figure out if the reviewer is a nut case,,, had problems because they did a crap job of installing the unit.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Looking to get a new fish finder help

Yep, it all depends on what you want to do with it. If you want a true fish finder then the closest you will get is a Humminbird SI or a Lowrance with DI. Be sure to be sitting down when you see the prices. The rest of them just show returns which may or may not be fish. From my own years of experience a good unit that shows structure will serve you just fine.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Looking to get a new fish finder help

The rest of them just show returns which may or may not be fish.

This is where the skill of the person reading the returns comes into play. I can tell you what species I'm looking at from the return data. You can't do that with SI or DI.

 

[ILMuskieHunter]

Re: Looking to get a new fish finder help

See i think i would like the GPS just because i do a lot of river fishing and im right near the point of where 2 rivers connect and color would be a plus and you can really tell what spices you are looking at and what brand is that?

About the reviews i have been reading gotta be a million of them by now and yea i have read soo many different brands that why i came here to narrow it down

Humminbird SI
Lowrance DI
monochrome
any others i should make serious inquires on?