what is the best fishfinder to buy for $150.00-$200.00?

[kentuckybassman18]

what would be the best fishfinder to buy for $150.00 to $200.00 ? iam looking to buy a new one to put up on my trolling motor and was just checking to see what would be a good fishfinder to get? what does the pixel stand for? the higher the pixel the better? what sholud i look at on a fishfinder to find the best one? need help, thanks!!

 

[Boatist]

Re: what is the best fishfinder to buy for $150.00-$200.00?

There is no best fish finder for any price. Every thing depends on how you are going to use it. I like Lowrance, Eagle ok for shallow water, Garmin good also for deeper water. For salt water and over 400 feet Furuno is best in my book.<br /><br />For shallow water 15 to 60 feet most unit work very good. Pixel count and power not very important. 200KHZ frequency works best unless your running downriggers and want to see the down rigger ball then need the wider 50 khz transducer. 200 KHZ 20 degree transduce will seperate fish better and give finer detail. 50 Khz 45 degree transducer has a wider beam but displays less detail.<br /><br />As you fish deeper then power and pixel count become more and more important. Also the type of zoom unit has. 4 times ok up to about 200 feet. Deeper than that you need a bottom lock or bottom track to see small fish on the bottom. 50 KHZ penatrates much deeper.<br /><br />Eagle units made by the same company as Lowrance. In general Eagle cheaper and lower power than lowrance. Garmin units also have low power and high power units.<br /><br />In salt water over 200 feet you need lots of power and a high pixel count 480 and up vertical pixel count.

 

[kentuckybassman18]

Re: what is the best fishfinder to buy for $150.00-$200.00?

i fish in 5 to 70 feet of water most of the time, what would be the best a eagle fish mark 320 or eagle fish mark 480? that was the 2 fish finders i was looking at, eagle fish mark 320 has 320x320 pixel, eagle fish mark 480 has 480x480 pixel,and both of them have a 200 khz high-speed skimmer transducer and up to 60 degree of fish detection coverage, i was looking for a fish finder that will show trees and bushes and small bait fish in the water, i fish for crappie and need one that will show these things good, and what does 16-level gray scale monochrome display mean?

 

[jtexas]

Re: what is the best fishfinder to buy for $150.00-$200.00?

three most important features, IMHO: resolution, resolution and resolution! Eagle Fishmark480 is hard to beat for the money. I use the 320 and it's good - I've fished the 480 on other boats - it's a little bit better.<br /><br />levels of grayscale: 2 levels would be just white & black - the darkness of the screen image gives you a clue to the hardness or thickness of the object.<br /><br />BTW I think that "up to 60º" is an exageration - for the most part, you're getting a circular area about 1/3 the depth. Still, the 480 will show your brushpiles and schools of bait. Not to mention water temp.

 

[Boatist]

Re: what is the best fishfinder to buy for $150.00-$200.00?

I agree the fishmark 480 is the better unit but if you use the zoom I dout you can tell the difference fishing 60 feet or less.<br /><br />The transducer on both units is a 20 degree 200khz. In 30 feet of water you will see a 10 foot circle. In 60 feet you see a 20 foot circle. The UP TO 60 degrees is very misleading. The industry standard is to rate tranducer at the -3db half power point. Rated that way like all the other companies it is a 20 degree transducer. Instead they rate their transducer at the -10db or 1/10 power point. While you can pick up signals that weak you really can not see them displayed. To see that weak signal on the outer part of the cone you would have to turn the sensitivity up so far that the center part of the cone which is 5 times stronger would black out the whole screen. I guess the best way to say it is you get the same display that all the other honest company get with the same 20 degree transducer. If you do not belive this try and go to the acessories page and find a 60 degree transducer, you will only see 20 degree transducer.<br /><br />Also be aware that a 60 degree transducer that the 480 does not have will many times not show as many fish. Any time your fishing an uneven bottom or a sloped bottom where many fish hang out you will see less fish with a wider transducer. On flat bottoms the wider transducer will see more fish.<br /><br />16 levels of gray scale is just shades of gray form light to dark. The stronger returns will be thicker and darker.<br /><br />Both units like any good fish finder will show any iteam that will reflect sound. This includes fish, trees, bushes, rocks, leaves, plastic bags, air bubbles, soda can, water bottle, ect. The key to seeing small fish it to turn the sensitivy up. You need to be seeing false ruturns at the depth you are fishing to see all the small fish. The hardest part is to learn what you are seeing. For example a tree or a bush will often look like a school of fish as you move acrossed it.