Fish Finders

[Paulywood]

I am looking to purchase a new fish finder. I have 2 hand held GPS units so I don't need one equipped with GPS. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is color important? What about 3-D? I was hoping to keep the cost around $400.00 I would love to hear some opinions before dropping the kind of cash these things cost.

[Midway97]

I am looking to purchase a new fish finder. I have 2 hand held GPS units so I don't need one equipped with GPS. Does anyone have any suggestions? Is color important? What about 3-D? I was hoping to keep the cost around $400.00 I would love to hear some opinions before dropping the kind of cash these things cost.

Color make a HUGE difference... I see Mark (adjusted) has his old unit for sale, a real nice unit for a good price.

[Paulywood]

I went and looked at a few FF this afternoon and decided that color is important. They were a lot easier to read. Anyone have any recommendations for color FF's around $400.00?

[Take Six...]

I just decomissioned my Bottomline and installe an Eagle 640C. It has high wattage, the highest pixel count for clairity and can keep track of the bottom at 50mph. The Fishdog guys hit the price mark too.

[FreeTime]

The color is nice, that said I dont think it helps you see any more than b/w. The advantage of color is additional definition in what you are already seeing. The technology is such that even the lower priced units have such great pixel counts that they blow away the older units.

Dual frequency is a must for Great Lakes fishing. The 50 is great for depths of less than 40ft and then I switch to the dual. I still like to see the 50 because it shows me my downrigger balls, the 200 shows me alot more fish.

If you have not looked at the new electronics and made a serious consideration to upgrade, you should. The most reasonable units on the market today are 5 and 10 times better than what they wil be replacing.

Dave

[Adjusted3]

I just recently upgraded to Raymarine products. Not that my Lowarance x-88 was a bad unit, it was only 2 years old, but that unit does not compare to the new technology that is on the market now.

I will say this though, you get what you pay for. My X-88 was servicable for most applications at about 360.00 new.

The Raymarine 600dx can run circles around that unit. BUT........the price is in the mid 800-900 range. I coupled that with a Raymarine 435I chartplotter, again in the same price range. Yes, I dropped some coin on the units, but the detail and the info that I get out of these 2 units does not compare to the unit that I had. And rightly so.

Please don't take this as an advertisement for Raymarine, that was my choice. Take this as an advertisement that I have fished for 19 years on the big lakes and I am tired of units that "fit" my budget and was servicable. It was time to get what I wanted once and for all

Mark

[DangerDan]

Same here Mark... I just wonder down the line, what will replace the units that are out on the market now. One could only imagine.