Looking For A Fishfinder. Suggestions?

[lkn4bss]

I am looking for a bow and console setup. Haven't decided on DI or SI. Do want Gps. I have looked at lowrance and Hummingbird. Really can't decide on what size I want. Will be doing mostly bass fishing. Suggestions Welcome.

[Long Mike]

What's your budget? Lots of options available.

[lkn4bss]

That's the kicker! The budget! I want to add on a little at a time. Probably would buy console first then add bow later. I say 2k over a year or so.

[slonezp]

My .02 Currently I'm running a 798ci SI on the console and a old black and grey Lowrance on the bow. For me the SI is nice, but not a necessary tool in finding fish/structure, as I fish shallow water (<5fow) 80% of the time. It has the 2d and gps built in which is nice. If I fished alot of deep water/structure, I think I'd opt for a larger screen.The HB is relatively easy to set up and figure out and there are plenty of how to vids on youtube. I have also heard nothing but rave rewiews on the GEN 2 Lowrance. You'll have to evaluate your fishing style and figure whats best. 2k doesn't buy much in regards to down or side imaging units.

[Wayne P.]

My .04 , Side Imaging or Structure Scan is a lot more useful in shallow water than Down Imaging/ Down Scan or regular 2D sonar because of the coverage it has. The shallower the water is the more beneficial it is.

The Humminbird Side Imaging as better horizontal coverage that Lowrance Structure Scan since it covers from the water's surface to past vertical under the transducer. In 2' of water you can see horizontally as far as you have the SI Range set--up to 360' on both sides. That will allow you to fish bottom features that hold fish and not have your boat above those features to know where they are.

This is an example I have posted before showing a creek channel on the right (dark band) that has a school of shad ( light gray blob) next to a stump (bright white spot) and bass (white streaks) that had moved up the creek after a summer heavy rain due to the cooler water. I caught a couple the bass. Note the water depth. I didn't have to be above that creek and scare the fish to know where it was. The amount of bottom coverage with regular sonar or Down Imaging would be just a few inches at that depth.

[slonezp]

That's a cool pic wayne. I'm normally casting shorelines on my home water hence the SI not really necessary. It's very helpful finding weedlines . I found it helpful on G-ville locating offshore structure, and that was the first time I ever used it, and although not fishing, looking at ledges on the wisconsin river in 50fow was interesting.

[Sun Fish]

I just installed a Lowrance Elite 4x DSI $199 from Bass Pro on the bow of my boat. I to am doing what your doing buying piece by piece and I figured I'd be spending more time looking for structure and fish at the bow trolling than I would be at the console driving the outboard so I went with that first. It's an amazing little device for seeing structure and such but I have yet to get used to spotting fish on it.

[lkn4bss]

Thanks for all the replies! I like the pic posted. I will probably be trollong looking for structure.