Another fish finder post. Help!

[Basshound92]

Alright guys I'm pretty green to lake fishing and especially fish finders. Currently I have a Humminbird 400tx that came with my boat and I really want to upgrade this week. I've looked at a few in basspro and online but it seems like a rat race trying to find what I want because this one has this without out that and that one his that without this...

 

To the point I'm looking for a unit that has traditional sonar, down imaging, side imaging and maps. I JUST learned that most of the lower in units don't have maps, like less than $300/$400 bucks. I'm torn between buying something this week in the $400-$500 range or saving up and paying upwards to $800 for something a little nicer. 

 

Also curious on how often you guys with SI use it and do you really find it to be useful and worth the extra bucks. 

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated. What do you use? Do you like it and what don't you like about it?

 

[Scott F]

If you can be patient and wait until early next year, you will find many of this years model depthfinders on sale when they are replaced by the new models. It’s not at all unusual to find units with everything you are looking for marked down by 50%. No guarantees, but it’s been happening every year. 

[WRB]

Most of California lakes are rocky deep structure reserviors with sparse cover and a few private docks. If the lakes you fish are more shore cover with lots of cover and docks side scan may be more useful. Lowrance Hook2 7 series is in $400-$500 budget range with map and chirp/di sonar. This gives you high definition color with low light reflection for easy viewing. Chirp seperated fish from cover, as does di, compatible with Navonics 1' lake map chips.

SI TD's are ok for transom mtg for the console unit to survey areas, little more difficult to Trolling mount effectively.

Someone more familiar with Hummingbird can suggest a similar model within your budget.

The features important to me may not be what you need.

I use my sonar units every outing to determine surface water temperature, located bait and bass depth to determine the active life zone, survey structure for bait and bass, determine if there is a thermocline, this all helps me eliminate water and focus on areas with bass. I don't have a scanning sonar unit because where and how I bass fish it isn't neccesary.

 

Tom

[12poundbass]

Right now you can get a Garmin Echomap 93sv for $599. This has a 9" screen, SideVu, DownVu, 2d sonar, over 17,000 lakes, and Quickdraw which all is you to create your own contour maps. Hard to beat that. 

[Troy85]

How is the clarity on the Garmin side scan? That’s about half the price of a similarity spec’d Lowrance.

[hooah212002]

1 hour ago, 12poundbass said:

Right now you can get a Garmin Echomap 93sv for $599. This has a 9" screen, SideVu, DownVu, 2d sonar, over 17,000 lakes, and Quickdraw which all is you to create your own contour maps. Hard to beat that. 

Where can you get it at that price?

[12poundbass]

17 minutes ago, hooah212002 said:

Where can you get it at that price?

Gpsstore.com 

These aren't the Plus units, but still a $999 unit for $599 is pretty good.

[grub_man]

Like the others, hang tight and keep an eye out for a deal.  A little over a year ago I picked up a Humminbird 698ci si with a Navionics card for about $350 when they were closing that unit out.  It lacks the ability that the new Helix units have to make and draw maps in real time, but I'm quite happy with it for the money, and I could reuse the base from my old 405sx.  After moving the pins around in the 405sx, I use both in the boat with the 698 where I need it most.  For example, if I'm just running a bank and keeping the boat in the same depth, then I run the 405sx up front.  If I want to stay on a spot, then I'll run the 698 up front where I can keep an eye on the map.  Eventually I'll pick up another head unit and run both, but until then the system works.

 

Side imaging is really incredible at helping find rock piles, channels, drop offs, isolated brush and lay downs, etc. off shore in new water more quickly.  It's really helpful, but most useful under the power of the big motor.  You can use it on the trolling motor, but target separation isn't as clear as wen running at least a couple mph.

 

The most important upgrade is the GPS in my opinion.  DI is nice, but since my unit is a 'bird SI unit, I don't get true DI, it's pieced together from the SI readouts.  However, My buddy showed me DI pic he made with his Helix 5 DI GPS of a little bridge that is fully intact on a lake last week from back home.  Now I'll have to go find it and make some SI and DI images with my unit and see how they compare.

 

In any case, determine which features are most important to you.  I made the jump literals from the same generation of depth finder as you, and it really is a game changer.  Most say to go to as large of a screen as your budget will allow, but if you have good eyes, then the smaller units aren't that bad.  My circumstances led me to the smaller unit, and I'm quite satisfied.  There are times where I would appreciate a large display, but they aren't many.