Shopping for a fish finder on a boat

[wildalberta]

I purchased my own boat last fall after moving to the lakeland area. Its a 2014 tracker 18' targa. Ive been on lots of boats but using dated, fairly basic electronics. Im wanting to spend more time targeting lakers on cold lake which is fairly new to me. being surrounded by pike and walleye lakes will also be allot of my time. I would like atleast a 7" screen, likely go for a 9" tho. What are features that a guy should or shouldnt have? touchscreen or no? give me all of your opinions.

[natedawg]

Can’t beat humminbird IMO. I use it in my boat all summer long, and on the ice all winter. Love my Helix 7.

[Fishwhere]

Hey there,

Lots of old posts on this that you can look at.

But i always recommend lowrance hds gen 3 with a min 9" screen. I have a 7" and i wish i had a 9(haha that could be taken out of context quickly). I have been told by people that have tested hummingbird and a lowrance on the same boat that the lowrance picked up better detail by a decent margin. However i have heard hummingbird has way better customer service.

You are for sure going to want basic 2d sonar with CHIRP or something similar, structure scan, down scan imaging, gps with topographic card ability. Most of this is standard now on stuff over 1000 bucks. Get the one you want and spend the money now. If you think youll need integration with the fish finder to the trolling motor then you have some more homework to do. Lowrance-motorguide and hummingbird-lowrance.

Good luck

[huntinglover]

Real time sonar, you can see fishes moving on the screen. No more guess from a 2D picture. See videos in YouTube.

[Walleyedude]

Key features -

- Biggest screen you can afford, and then go one size larger lol. Screen size is king.

- Highest quality traditional 2D sonar, especially if you're fishing lakers in deeper water. That's what you are going to spend the most time looking at, and if it's not showing you fish, and you can't trust it, there's not much point in a fish finder.

- GPS. GPS is pretty much universal these days. I wouldn't own a unit without the ability to use maps, know my speed, and set waypoints.

- Mapping. Base map quality is getting better, but live mapping is a game changer, and the ability to use crowd sourced maps like Genesis Maps (Insight Genesis) is a major advantage for us here in western Canada.

- Side and Down Imaging. Both are really useful features for seeing not just fish and baitfish, but structure, weeds, and bottom composition to help you better understand what you're fishing and why the fish are/aren't there.

- Touch screens are the standard. The days of the Blackberry are over, the world works on touch screens. Being able to quickly and efficiently navigate all your menus and use all your functions with touch is a major advantage in my opinion.

- Customization. Some people want their sonar as simple as possible, just turn key, others want the ability to customize their units. Where do you fall? Do you want to be able to create all of your own screen layouts? Control all of the data that's displayed and how it's displayed? Fine tune all of your settings for sonar, mapping, etc...?

- Networking. Is more than one unit in your future? More than 2? Being able to share sonar and map data between units is a significant feature. It can be wireless, it can be by ethernet, but it opens up a lot of options.

- Live Sonar - If it's in the budget (you're looking at $3-6000 for sonar unit and transducer), the Lowrance LiveSight and Garmin Livescope are amazing technology.

- Trolling motor connectivity. I put this one near the bottom of my list. I view it as nice to have, but far from critical. That's due to the fact that it relies heavily on map quality to be of much use, but also because I just don't personally have much use for it. The ability to see the trolling motor info on the sonar screen is the biggest advantage.

My recommendation would the Lowrance Elite TI2 line, its the best value out there right now in my opinion. If you really want to go top of the line and it's in the budget, the Lowrance HDS Live is best sonar unit available. The Elite TI2 does everything but the LiveSight sonar, the Live units check every box on the list above and more.

[Poppa]

I can end this thread for you right now -- Cabela's has the Lowarance Elite Ti 9" with TotalScan transducer on for half price right now. $750 and it does EVERYTHING. It's the best deal going right now...

[Osky]

Wow. I’ve been known to put some very big trout in the boat for clients, I musta been doing it wrong because I don’t use all that expensive equipment.
But seriously. Lake trout are a very special type of fish both in size and where they live in the water column. If you learn your equipment well enough and what it’s telling you to where you recognize fish size, for summer trout your going to do just fine. I’ve known some guys who had incredible equipment in their boats and really didn’t know what it was telling them. Simpler is sometimes better.

Osky

[marky_mark]

I got a helix 8 with mega down imaging and side imaging
Can’t wait to use it on the new boat

[Vapor]

I can end this thread for you right now -- Cabela's has the Lowarance Elite Ti 9" with TotalScan transducer on for half price right now. $750 and it does EVERYTHING. It's the best deal going right now...
That is a sweet unit! I ran out to Cabelas last night after work and scooped the last one they had on the shelf! lol Thanks for the heads up!
:)

[Poppa]

That is a sweet unit! I ran out to Cabelas last night after work and scooped the last one they had on the shelf! lol Thanks for the heads up!
:)

awesome! I got mine back around Thanksgiving (when they first started with that sale) and was tempted to buy 2. It's an insane deal. Basically half price.

[Wes_G]

I can end this thread for you right now -- Cabela's has the Lowarance Elite Ti 9" with TotalScan transducer on for half price right now. $750 and it does EVERYTHING. It's the best deal going right now...


THIS!! You wont find a better unit for the price. I am a Lowrance guy though, I have never liked humminbird.

[The Fisherman Guy]

Cabela's put the Helix 7 G2 SI on sale $400 off today. Deals like this are RARE.

[wildalberta]

i wish i was paying better attention, i missed out on the sale at cabelas. anyone wanna sell theirs haha? basically i would like a touchscreen around 9" size with down and side imaging. trolling motor connectivity isn't a necessity for me.

[Coiloil37]

I realise my criteria is different then fishing in Alberta but IMO there isn’t much on the market better then a raymarine axiom pro. I have a lowrance hds right now and ran a humminbird helix when I lived in Alberta.
Check it out if you’ve got ten minutes. They’ve got some great technology.

https://youtu.be/JPPxH8nUhNE

[Whammies]

Real time sonar, you can see fishes moving on the screen. No more guess from a 2D picture. See videos in YouTube.

Live Scope is the one to get. I've had Garmin product all my life and not an issue with anyone of them. Go with the Echomap plus 9sv. You can also get a transducer for ice fishing. GL

[Walleyedude]

i wish i was paying better attention, i missed out on the sale at cabelas. anyone wanna sell theirs haha? basically i would like a touchscreen around 9" size with down and side imaging. trolling motor connectivity isn't a necessity for me.

Lowrance Elite TI2 9 (the latest version of the unit that was on sale at Bass Pro) is on sale at TFH. It’s by far the best value available in a unit that checks all the boxes you want, and it includes a Navionics card for Canadian lakes.

https://thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&kw=/LOWRANCE/ELITE-9TI2-ACTIVE-3-IN-1-NAV+/&se=33284

[wildalberta]

i seen that sale at the fishing hole, not quite the sale that cabelas had going on.

[Walleyedude]

i seen that sale at the fishing hole, not quite the sale that cabelas had going on.

The Cabelas/Bass Pro sale was on two year old units that were a generation behind in technology. They were great deals, but that’s why.

The units at TFH are the latest and greatest.

[wildalberta]

Bringing this back up. Ive been watching the sales and gave noticed gps central has some good sales on garmin products. Dont hear allot of talk about garmin stuff for fishing, im sure its fine with the name they bring. Anybody use one of their units?

[Jims83cj5]

Hey there,

Lots of old posts on this that you can look at.

But i always recommend lowrance hds gen 3 with a min 9" screen. I have a 7" and i wish i had a 9(haha that could be taken out of context quickly). I have been told by people that have tested hummingbird and a lowrance on the same boat that the lowrance picked up better detail by a decent margin. However i have heard hummingbird has way better customer service.

You are for sure going to want basic 2d sonar with CHIRP or something similar, structure scan, down scan imaging, gps with topographic card ability. Most of this is standard now on stuff over 1000 bucks. Get the one you want and spend the money now. If you think youll need integration with the fish finder to the trolling motor then you have some more homework to do. Lowrance-motorguide and hummingbird-lowrance.

Good luck

Lowrance pairs to motorguide

Hummingbird pairs to minn Kota

[Sparkle]

Can’t beat humminbird IMO. I use it in my boat all summer long, and on the ice all winter. Love my Helix 7.

Dido. Cant beat a helix 7.

[7mmremmag]

Can’t beat humminbird IMO. I use it in my boat all summer long, and on the ice all winter. Love my Helix 7.

I have two Helix 7's. One in my pontoon and one in my 16' aluminum.
Cant beat them.
And you can get some pretty good deals on the Gen 2's these days.

[Walleyedude]

Lowrance has a rebate program running on the Elite TI2 units.

7" - $50
9" - $100
12" - $200

[does it ALL outdoors]

Bringing this back up. Ive been watching the sales and gave noticed gps central has some good sales on garmin products. Dont hear allot of talk about garmin stuff for fishing, im sure its fine with the name they bring. Anybody use one of their units?

I have an older Garmin, absolutely bombproof.

I wouldn't hesitate for a second to buy anything that Garmin makes.

[CptnBlues63]

Key features -

- Biggest screen you can afford, and then go one size larger lol. Screen size is king.

- Highest quality traditional 2D sonar, especially if you're fishing lakers in deeper water. That's what you are going to spend the most time looking at, and if it's not showing you fish, and you can't trust it, there's not much point in a fish finder.

- GPS. GPS is pretty much universal these days. I wouldn't own a unit without the ability to use maps, know my speed, and set waypoints.

- Mapping. Base map quality is getting better, but live mapping is a game changer, and the ability to use crowd sourced maps like Genesis Maps (Insight Genesis) is a major advantage for us here in western Canada.

- Side and Down Imaging. Both are really useful features for seeing not just fish and baitfish, but structure, weeds, and bottom composition to help you better understand what you're fishing and why the fish are/aren't there.

- Touch screens are the standard. The days of the Blackberry are over, the world works on touch screens. Being able to quickly and efficiently navigate all your menus and use all your functions with touch is a major advantage in my opinion.

- Customization. Some people want their sonar as simple as possible, just turn key, others want the ability to customize their units. Where do you fall? Do you want to be able to create all of your own screen layouts? Control all of the data that's displayed and how it's displayed? Fine tune all of your settings for sonar, mapping, etc...?

- Networking. Is more than one unit in your future? More than 2? Being able to share sonar and map data between units is a significant feature. It can be wireless, it can be by ethernet, but it opens up a lot of options.

- Live Sonar - If it's in the budget (you're looking at $3-6000 for sonar unit and transducer), the Lowrance LiveSight and Garmin Livescope are amazing technology.

- Trolling motor connectivity. I put this one near the bottom of my list. I view it as nice to have, but far from critical. That's due to the fact that it relies heavily on map quality to be of much use, but also because I just don't personally have much use for it. The ability to see the trolling motor info on the sonar screen is the biggest advantage.

My recommendation would the Lowrance Elite TI2 line, its the best value out there right now in my opinion. If you really want to go top of the line and it's in the budget, the Lowrance HDS Live is best sonar unit available. The Elite TI2 does everything but the LiveSight sonar, the Live units check every box on the list above and more.

Started reading your post and thought "Lowrance" Got to your recommendation and LOL'd.

I have a Lowrance HD5 with GPS I bought used off my best friend who lives in Saskatoon (I'm from there and we grew up together). He bought a Lowrance Elite (not sure which exact model but likely the one you mention above. I traded him back his older Lowrance HD? that didn't have GPS for the HD5 that does so he could use it as his bow mount. He sold me the other one a couple years back when he bought the HD5 with GPS. He didn't need two with GPS so gave me a great deal on the HD5 with nav chip in it and all the maps for SK and AB.........including all his waypoints in SK.......LOL

Took my grandson fishing with him to Lac des Isles last June and took my HD5 to plug into his bow so I could have the waypoints for that lake too!

All I can say is I love the Lowrance depth finders and the GPS makes it so easy to go back to my favorite spots. I'm looking forward to June 1st!