View Full Version : Fish Finders ???
I am looking to buy a fish finder...
I have no experience with these things nor do I know what to buy. How about a few suggestions from some of you who own one.
Model and approx price too...Thx!
fishstix
09-30-2009, 08:18 PM
Hi Tuc
I fish rivers and streams. I dont have a fish finder per say, but i do have an underwater digital camera and video recorder. Its a fujifilm z33 waterproof. When im at a hole i press record on the video recorder and do an underwater panoramic sweep of the spot. Then i hold it up and press play. It isnt real time but i do get a good look at whats(fish) in there.
Ive got some great video of my last bull trout in the highwood. (23inch)
My vote is for a Lowrance. As far as what features you want, that's entirely dependant on how and where you intend to use it and how much you want to spend.
uicehole
10-01-2009, 01:31 AM
Help us help you. Give us some idea of what kind of usage you intend - boat, kayak, canoe, fixed, portable, GPS function, etc. No fishfinder is perfect, you'll have to decide what you want out of it and what its worth to you.
What was important to me in no particular order.
- portable - I interchange between my float tube, pontoon boat, zebec and icefishing.
- able to accept a sealed lead acid or gel cell battery
- able to hook up to a boat battery - 12V.
- transducer shape had to be wide and the cord not sticking out from the middle so I can wedge it underneath my float tube seat.
- cost
- black & white - for better battery life.
I ended up with an Eagle Fishmark 320. Price is just over $300 with the hard portable kit in Calgary but I got a unit from Cabela's with a soft case and battery for $250. Still seemed like a lot of money.
spopadyn
10-01-2009, 09:38 AM
Bass Pro Shops has probably 100 different models ranging from $80 to $4000. I bought a hummingbird portable - works great. I then bought a boat and added a GPS/FishFinder Lowrance to it
It comes down to what you want for features, and what you want to spend. Give us an idea on that, and we'll help you spend your money!
Humminbird and Lowrance are pretty equal IMHO, so try to take a look at them both and go for whichever one you prefer or get the better deal on.
To my mind, there's a few key features -
Portable - not a big deal to me, mine stay in the boat. Transducers are permanently mounted.
GPS - critical IMHO
Screen size - bigger is better, buy the biggest one you can afford.
Color - I much prefer color, but it isn't necessary. Most of the bigger screens will be color though.
They all show you the structure, and they all (well at least the middle of the road and up ones) are going to show you the fish. IMHO, you basically have to decide what you want to spend, that's going to determine what bonus features you're going to get. Every additional feature you want, from color, to size, to stuff like built in hard drives, ethernet connectivity, and side scanning technology are going to add to the cost, but not necessarily to the basic function of locating structure and fish.
Waxy
sheephunter
10-01-2009, 10:47 AM
Other features to consider are whether it reads water temperature and boat speed as well. You can get these options on many lower priced units and I consider water temp a necessity.
Truthfully, screen resolution is likely the most important consideration and thankfully, high resolution no longer comes with a high price tag. If you are just looking for a good solid unit to locate structure and fish without breaking the bank, the Eagle Fish EasyII is the best bargain out there IMHO. At just over $200 it has features found on units costing three or four times that much. As has been said, you can spend more to get more but I consider this unit the minimum but I also consider it to be all the features that most anglers need.
Geezle
10-01-2009, 04:34 PM
Sorry to sorta hijack the thread, but this is also on topic :)
Right now I'm boatless, and in the open water season I'm fishing from shore, so a fish finder isn't going to be terribly useful to me.
However I've been thinking about getting one for hard water season, especially since I don't know any of the lakes in the area. It would help give me an idea of what's going on down there.
What would you guys suggest for a finder used mainly for ice fishing? Cost is an issue, I don't want to spend a ton, but I still want to get a quality unit if I do decide to go this way.
Thanx for the info guys....
I will be using it in a boat, probably a solid mount but able to put away for winter. I don't need a GPS (have two hand helds) or a color screen. Would like to see bottom structure, depth, fish and water temp. All the bells and whistles not really important. Price range between $200-$300.
I will check out the units already mentioned.
Thanx again!
.millartime.
10-01-2009, 06:33 PM
Help us help you. Give us some idea of what kind of usage you intend - boat, kayak, canoe, fixed, portable, GPS function, etc. No fishfinder is perfect, you'll have to decide what you want out of it and what its worth to you.
What was important to me in no particular order.
- portable - I interchange between my float tube, pontoon boat, zebec and icefishing.
- able to accept a sealed lead acid or gel cell battery
- able to hook up to a boat battery - 12V.
- transducer shape had to be wide and the cord not sticking out from the middle so I can wedge it underneath my float tube seat.
- cost
- black & white - for better battery life.
I ended up with an Eagle Fishmark 320. Price is just over $300 with the hard portable kit in Calgary but I got a unit from Cabela's with a soft case and battery for $250. Still seemed like a lot of money.
Do you have to mount a battery on your float tube this fish finder? becuase i just recently boat a flot tube and thought it would be kool to get a fish finder for it BUT i do not have room for a big marine battery. is there even a product like that out there? i looked up the eagle fishmark but it didnt really say anything battery
uicehole
10-02-2009, 12:02 AM
Do you have to mount a battery on your float tube this fish finder? becuase i just recently boat a flot tube and thought it would be kool to get a fish finder for it BUT i do not have room for a big marine battery. is there even a product like that out there? i looked up the eagle fishmark but it didnt really say anything battery
The portable kit is a clam shell that accepts a bunch of normal batteries in a harness. As you might guess these batteries would get drained pretty fast. That was one of the nice features of the Eagle because it can accept a standard gel cell. Once you've tried a fish finder on your float tube, you'll feel blind without it. It's mainly to show structure and depth. If I go out this weekend, I'll take pics of the setup.
.millartime.
10-02-2009, 08:06 AM
awesome that will be very helpful thank you
Thanx for the info guys....
I will be using it in a boat, probably a solid mount but able to put away for winter. I don't need a GPS (have two hand helds) or a color screen. Would like to see bottom structure, depth, fish and water temp. All the bells and whistles not really important. Price range between $200-$300.
I will check out the units already mentioned.
Thanx again!
I can't recommend a specific unit, I just don't know them that well.
Don't underestimate the value of GPS though, it's not only for location (which is important), it provides a very accurate continuous measurement of your speed, which is critical. Handhelds work, but the convenience of having it right there on the screen is pretty big.
Sheephunter's point about resolution is a good one too, a big screen isn't much good if the resolution is poor. Water temp shouldn't be too expensive an option, it just requires the right transducer and the option to display it on the graph.
Good luck, and let us know what you settle, because this question seems to come up a lot.
Waxy
Sorry to sorta hijack the thread, but this is also on topic :)
Right now I'm boatless, and in the open water season I'm fishing from shore, so a fish finder isn't going to be terribly useful to me.
However I've been thinking about getting one for hard water season, especially since I don't know any of the lakes in the area. It would help give me an idea of what's going on down there.
What would you guys suggest for a finder used mainly for ice fishing? Cost is an issue, I don't want to spend a ton, but I still want to get a quality unit if I do decide to go this way.
You'll likely have better success ice fishing with a flasher rather than a graphing unit. These days, I don't like to go without one.
Look into the Vexilar and Marcum units. They both work well and come in a pretty wide price range.
Waxy
PoorTurtle
10-02-2009, 08:52 AM
I have a Cuba by Eagel with gps. works great. it has water temp., speed (gps) plotter, I paid less than $300 for it. I also got a extra tranducer and mout for it and use it as a portable.
Jayball
10-02-2009, 09:08 AM
Other features to consider are whether it reads water temperature and boat speed as well. You can get these options on many lower priced units and I consider water temp a necessity.
Truthfully, screen resolution is likely the most important consideration and thankfully, high resolution no longer comes with a high price tag. If you are just looking for a good solid unit to locate structure and fish without breaking the bank, the Eagle Fish EasyII is the best bargain out there IMHO. At just over $200 it has features found on units costing three or four times that much. As has been said, you can spend more to get more but I consider this unit the minimum but I also consider it to be all the features that most anglers need.
x2 on the temp reading. I find it very useful. About a month ago i posted a very similiar thread where, like you, I asked for advice on getting a fishfinder. The link to the thread is below. I ended getting a humminbird 430 portable. Color.... portable... awesome little unit.
http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=40100
Jay
Something else I should mention. Are the transducers ajustable? I have a 20" tran on my boat.
Thx!
Something else I should mention. Are the transducers ajustable? I have a 20" tran on my boat.
Thx!
Yep, that won't affect anything.
I'd recommend getting in touch with Mulestalker here on the board, he has (well, had anyway) a bunch of plastic boards "King Starboard" that are perfect for mounting transducers.
You make one permanent mount of the plastic board to the transom, and then you're free to experiment with mounting positions for the transducer without having to be contstantly putting holes in the boat below the water line. It's the ticket for sure.
Waxy
Highly recommend the Lowrance 96X. Big screen, good resolution, temp guage, plenty of features (including flasher mode), and only $300 from Wholesale. I run this unit with my Garmin 60CSX on a mount right beside and the combo works great.
I was looking at a few of them today and kinda took a shine to the Hummingbird 565. Anyone own this model?
Thanx Waxy, I'll PM him.
Unregistered user
10-03-2009, 06:25 PM
I've had this for 2 seasons and I like it. it goes a long time on a charge and the screen resolution is great.
http://store.humminbird.com/products/271325/565_Portable
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