Best Fishfinder ??'s

[Tundra Monkey]

Hey Folks,

My neighbour is turning 65 in a month or so and is an avid fisherman. He is our "plow king" in our lil' neck of the woods so we try to keep him happy.

We'd like to set up his boat with a really good fish finder. The home lake is nothing special. About 9 miles long and has holes down as far as 600ft.

There is about 6 of us chipping in so cost is a non issue.....we'd like one with all the bells and whistles please. Colour, memory......I really have no knowledge of what is out there.

He floats around on a 19ft HarbourCraft.....not sure if that makes a difference.

Thank you for any suggestions you may have

[PINEHURST-PIKE-FREAK]

Originally Posted by Tundra Monkey

Hey Folks,

My neighbour is turning 65 in a month or so and is an avid fisherman. He is our "plow king" in our lil' neck of the woods so we try to keep him happy.

We'd like to set up his boat with a really good fish finder. The home lake is nothing special. About 9 miles long and has holes down as far as 600ft.

There is about 6 of us chipping in so cost is a non issue.....we'd like one with all the bells and whistles please. Colour, memory......I really have no knowledge of what is out there.

He floats around on a 19ft HarbourCraft.....not sure if that makes a difference.

Thank you for any suggestions you may have

the best thing is to use google,there are many videos comparing and showing features.I seen one that even break them down into price ranges

[Tundra Monkey]

Thanx PPF.

I did try the google thing but thought I'd ask some of you guys with real experience with some of the units and what see what the real world users on here think.

Right now the leading candidate is the Hummingbird Helix 7 but that is purely through internet searching.

I would really appreciate the opinions of some of the AO fishing folk

[RavYak]

Depends just how fancy you want to go and how much are willing to spend.

Things to look into and see if you want would be.

Colour(no brainder imo)
GPS(no brainer imo)
DI(can be useful)
SI(can be powerful but takes some learning to use)
Maps(is Navionics good enough and cover lakes in the area)
Make your own maps(only way to really get accurate maps but units are expensive)

The Helix 7 would be a good middle level unit with colour, GPS and Navionics maps, can get DI model and even SI if you really want but hard to read SI on a 7 in screen.

If SI and making own charts I would go with a Helix 10. Or look at Lowrance HDS models with insight genesis if there are a bunch of lakes with shared data that might be worthwhile.

[Tundra Monkey]

Thank you for the nudge RavYak.

I'll look at the 10 and the Lowrance models.

Is Side Imaging really advantageous over Down Imaging?

[skidderman]

I have without looking I think the humminbird 957. I believe it has an 8 or 9 inch screen. It's big enough that from the back of the boat I can see the speed and everything else. If I could not see it from the back then I would need another at the back. I would suggest a minimum 9 inch or 10 inch screen on a boat that size. I would never go without gps. In fact if you went to a ten inch you could likely split screens and use both the finder and gps. I find I'm on gps more than anything but for me having a split screen isn't useful. You are likely looking at $1500 to $2500 depending how fancy and how big you go. Another thing to consider is having a remote, not built in gps antenna. I've heard the built in antennas can be a problem but have no first hand experience. Happy shopping!!!!

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by Tundra Monkey

Thank you for the nudge RavYak.

I'll look at the 10 and the Lowrance models.

Is Side Imaging really advantageous over Down Imaging?

I use either my regular sonar or SI. I find DI is only really useful in the odd spot to confirm if what you are seeing is a fish, a rock or a tree etc.

SI is most important in bodies of water with underwater structure (trying to find rocky spots, submerged trees, etc) which also means it isn't as helpful here as it is out east where they have much more structure in their lakes. In the right situations you can mark actual fish too but I usually have trouble reading fish on my 7 in screen/older unit but it has put me onto fish a couple times.

As I mentioned mapping is also a big thing. You can go on Navionics website and look at navionics plus page to see an interactive map which will show you which lakes have maps. They are very rough maps though so only slightly helpful.