Need to learn about fish finders?

[bearpaw]

I may be looking for a good fish/depth finder soon and don't really know anything about them other than seeing a few work a few times. I have always found the fish on my own. But I want to get a finder that will tell me all the good things and that I can input gps locations.

What brand/model should I be looking for and why?

Thanks for any advice....

[PolarBear]

I've had just about every brand out there, used them in saltwater commercial applications and have found Lowrance to be the most reliable and accurate and have never had to use customer service on any of the 6 models that I have owned, I cannot say that for Humminbird, Furuno or Garmin.    One piece of advise is get one with a grayline and turn the damn fish id symbol off!  You will get more false readings with a fish id than positive.  I have a couple of Lowrance models on different boats right now.  My most recent is a Lowrance Mark 5X Pro, on my work boat.  If you are not fishing saltwater over 600 feet it is an awesome unit for under $200.  I got mine on sale at Cabelas for under $150.  I use it on the Columbia with the greyline and have found it to be very accurate in picking up fish with the sensitivity turned down to about 60%, that is, on salmon, you might need to bump it up a tad on smaller sized fish.  The color models are even better but more $$ for a decent one.  This has potential to become a Ford vs Chebby subject though.

[bearpaw]

Thanks for the info, what is grayline?

[SkookumHntr]

I would say Raymarine are as good as they get!

[bearpaw]

I would say Raymarine are as good as they get!

What are the reasons?

[SkookumHntr]

-They are unreal! It shows the density of what it see's, you can tell sturgeon from salmon, you can see seals, there just unbeleavable! Most the top guides are going to them that I know!

[CP]

I like Garmin FF & GPS but whatever you get you want enough power.  At least 300 Watts RMS if you use it in salt water.  And you want it to be sealed – water proof rating of at least IPX7 (Submerged to 1 meter for 30 minutes)


Not that you will submerge the unit but that rating will make sure that water does not get into the unit and ruin it.

[bloodhound]

humming bird is best bang for the buck. comes with more features for less then lowrance and are just as good.

[FC]

I also like the Lowrance finders, I've had a few others and had nothing but problems. The grayline does give a nice picture of fish laying on the bottom by showing the separation between mud, sand etc and a fish.

I can't remember what model Ripper has on his boat but the topographic detail of the bottom on the gps is great and the finder itself works well, I would highly recommend it.

[BLUEBULLS]

I'd go with Lowrance, out of the 100's of guys I fish with and against 98% use Lowrance. The HDS5, 7 etc. can be found for very reasonable prices now. I'm guessing you'll be fishing Roosevelt mostly?? using it for finding walleye, maybe suspended trout? the HDS5 would be my pick, I don't need a big screen so the 5 is fine. 

[lokidog]

humming bird is best bang for the buck. comes with more features for less then lowrance and are just as good.

I'd say better!  Humminbird customer service beats lowrance as well.  I used it for help and to upgrade my transponder for free.  They also replaced two mounting brackets for free.  Lowrance (when I had problems with it not locking on) never returned calls or email.     This unit had an internal antenna which would take up to five times as long to lock on as my 15 or so year old hand held Garmin sitting on the dash behind it.

A neighbor has  the Lowrance HDS 10 (costs 3X my Humminbird) and my Humminbird 788ci has it beat hands down for readability, detail and ease of use.  The Lowrance gps controls work as well.

If you go with a dual purpose unit, be sure to get the largest screen you can afford.  When you squish both pictures onto one screen, things can get kind of small.

Check out www.poorfish.com, they often have the best prices around on their stuff.

[Wacenturion]

humming bird is best bang for the buck. comes with more features for less then lowrance and are just as good.

When they work as they should they are all probably good.  It's when they don't work properly that you find out how good the service is.  I have Humminbirds, which I purchased after a lot of research.  They work well for me.  Seemed as if features were better in some respects.  One example was side imaging and down imaging,  With Lowrance that was a separate black box that connected to the Lowrance fishfinder (certain models) and added approximately $600 in cost. 

With Humminbird you could almost buy another separate unit for a little more with SI and DI, thereby having two units, with one being a backup if needed.  Humminbird came with GPS antenna, where with several models of Lowrance did not, which added more cost.  Humminbird has a transducer exchange program where you can exhange or upgrade if yours is unused.  Easy downloads and account setup.  Most importantly when I call, even if I have to wait ,technical and other service is first class,  So until things change, I'm quite happy.

If you're curious just google Lowrance service and like wise Humminbird service.  That will tell you quite a bit.

Garmin, Ray Marine, Furuno, etc all make quality units.

One thing important to me was the fact that Humminbird is made in the good ol' USA........

The Humminbird brand is manufactured by the Marine Electronics Group of Johnson Outdoors (Nasdaq: JOUT). At a state-of-the-art facility in Eufaula, Alabama, Humminbird designs, engineers and manufactures sonar and electronic products primarily for the consumer market.

[Wacenturion]

Oh forgot to mention......when I bought my Humminbird 1157c on Janruary 5, 2011, I missed a promotion by 5 days where you got a free Ram Mount, which in the case of the 10.4 inch 1157c is the large mount.  That mount runs generally $90-$110 depending. 

I sent in the promotion form with UPC and said up front, I realize I missed the deadline but just thought I would ask if it were possible to get one.

Guess what............Ram Mount on it's way.  I wasn't expecting to get a yes, but I'll tell ya, I was impressed.

When I purchased my 798 c si 4 or 5 months later, I get an ermail to join the Humminbird Elite club (something like that), which was free of charge and added one additional year of warranty to the 798 c si.  What's not to like. 

Since then, I have continued to feel good about the service they provide when needed.  In fact just called last week as I was wiring in a new VHF radio to the Humminbird GPS, to utilize the DSC/D capabilities.  A woman answered and without missing a beat, explained just what I needed to do to wire the connection.  Didn't have to put me on hold to ask someone else.  They appear to have great staff. 

[bloodhound]

im replacing all mine next spring with humming's!

[cohoho]

humming bird is best bang for the buck. comes with more features for less then lowrance and are just as good.

When they work as they should they are all probably good.  It's when they don't work properly that you find out how good the service is.  I have Humminbirds, which I purchased after a lot of research.  They work well for me.  Seemed as if features were better in some respects.  One example was side imaging and down imaging,  With Lowrance that was a separate black box that connected to the Lowrance fishfinder (certain models) and added approximately $600 in cost. 

With Humminbird you could almost buy another separate unit for a little more with SI and DI, thereby having two units, with one being a backup if needed.  Humminbird came with GPS antenna, where with several models of Lowrance did not, which added more cost.  Humminbird has a transducer exchange program where you can exhange or upgrade if yours is unused.  Easy downloads and account setup.  Most importantly when I call, even if I have to wait ,technical and other service is first class,  So until things change, I'm quite happy.

If you're curious just google Lowrance service and like wise Humminbird service.  That will tell you quite a bit.

Garmin, Ray Marine, Furuno, etc all make quality units.

One thing important to me was the fact that Humminbird is made in the good ol' USA........

The Humminbird brand is manufactured by the Marine Electronics Group of Johnson Outdoors (Nasdaq: JOUT). At a state-of-the-art facility in Eufaula, Alabama, Humminbird designs, engineers and manufactures sonar and electronic products primarily for the consumer market.

Made in USA is great feature for me.  Will switch soon to Humminbird also...  Heard alot of other reports from friends that have them and absolutely love them...

[bassquatch]

Whatever your choice, check out HodgesMarine.com, they usually have excellent sales! The bargain cave at Cabela's is good for a few as well... Every year at the Puyallup Sportsman Show they have a Lowrance seminar, even if you do not buy Lowrance it's a good place to get oriented to how they work.

Good luck with whatever you choose

[Sneaky]

I've had good luck with my humminbird 597ci HD combo. Once you learn to use the GPS you can find smaller, overlooked places that hold fish and drift over them with pinpoint accuracy. 

[NRA4LIFE]

I just did a ton of research on this subject along with getting the opinions of a dozen or more boat owners and settled on the Lowrance HDS-5 Gen 2 with Nautic Insight (you would probably want the Lake Insight if not using in the salt very much).  Just picked it up over the weekend and will give it its first test Saturday.  West Marine had them on sale, $50 off right now. 

[TheHunt]

I know of a few guides who fish the Columbia.  They use a GPS which you can buy chips for rivers.  I am not sure how it works but those chips show the channels of the river.  Both of them kill the fish hands down.  So you might want to consider the additional functions of a chipped GPS.

[lokidog]

I know of a few guides who fish the Columbia.  They use a GPS which you can buy chips for rivers.  I am not sure how it works but those chips show the channels of the river.  Both of them kill the fish hands down.  So you might want to consider the additional functions of a chipped GPS.

You can get detail chips for a lot of areas.  They will work in any newer gps that has an SD slot. 

[bearpaw]

This is all great info, sounds like Hummingbird fits my style since it's US made and excellent service. Now I have to determine which one? 

Most of my fishing will be inland streams and lakes, I know where to find the walleye, but a little help never hurts. I mostly want to find lake trout and large rainbow in some waters I'm not very familiar with. I also want GPS ability to go out from Neah Bay for halibut and out from westport for salmon and rockfish.

I tend to like large screens and good detail but also like easy to read. The SD chip sounds perfect for loading lake and river maps in areas I may go that I don't already know. I also want to be able to read my boat speed as I plan on some very speed specific trolling. I might be fishing from very shallow to as much as a few hundred feet.

There are numerous terms some of you used that I do not know the meaning, with all this in mind, which hummingbird models would be the best for me to check out?

Thanks again for the help... 

[bearpaw]

It also sounds like maybe I should consider two units, can someone explain why that works better?

[oldcamper]

I say to think about wether you plan to add aditional features in the future (radar, etc.) You don't want to have to purchase a new model/brand everytime you step up to a new feature for the boat. 

[bearpaw]

I say to think about wether you plan to add aditional features in the future (radar, etc.) You don't want to have to purchase a new model/brand everytime you step up to a new feature for the boat. 

Are you saying that's why two units work best together? That I can add options to units?

[Wacenturion]

Beawpaw....perhaps you got the two unit idea from one of my posts.  I was referring to the fact for the price of the 10.4 Lowrance unit plus adding the  black box for another $600 to get SI, one could buy two Humminbirds...a 10.4 model and then a smaller unit with side imaging and down imaging (SI & DI), thereby having a back up unit with all the capabilities including GPS.

May have changed somewhat now, but a year ago when I bought mine I thought why would I want to spend x amount on a big screen Lowrance and then add a black box for SI for another $600?  Instead bought a 10.4 Humminbird and for not much more than the cost of that Lowrance box I picked up a si and di Humminbird 798 c si.

The advantage to me is I have the larger unit at the helm while I'm running but when I go back to the kicker and troll I use the smaller unit which is mounted on the side near the transom.  I only use one at a time, even though they have separate transducer and share a GPS antenna.

The newer units now have Ethernet ports.  They make it easy to connect your system to other components.  Unfortunately my 1157c which is not a si and di unit has an Ethernet port, but will not except the new Humminbird radar.  That's technology for you.  Oldcamper's recommendation is right on.

Give Humminbird a call and describe what your needs are and see what they recommend.  Give you an opportunity to check out their service and answer questions better than most here.

[Ripper]

My boat came with a Garmin 788i gps/ff and the first thing I did was mount my Lowrance next to the Garmin. I was going to throw the Garmin away but decided not to. The Lowrance took a crap on me so I contacted customer service and asked what my options were since the warranty was up. They had me send it in to check out then called back and said that mine wasn't fixable, but if I wanted to I could upgrade to the new HDS-5 Lake Insight for $350.00. It sells in the stores for like $1200. I did and it is far and away the best unit I have ever owned. With the Lake Insight I also get great mapping out in the sound, off the coast and in the Columbia river. It shows bottom contour like nothing I've ever seen. I know where all the edges and drop offs are out off Possession Bar. If I had the money I would have loved to have to HDS 10, then I would have thrown the Garmin away. Now I use the Lowrance on GPS mode when I'm running, and the Garmin for depth, then switch when I get to trolling/fishing. I've used it on Lake Roosevelt, Rufus Woods and Banks Lake. I love the thing!

[lokidog]

The advantage of two units is that the screens are not so small they are hard to see.  Depending on your boat dash, Two medium sized units may work better than one large one.  Also, as Bearpaw mentioned you can use two in different locations.  I have a Lowrance gps that I can network a fish finder radar, engine guages, etc. into, but as mentioned I have not been real happy with Lowrance.  I do like the fuel flow meter that I networked in so I can figure out the most efficient trim for the conditions.  I use my Humminbird 788ci mostly as a depth/fish finder but have the gps as a backup to the other one. 

I have been on two boats that have the Lowrance HDS 10's and find the depthfinder lacking in detail and intuitive use.  The same with the gps on these units, it is a lot more complicated than on my smaller Lowrance or the Humminbird (I have not spent a lot of time goofing around with them though).

For a single unit, dual purpose, the Humminbird 858c looks great for 999.99, then you could step up to the 858DI for 1199 or 998c SI for 1999.