New fish finder?

[A to Z Fishing]

Does anyone have any advice for buying a new fish finder? I am not very familiar with all the new technology available and would like to see what everyone thinks.

[Old Wheezer]

I purchased a Garmin this past fall and like it a lot better than my old Lowerance. I would recommend going someplace that has them on display and playing with them for awhile. What sold me on the Garmin is the nice bright screen on sunny days.

[D.D.E.]

You might want to go to the fishing expo in Columbus Oh. Feb 10-12. Google ( columbusfishingexpo.com ) The site says Garmin will be there, I would think Lowrance, and Hummingbird would also but I do not know for sure, There is a phone no. you can call for info. I have a Lowrance and it work fine for me.

[BtweenShots]

As with all the tech in todays world in the fishing world there are new units coming out yearly and cannot keep up myself. My early Hbird is slowly giving up and I purchased a Helix 2 yrs. ago and have yet to install it because I will probably do not want to "start over" . Just my .02 cents is to avoid ff/gps combo's, keep'um separate. There will be many yea's and nay's on that subject alone.

Gene

[West Basin]

Btween Shots is correct, the technology is advancing so fast it's hard to keep up with all the new features.

First, decide your price range. Units run from under $200 to over $1,000. Next decide the main reasons you will be using it. If all you want is a simple depth and fish locator, the low end units will be fine. If you want a little more, such as a wider signal "cone" (the amount of area covered) or multiple signals, split screen, etc then go for a little more advanced system. If you want some of the new features, such as the ability to connect an underwater camera to it and advanced GPS, then shop for the high feature systems.

Don't forget the most important thing: knowing how to read it. You can have a $2,000 feature rich unit but if you don't know how to use it or how to read what you are seeing it won't matter.

It won't be long before these units will have fish ID ability that is fair to good at getting species correct. Sonar units that do this already exist but are quite expensive and mostly used for research (I've seen one of them and it's quite fascinating). As the technology improves and comes down in price these features will be added to the recreational market systems.

[athenskid]

I run lowrances and I love them probably because I'm comfortable with them. I love the combo units and wouldn't go without them. Difference is I run two 7" units on my dash that way I can dedicate one to fish and one to position and have 2 full screens for cheaper than one 10" or 12". A bonus about two is if you have one go out you still have another unit with gps to get you back, kind of like a kicker on the back. Has happened to me before. Just wait until cabelas or bass pro has a good sale on them. I run the hds 7 and they work great for me.

[Hoytman86]

Are you looking to run auto pilot? Combo unit. Multiple units? What's your budget? Is GPS a must? Do you want to network everything on the boat? Important questions before anyone can answer any questions about this.

[A to Z Fishing]

Budget wise I would be willing to spend up to around 1400. Gps is definitely a must, auto pilot is not available on the curren boat we have but several years down the road we will be in the market for a new boat. I do like the idea about running two 7" units so that I can see gps on one and fish on the other. Thanks for all the advice

[walleyerunner1]

With a $1400 budget I would buy 2 units. You could get a newer barely used HDS 9 gen 2 touch and HDS 7 touch gen 2 network them together and plus add lss 2 and you have everything. Used HDS 9 going for $700-800 and HDS 7 going for $500-600 on bassboatcentral.com. There is a pair of new lowrance 7 ti with lss 2 for $1000 shipped obo just have to keep an eye on the electronic page. For $1400 you could even get an HDS 12 gen 2 which is huge if you only wanted one unit. Just a thought but worth checking out. Lots of new and used units on there daily. Hope this helps!