what depth finder to buy

[wayne johnson]

looking to buy new big screen depth finder perfer lowrance, western basin
fishing, must be color, nav. plotter etc. any personal help please, have x 20
on other boat just want larger screen on this boat.

[bocajemma]

I personally have a Humminbird 967c 3D unit which has a 8" screen. Have a 28ft Baha hardtop fisherman and have no problems seeing the screen from the back of the boat. Unit is mounted on dash up front. Have heard some really good things about the Lowrance HDS units. I don't think you need any larger than an 8" screen. Another thing to consider is the sonar types. Mine has the 433khz 3d sonar plus a standard 83khz sonar. 3d works great while trolling or simply moving forward to locate specific structure but is nearly useless while drifting as it has 6 narrow cone beams (16 degree) shooting left to right. While drifting you would only get a 16 degree bottom view, so I switch to my 83khz 60 degree cone angle while drifiting to get a much wider bottom view and fish finding. Hopefully not to confusing, just saying that don't get sold on high technology side imaging or 3D unless you understand it only works well if you are moving forward. Hope this helps.

[wayne johnson]

yes this helps alot, I have a 30 ft. sportcraft that has a raymarine on it
very good unit just hard to use, looking for something more user friendly
with large screen, I have and x20 lowrance on other boat with great sucess
but its a smaller screen. Just need something user friendly with larger screen
working just western basin with this boat.

[bocajemma]

I only fish the western basin as well. Did a lot of research when chosing a sonar/gps combo and at the time the Humminbird was my choice. I think it's simple to use and I really do like the 3d sonar when locating structure and the few times I troll. The Lowrance HD units weren't available when I was looking or they would have been serious contenders when making my choice. While you make your decision make sure you research the transducer options for your boat. I would imagine you would probably be going with a shut thru hull or a thru hull. I just got an extension cable for my transom mount transducer and use that. Works fine trolling or drifting. doesn't work well while moving above roughly 5mph.

[rscotfish]

wayne i have a lcx 25c lowrance fishfinder and gps loaded with everything 7 inch screen has dual memory card slots you can download and plan trips. you can download any simulator from lowrance .com you check it out i got one on my computer and if i read the reports and get numbers i can look at right now or download to my memory card