Fish Finder

Need Some recommendations on fish finders please!!! thank you!

I guesss the first place to start would be what your budget is ? you can spend under a hundred or over a thousand.

For medium renge units look at Lowrance mark 4  or Huminbird 300-500 series.

I have a 385CI kayak combo. comes with everything you need to install and power your finder. Nice and compact and does eveything i ever need  for as fish finder/gps

http://www.amazon.com/Humminbird-3-5-Inch-Waterproof-Chartplotter-Sounder/dp/B002KFGN86/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1371648209&sr=1-1&keywords=eagle+cuda+350

Thanks yeah thats a little out of my price range. lol looks good. mostly just looking for a fish finder that actually finds fish and people have used preferably less than 200.

Thanks yeah thats a little out of my price range. lol looks good. mostly just looking for a fish finder that actually finds fish and people have used preferably less than 200.

For less than 200, I'd look for the following.  Larger screen ... yes it is important.  If you can't see it well, it's not working for you.  Black and white ... saves money and you'll learn how to read it.  Color is easier at first, but I don't think it really offers you much more than B&W.  The B&W Humminbirds in the 500 series would be good to look at.  The 561 is $150.  I haven't used this exact model, but I've used a lot of hummindbirds.  There are probably similar models in the Lowrance lineup.  They are all similar, with various degrees of bells an whistles.

-Allen

You should really consider getting a Sonar/GPS combo unit. It makes a big difference to be able to find that special fishing spot a second time! The Lowrance Mark 4 is under $200.

You should really consider getting a Sonar/GPS combo unit. It makes a big difference to be able to find that special fishing spot a second time! The Lowrance Mark 4 is under $200.

My Mark 4 took a dump on me this weekend.  While getting everything set for sending back to Lowrance for warrentee service I noticed they have a $30 rebate going on.  So it's $169 (probably +shipping) at the moment after accounting for that rebate.

FWIW, until it crapped out it worked very well for what I needed.  And Lowrance has been good, so far, with the customer service.  I only just got the RMA and plan to stop by the post office later today or tomorrow morning to send it to them.  We'll see how all that goes.

Damn.  I'd go with the Elite-4 at this price!  $160 plus a $20 mail in rebate.  Cheaper price than the Mark 4 and color.

Edit to add:  Didn't look close enough.  THat's just the FF, no GPS.  So not the smoking deal I thought it was.  Still, thought, not bad.

http://www.thedigitaloasis.com/Lowrance-Elite-4x-Fishfinder-83200-Tm-Transducer-000-10484-001_p_17818.html

Yeah, but the Elite-4's have small screens.  I guess it is a matter of figuring out what is important to you.  You're not going to get a 5" screen with GPS for under $200.

-Allen

You should really consider getting a Sonar/GPS combo unit. It makes a big difference to be able to find that special fishing spot a second time! The Lowrance Mark 4 is under $200.

My Mark 4 took a dump on me this weekend.  While getting everything set for sending back to Lowrance for warrentee service I noticed they have a $30 rebate going on.  So it's $169 (probably +shipping) at the moment after accounting for that rebate.

FWIW, until it crapped out it worked very well for what I needed.  And Lowrance has been good, so far, with the customer service.  I only just got the RMA and plan to stop by the post office later today or tomorrow morning to send it to them.  We'll see how all that goes.

Did your unit fail from water damage? Did you have that little rubber piece gooped?

You should really consider getting a Sonar/GPS combo unit. It makes a big difference to be able to find that special fishing spot a second time! The Lowrance Mark 4 is under $200.

My Mark 4 took a dump on me this weekend.  While getting everything set for sending back to Lowrance for warrentee service I noticed they have a $30 rebate going on.  So it's $169 (probably +shipping) at the moment after accounting for that rebate.

FWIW, until it crapped out it worked very well for what I needed.  And Lowrance has been good, so far, with the customer service.  I only just got the RMA and plan to stop by the post office later today or tomorrow morning to send it to them.  We'll see how all that goes.

Did your unit fail from water damage? Did you have that little rubber piece gooped?

I did not goop the little rubber piece on the bottom, but it never got immersed.  A little splashing here and there was the worst water exposure it had.  I always took it off the RAM mount and secured it where it would stay dry if I huli'd on a surf landing.

I gotta say that IMO, Humminbirds are of much better quality than Lowrance units......I had two Lowrance LMS-240 units on my old 18' Jetcraft and they never worked consistently.....sent to factory for repairs and only worked for a short time before issues returned......My older Humminbird LCR 400 still works like a champ! 

I gotta say that IMO, Humminbirds are of much better quality than Lowrance units......I had two Lowrance LMS-240 units on my old 18' Jetcraft and they never worked consistently.....sent to factory for repairs and only worked for a short time before issues returned......My older Humminbird LCR 400 still works like a champ! 

I've owned a couple of both and never really had any quality issues with any of them but I found the Humminbirds to be easier and more intuitive to operate. Humminbird customer service is also top notch...very friendly and were happy to swap out my existing skimmer transducer for thier scupper compatible transducer for my OK trident just for the asking. I'm thinking about swapping my Lowrance mark-4 for a Humminbird 386 ci combo

I gotta say that IMO, Humminbirds are of much better quality than Lowrance units......I had two Lowrance LMS-240 units on my old 18' Jetcraft and they never worked consistently.....sent to factory for repairs and only worked for a short time before issues returned......My older Humminbird LCR 400 still works like a champ! 

I've owned a couple of both and never really had any quality issues with any of them but I found the Humminbirds to be easier and more intuitive to operate. Humminbird customer service is also top notch...very friendly and were happy to swap out my existing skimmer transducer for thier scupper compatible transducer for my OK trident just for the asking. I'm thinking about swapping my Lowrance mark-4 for a Humminbird 386 ci combo

I ran the Mark 4 DSI for a about a year and then switched to the Hummingbird 386 CI. The price was about the same for both units but I much prefer the 386. It may not be a completely fair comparison but the color 386 is SO much easier to read than the B&W Mark 4. It's also a lot easier to use for navigation.

Humminbirds will survive if you take a long swim

West Marine has a one day sale on 6-24 for Lowrance Elite-5 DSI Gold $299
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/DealsView?langId=-1&storeId=11151&catalogId=10001&cid=E130618