fish finders

I really like my hummingbird 386 and generally like hummingbird over lowrance. I had a mark 4 dsi before and really wasn't a fan. The 386 is more compact than the 597 but both units are pretty nice. Depending on what your budget is, there are also some cool side imaging options this year.

I have a Lowrance X-4 and it seems to consume very little battery life. Possibly because it's not color and more importantly there is no GPS unit. If you're going to be out for several days in a row and do not have access to a power source you might be faced with buying multiple batteries, having a battery charger than runs off your vehicle, or just buying a unit that consumes less power. You're going to have to make those decisions on your own. Overall the Lowrance X-4 is a very basic model and I use it to find structure or know how deep the water is. It serves this purpose very well. The screen is small but once I find my spot for some types of fishing, I don't even look at the screen.

Additionally, I have a Humminbird 386ci. This color screen combo provides better screen visibility and the GPS functionality. This model costs almost three times (maybe more) as much as the X-4. I'm considering selling it but I have not decided on that yet...

Using a 10 AMP HOUR battery I get about 1.5 days of battery life on the Humminbird 386ci and 3-4 days minimum (perhaps more) with the Lowrance X-4.

I have to openly state that I have only caught a handful of fish that I saw on my fishfinder while trolling (there you are bastard , circle back and bing). The fishfinder is useful for drop shotting down onto perch and bass and seeing the depth at which fish are swimming. If I get into a good biomass of fish then the fishfinder is not even necessary.

I have an old Eagle with color screen I bought for about $180 3 years ago and a fancy Hummingbird (GPS, map chip). I find I like the old Eagle (now the Lowrance Elite 4) for almost everything. It hardly uses any power and it lasted 9 days (2-3 hrs/day) on a long trip with a 18 ah battery. I like the HB for new lakes when I want high detail and tracking, but the cheapo ones do the job.

I just purchased the Lawrence elite 4x dsi. $149 at academy. Probably cheapest I have found it. 169 at cabelas right now.