What's a good Fishfinder? Color? Grayscale? Help!

[FrickerDude]

Looking for a new fishfinder for my boat and was curious to know what others thought were good ones.  Looking to spend around 200-300 dollars.  Like to know what others thought about the color finders vs the grayscales and also people's thoughts on brands.  I was looking at the Furuno LS4100 but not sure.  Any thoughts would be helpful.

FrickerDude 

[Bender]

Furuno doesn't see much business in fresh water from what I have seen, maybe the price?
While each brand has its merits the one thing I suggest is to go see each on in simulation mode. AND take your fishing glasses!!! I've had color units that looked great in the store but I couldn't see them with polarized glasses on, from a couple of the major brands. Do whatever trial you can to make sure you can see them. Hope my limited experience can help.

[SethV]

200-300 is not a ton of money to spend on a sonar unit, but there are a few out there that will work for you.  Pixels and power are the 2 big things that are important for you in your price range.  Do not go with any less than 480x480 resolution and get the most power (watts) you can.

The Eagle Fishmark 480 has 480x480 resolution (pretty good) but only 1500 watts, so power is somewhat limited, but overall this is a good unit for the price.  ($200).  Eagle is the 'discount' brand of Lowrance.  This is a grayscale unit.

The Lowrance X135 is similar to the Eagle 480, same resolution but you get 4000 watts.  It will run about $400, so this might be a bit high.

I don't think you will get good color in your price range.  Eagle does make one, but the pixel resolution suffers, so if it were my $$, I would opt for the grayscale and get higher resolution.

Seth

[Revtro]

FD, I have a Lowrance X-71 that I'll sell cheap if you're interested.  It's a grayscale unit in very good shape.  I keep it as a backup to my X-96, but I have another one, so I can get rid of the 71.  It's not as high of a pixel count as a 480, but does a fine job.  It's a discontinued unit that was replaced with higher pixel count units.  You can see the specs at: http://www.marineelectronicshoppe.com/Lowrance/X71.htm

I have a trolling motor mount transducer that you can also glass into a hull.  I'm thinking around $100 if you can use it.

[FrickerDude]

Hey thanks for the info guys.  I have done some more searching and have came across the Hummingbird 727 monochrome LCD
5" screen
16 grayscale
4000 watts
640Vx320H pixels
20 and 60 degree Dualbeam transducer
Optional Fishing System Modules: CannonLink, InterLink, Wireless Sonar Link, WeatherSense, & GPS Receiver.
$264.99 Free shipping and free speed sensor offer

Has anyone ever seen this model in action or has any input on its features or if its a good buy?

Thanks again
FrickerDude

[Skulley]

You want the best resolution that you can possibly get.  The Hummingbird 565 is what I use.  I don't need all the links that the 727 has.  It does have the the same vertical pixels at 640 and I think it has 320 horizontally also.  It runs about $200.  I use a Garmin handheld GPS.  I chose the Garmin GPS that I have because I wanted to have something I could use for hunting too.  Basically the 727 is the same as the 565 except for the optional system modules and I think it is only 2000 watts peak to peak and 250 watts RMS.  If you are fishing deep water a lot, then the higher wattage is better however you have to adjust the sensitivity to compensate for echoes which means you would run it at a lower sensitivity in shallower water say.......10 feet or less.  I looked at the 727 but decided on the 565 because I didn't feel I needed 4000 watts peak to peak.  I would have considered the 727 for all the optional links.  Hummingbird is the only company as far as I know that has a fishfinder with 620 vertical pixels which I believe at this time is the highest in the industry.  Hope this helps.

BD             

[Waterfoul]

Have you looked at the Lowrance x67c???  I have been running this unit for 2 seasons now.

While power is good... unless you are fishing hundreds of feet of water, high wattage units will get you no more fish in the boat than one with lower wattage.  If you are a bass fisherman, and the deepest water you MIGHT fish is 30', this 800 watt peak to peak unit will do just fine, trust me.

Check it out here:

http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_48382_200001001_200000000_200001000_200-1-1

$249... but I've seen them as low as $200 at some local outlets.

[yukonjack2]

If you decide to be a TBF of MI member this upcoming year, there is discounted pricing avaialble on Lowrance products that may get you a color unit in your price range.  Worth looking into for sure.

Jack

[MBell]

I've got a lowrance x85 on the bow and a 334c on the console, both good units but the 334c is way faster.  They will both pick up the fish but if schools are moving thorough it will show up better on the newer units.  You will mark more fish with the newer units, I'll have a new color lowrance on the bow by spring.  Watts also help with detail, I turn my power up when looking for bait.  You do have to turn it down in shallow water, but most new units have an auto setting that works most of the time.
-Matt 

[BryanP]

You're right about the Humminbird 727 having the highest vertical pixel count at 640.  While the 565 is a great unit, the nice thing about the 727 is you can make it a GPS at any time simply by adding an antenna (around $100).  If you don't think you'll ever want a GPS, then the 565 would probably suit you fine.

[REEL_MAN]

A friend of mine once said "don't compromise on your equipment, if you do you will never be satisified". I ran the gray scale units but after I used a color unit I new I could never go back to gray scale. I would suggest that if you can't afford the color unit now save a little longer.
Both Lowrance and Hummingbird make good units. I personnaly use the Lowrance 339 and 68C (soon to be changed out for a 38C or 997SI). I have used the Lowrance due the the service they provide through Linde Colt. Non better, so it might be hard to go to the Hummingbird unit, but that SI is fantastic.(anyone have experence with hummingbird service??)
You have had alot of good advise from all of the postings, remember don't compromise.

REEL MAN