Best fish finder for under $500

[tubechucker]

It's been about 8 years since I bought my last unit, an Eagle color sonar.  Works ok but the new technology looks unreal.  What do you guys suggest I should look for for $500 or under? Side, down, sonar, I know I want mapping so i can stop using my old handheld.  Not sure which way to go, looking for some suggestions.

I have a small 16ft aluminum and fish St. Clair mostly.  The current unit is mounted on the transom. 

I would love to mount to old unit on the trolling motor. I have a minn Kota power drive which makes it tough with the hanging wire.  This is a whole other discussion though.

[TheFishinPollock]

I just use a hds5 gen 1. Only time it laggs a little is if i am really cookin down the lake. Other than that its perfect. No sidescan , but it maps, good readings, easy to put in WP's .

[Firefighter Jeff]

  In my opinion, unless you are a tournament fisherman you don't really need the side scan.  I use the DI more than side scan.  When I go out fishing I'm out to fish and don't usually spend a lot of time looking around the lake with the side scan.  I don't use SI as much as I thought I would. 

[fishstick]

Check out the Humminbird Helix series, you can get a Helix 5 with all of the above or a bigger Helix 7 with just sonar and mapping for 500 or less.

[Waterfoul]

Agreed.  The Helix 5 series are the best bang for you buck in my opinion.  You can get a Helix 5 with down imaging and side imaging for $499.  Less than that if all you want is the down imaging.

The Lakemaster chips are pretty good too.

[Rangerman]

Cabela's has some real deals on Humminbird Units. Just purchased a 857 for $429.00 and free shipping. I do have 1199 on bass boat , but for deck boat did not care for SI or DI. I really don't think the SI is what a lot of people crack it up to be. Sure I use it and the DI but most times use the 2D sonar.