Fish Finders

[Dog]

I'm curious what fish finders everyone on here use or like?

I put 2 Humminbird Piranhamax units (175 up front and 176i Portable in back) on Liberty Call for my father and both crapped the bed during our trip this year. Humminbird is still debating what to do about the defective units... as am I for their replacement pending their decision...

Thanks
Nate

[jackalofnar]

Garmin Echo 300c for us.  Have had it for two 3 seasons now.  works great, not problems so far and not too bulky.  We rely mostly on the depth.

[600 miles north]

      I don't have anything fancy. I use an Eagle Fish Mark 320 and it has worked for me, until this year when I forgot to take my cords to the battery for it!  If I had more in the budget at the time I bought it I'm sure I would have gotten something else. But like I said it works for what I needed it for...

Brad

[Dog]

@jackalofnar thanks for the suggestion. like you were use it primarily to know depth but snooping around the garmin sight they have some real nice units. If Humminbird tells me to pound sound, I'll likely go that route as a replacement. The echo 551 or 301dv look saweet!

@600 miles north that sucks man.. sorry to hear the captain had no power. simple is often better in my eyes as well.. but certain things can be powerful catching tools if you know how to use the technology (which I don't right now)... a fish finder is one of them in my opinion.

-Nate

[puckster_guy]

Nate, check out the Lowrance Elite 5. It has a GPS and map unit  built in. You can get a Canada chip that includes bath maps of Kipawa. Or change the chip and you can have most american lakes too. I used it to navigate to the town of Kipawa and it did a great job. The sonar part is a highly accurate too. The best part it comes with an app that can be loaded onto your computer. You can study Kipawa from the comfort of your computer chair. I love it an awesome machine.

[Dog]

Nate, check out the Lowrance Elite 5. It has a GPS and map unit  built in. You can get a Canada chip that includes bath maps of Kipawa. Or change the chip and you can have most american lakes too. I used it to navigate to the town of Kipawa and it did a great job. The sonar part is a highly accurate too. The best part it comes with an app that can be loaded onto your computer. You can study Kipawa from the comfort of your computer chair. I love it an awesome machine.

thanks Joe, I'll check them out of humminbird tells me to pound sand.

[JigginFool]

I have the Lowrance elite 7 HDI with the chip for Kipawa and love it!  Had a Hummingbird previously but no comparison.  I can see my jig on the bottom and watch the fish follow it off the bottom when I jig up. 

[Jow]

I have the Lowrance elite 7 HDI with the chip for Kipawa and love it!  Had a Hummingbird previously but no comparison.  I can see my jig on the bottom and watch the fish follow it off the bottom when I jig up.

X2 I have the 5 and giggle watching fish streak up and hit a lure.

[johnny walleye]

dog my hummingbird 175 works but had to fix roster tail caused by gap on the mount. taped it over with duck tape.

[Jay Thomas]

Hi Nate:

I've used a Lowrance HDS7 (combination colour GPS and Sonar unit) since Apr 2009. Very satisfied. For me, the move to colour was outstanding. However, on the negative side, the unit is a power hog burning about an amp an hour. Consequently, I use a 51 amp/hour battery (38 pounds) to power my HDS7 for a week of walleye fishing.

My old sonar, a Lowrance X-85 I purchased in 2000 started using way too much power during our last trip. I checked the current draw after I got home - it was 900 milliamps per hour instead of the specified 400 milliamps. I only found thjs out when two other guys on our trip started using my X-85 after their unit quit working. Everything worked fine except that it went through 8 D-cell batteries in about 15 hours. Consequently, I'm looking for a new sonar unit as back up myself. I like the looks of the Lowrance Mark-5X Pro (I'm sure that you have noticed my bias towards Lowrance). It's on sale right now at Cabela's for $159. Current draw is only 200 milliamps per hour with the back light off.

Jay

[Dog]

Thanks for the heads up on all these great options everyone! I really do like the lowrance and garmin units after reading about them....
Here's how it turned out and what I found during troubleshooting the units just now.

1) The one power cord was loose were it connected to the back of the front (175) unit, so I bent the prongs ever so slightly with a pick to get more friction on the connection. One problem solved.

2) The front unit ( Piranhamax 175) battery was crap. Bought it through cabelas (but not Cabelas brand, shimastu or something like that),  it's garbage. After I thought about it for a while this makes sense while neither unit would work since that battery was swapped to the rear unit (piranhamax 176i) after the 3rd day (because the front unit wasn't being used due to trolling motor difficulties), we thought it'd be a fresher battery for the rear unit (which was working). then the rear unit crapped out in a rain storm (using that battery) and we assumed it was the rain, not so much.

At the end of the day the units work properly when properly powered. I just need to get a new battery for the front unit of LC.

I guess that's why Flag called it a Shakedown cruise!

[john c]

Nancy got her new boat after we got home from our 2014 trip so we also got a new depth finder for it.  We had an Eagle Fishmark 480 on the other boat.  It was black and white and just plan jane but was ok.  Now we have a Lowrance Elite 5x HDI but our unit does not have the G P S in it.

John

[Dog]

@john c good deal on the new fish finder and better deal on the new boat!
you need to create a new thread in the boat section and tell us all about it!

[Jay Thomas]

Hi John and Nancy:

Congrats on your new boat and new sonar unit. Did you opt for the Lowrance Elite-5x HDI because you have plans to use the Downscan feature? What will you use to power your new sonar unit? Thanks in advance.

Jay

[john c]

The depth finder is powered off the starting batt.  With electric start on the motor it has a larger alternator so lots of power.  With the split screen the down scan is nice (I think .  Haven't had alot of time to play with it yet.  Going from the old finder to the new means alot of learning to do.

John