Eagle vs. Hummingbird

[Guest]

Hey there guys. My Eagle Fish Easy II died on the opener after two seasons of fishing. I've decided to purchase a new one rather than sending it in to Eagle and not getting it back until after my trip to Kabetogama. I'm a little leary of the new Eagles after this experience and I was wondering what y'all thought about the new 500 series Hummingbirds that are out there? I previously owned and was very happy with an old Eagle Z-6100 that lasted 15 years(Actually I still have it and it works). What would you do?

[Doonbuggy]

I'd get a Lowrance or a Garmin. I have never heard a good thing about the HBird's and Eagle's power connections are absurdly cheap so if you want frustration down the road I'd pass. (I had an Eagle 480 and returned it just five weeks later).

One local store said the industry tagline about BottomLines are that they are "bottom of the line".

Lowrance and Garmin have good products at a variety of price points and they have a stronger "lock n collar" power connection that will last much longer than Eagle (although Lowrance owns Eagle ironically enough)

The Garmin 240 is a very nice unit for $200 however I ended up getting a Lowrance X125 and think it's great for $299.

DB

[korn_fish]

Just out of curiousity, how do you know the unit died and there isn't just a bad connection?

two years ago something similar happened to me. Ended up buying a new fish finder and then when I was re-wiring it up, I noticed that the old in line fuse was corroded. All I had to do was scuff the fuse and the old one worked again. Now I have two, one transom mounted and one bow mounted so I guess it worked out ok.

I just thought I would bring this up as I know how I fealt when I realized the old one worked again.

[Guest]

Same thing happened to me on an X-55. I thought the thing was dead, when I found a corroded fuse. I ran a test light to it, and found I had enough juice to "light" up the screen when I pushed the power button, but as soon as I let off the power button, it would quit............

[opsirc]

If you do need to buy a new one, I have had H-birds for the past 15+ years. both unit have been great. never had a problem with the power connections. am thinking of up grading as the last one is old and outdated. still works great, but like the newer looks, more pixels. just my two cents.

O

[Guest]

I guess I shouldn't say it died. It can't find the bottom. The tranducer does click but I'm hoping it's the problem. I haven't been able to find the right transducer yet. The pressing problem is that I've got a fishing trip coming up and I'll need a working finder. I fully expect to end up with two working units when all is said and done; the Fish Easy will be a back-up. I talked with Capra's last night and they said I could bring it in and they could tell me if it's my tranducer or someting with the unit itself, so that's my next move. Keep the comments coming, this has all been very helpful. I was looking at a Bottom Line yesterday....good thing I didn't pick it up!

[#Boater#]

Chucky C,
Just started using the Hminbird Matrix 17 this weekend. I am so impressed with the unit. I can hook my garmin gps up to it and can track where ive drifted or trolled so I can try different lines. I know Hbirds were not so great years ago but eversince they bought out Zercom and acquired their engineers they are second to none in my book. Another great thing about Hbirds is that you can use your'e old zercom ducer. It should be the same connector. I'm using the old speed/temp sensor off of me Z160. Same plug in. E-mail me if want to know where I got mine for $164.00 shipped in 3 days. [email protected]