Bow mount depth finders????

[gspman]

Hi folks,
I'd like to put a decent reasonably priced depth finder on the bow of my new boat, a Fish Hawk 1750, and am pondering many different choices. I know some folks put a flasher on front and some use a graph. What are your reasons for choosing one over the other. Also I know there are some graphs that have flasher modes built into them, seems like quite a few Lowrance finders have this feature. This would seem like a great compromise, you get both in one package. Does anyone use the flasher mode on their graph and how well does it work? Do you get good real time feedback with these and how is the target separation on them. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
gspman

[wastewaterguru]

I have seen many a boat with the garmin 240 on the bow.

Fairly low priced but has lots of good features. I just have one unit on my dash (Garmin 240) that is on a RAM mount. When I am in the bow, I just rotate it so I can see it from the bow. I can think of a few situations where a flasher would be better.........but for most normal applications, the 240 is a good unit.

[2dalake]

I use the exact same setup and I love my Garmin 240, but I'd still like to add a graph up front.

[hitthebricks]

I used my vexilar flasher during the summer as a bowmount and for ice fishing until it wore out, I had two different transducers and used a Ram mount which made very easy to transfer back and forth. HTB

[Northlander]

Try a Lowrance X-87 or X-97. Flashers are real time wich means if it says 2ft its 2 ft NOW. There is a delay in the others.

[PerchJerker]

I had a Zercom flasher on my bow but it died this spring. I assumed I'd replace it with another flasher, but after looking around a little and talking to some guys that know more about this than I do, I ended up going with a graph. I'm REALLY GLAD I did not go back to a flasher.

The graph I went with is an Eagle Fishmark 480. It has 480 by 480 pixels and draws an awesome picture, and was only $200. For $30 less you can go with the Eagle Fishmark 320 and get 320 by 320 pixels. For comparison, the Lowrance LMS350A on my console, which I think is an awesome unit, has only 240 vertical pixels (only half of what my new Eagle has - amazing).

Eagle graphs do not have screens that look like flashers (Lowrance has that, Eagle does not). But the Eagle graphs have a fast-track bar on the right side that gives you the same instantaneous info that you get with a flasher. Earlier this year I spend 5 days fishing in a very dark, very shallow, very rocky waters that were anywhere from 5 feet to 0 feet deep, and I loved the graph and did not miss the flasher at all. And when you get in deeper water the graph really shines compared to the flasher.

Hope this helps, good luck.

[This message has been edited by PerchJerker (edited 07-09-2004).]

[Surface Tension]

I would have to concur with PerchJerker
on this one.