Best Fish Locator

[danfall]

Hey All,

I have 3 fish finders and they are all about 20 years old. I purchased a couple downriggers and was fishing at Algoma this past weekend and realized my fish finders don't work well out there for anything deep. I'm also taking the boat to BC fishing in the ocean in July, so I'm going to bite the bullet and get a new depthfinder. I'm looking for advice. I know I need dual frequency. Out at Algoma, the fish were like one pixel wide on my finder, so I need some better resolution, too. The depths I fished at were 177 feet and the fish were running 60-120 feet, with some on top, too. My finders won't zoom in well to a range (which would be nice to have for setting the rigger depths. My finders did pinpoint only the gigantic schools of baitfish, which was nice, but less than ideal (we found a school about 300 feet around).

I have a GPS, so I'd rather spend more on a better finder than a finder/GPS combo. I can handle writing down my favorite spots in a logbook.

Any advice on good reviews would be great. Thanks in advance.

[iffwalleyes]

I think most of your response will be for a Lowrance unit. I have had some problems with my Lowrance units but once they are working proper I don't think there is a better unit out there. I personally really like the colored units. If you don't want to get it with a GPS then I would looking into the Lowrance X510 or X515 or similar units. They are a 5" screen. However for about $100 more you can get a dual unit that has GPS and Sonar on it. It is well worth the extra I feel. Lowrance makes alot of units in different screen sizes from 5-10.4" it all depends what you are wanting to get the bigger the screen the bigger the price tag. Eagle which are very similar to Lowrance minus a few features are also very good units it could save you a litte coin and still put you into a much nice unit than you have right now.

[harvey lee]

I have three Lowrances and two have the GPS with color. I have been very happy with these units. I did have problems with one and they took care of it very timely.

I dont know how one could go wrong with a Lowrance unit.

[danfall]

I am trying to decide between the Humminbird 565 and the Eagle Seafinder 480df. I don't see a price comparable lowrance unit, but the x126 is close with an extra hundo.

Comments welcome.

[harvey lee]

Difference on power on all three models. The Lowrance is the highest with 4,000 max power with the others only half that much. That might explain why the others are a bit less expensive.

[danfall]

Seafinder 480df is 4000 as well. Cabela's site has an error on the bullets, but the blurb below is correct if that's your resource.

I'm going with the 480df, it looks like the best overall value. Thanks for the input, I do appreciate it.

[harvey lee]

Yes, I checked Cabelas for the info.

[Surface Tension]

I've had terrible luck and I know others that have too with LEI(Lowrance/Eagle)dual frequency transducers. After 3 df transducers going bad I stopped replacing with the df and went with just the 200khz ducer. LEI was good about replacing the DF ducer while the unit was in the warranty period(1 year). After having 3 df ducers go bad over a three year period tells me theres still a problem that needs fixing with the DF ducers.

So I'm not getting the benefits of Dual Frequency but at least I have a reliable transducer with just the 200khz.

I've always been a fan of Lowrance and Eagle but if your going with Dual Frequency I'd recommend you look at something else. Didn't think I'd be saying this but the HBird 565 is one to look at for a low cost alternative to Lowrance and Eagle Dual Frequency sounders.

[Hookmaster]

I have been very happy with the Humminbird 777C2 I bought last year. Color, dual beam, 4000 watts, 600 vertical pixels, amazing target separation.