which one

[dairyman]

If you were buying a graph which would it be-- a Lowrance or Humminbird--lookin to upgrade

[RiverBassGuy]

-Humminbird's side imaging technology is a great tool for locating structure.

-On the other hand, Lowrance takes Lakemaster chips and Navionics chips. Humminbird only accepts Navionics.

-I think the 2D sonar on both is about equal. I like the GPS features on Lowrance better than Humminbird

[polarsusd81]

There are a lot of factors Dairyman. Things we will all want to know before a recommendation can be made are....

Budjet?

Type of fishing you do?

Type of boat you have?

GPS/Graph or just Graph?

How important is side imaging, and how much would you use it if you had it?

What have you used before?

Were you satisfied with the previous brand?

And once again, budjet?

This will make it easier to narrow things down for you.

[Bigeye30"]

Ya polarsusd81 gave you some great questions to ask or answer, I just purchased a humminbird, one of the greatest things I like already is quick connect/release mounting system they have. Not sure if Lowrance has that, but wow no unhooking cables/rehooking cables again. Push the button and pop the unit off the dash, slide it on and push power. Theres pros and cons to both of them, but answer those questions and then re ask, you'll get alot better response for your overall question.

[PerchJerker]

I pretty much agree with riverbassguy.

[dairyman]

well seeing how this would be my first unit I'm not looking to go all out----200 bucks or so--or am I just kidding myself???

[polarsusd81]

No you are not kidding yourself. Don't worry about not buying the biggest fanciest sonar unit out there. For 200ish, you are not going to get a GPS and Graph combo, so here is what I would say you could look for. And don't get me wrong, these units below are really nice units, just not the color ones which are the next step up really.

Eagle 480, a lot of the same features as the Lowrance X96 but a little better deal in my opinion. For 210 you get 480x480 resolution over the 320x320 in the X96 at 200. Buddy bought that over the X96 and it works great. (Eagle and Lowrance are part of the same company)

The Hummingbird line up would include the 565 at about 200 with temp. A lot of good features but I am not a bird user so I really can't go into too much detail on the unit with personal experience. Here is what I can see though in just a quick comparison. The bird has 2000 watts peak to peak power which is better than the 1500 watts from Eagle/Lowrance. It also has a 640v x 320h resolution. A little better vertical pixelation, may be able to show you a little more detail. And the bird also has a dual beam ducer. That is really only useful in certain situations though, if you are trying to follow a breakline, it may actually hinder your abilities more than help as it pulls a wider cone and will show the top of the break, but not the bottom.

[RiverBassGuy]

Dairyman,

Understanding your price range I can make some suggestions on the best unit for the money. $200 will not allow you to buy a GPS/sonar combo, but you can get a quality sonar. Two great options are:

-Eagle Fishmark 480-($200) Black and white 5" screen with a great pixel count, 480x480. It comes with 1500 watts of power and has a true backlight for night fishing. Uses the same quality cables and transducers that Lowrance does (sister companies.) Transducer has a 20 degree standard cone angle

-Humminbird 565- ($200)Similar size screen black and white picture. This unit has 640 vertiical pixels by 320 horizontally. This will help give you better line separation between arcs. Has an integrated back light, 2000 watts of power, and the quick disconnect feature everyone seems to like. No wires to unplug all the time! You also get a Dual Beam transducer (60 and 20 degree cone angles). Comes in handy when fishing very shallow waters!

Both Show depth/temp and mark fish well. They come with a transom mounted ducer. Color generally becomes an option around the $300-$350 mark! GOOD LUCK!!

[Bigeye30"]

Polarsusd81 and riverguy nailed it. I'd either go with the humminbird 565 or the eagle 480. I dont' have any real life experience on either one, but have looked at both units and both are alot of bang for the buck. I guess if it were me I'd do the humminbird just for the added wattage which is going to give you a little better bottem detail. The other advantage is the quick release mounting system that they have, I cant' say enough about that feature if you take your locater on and off your boat alot. I'm sending you an email, I have a little info that you might like regarding some savings.

[Dahitman44]

For $200 -- you might want to consider Eagle. They make good stuff and that was the way I went for a while. Good stuff. For the $200 range -- stay away from the Hummingbird. They have some nice new stuff in the $1500 area, but not in the $200.

[Dahitman44]

Actually, about 10-20 years ago the bird was popular down south but not as much here.

Many Walleye Hunters would rather stick their head in the water then have a Hummingbird help them.

[Surface Tension]

Eagle Fishmark 480 is one of your best bangs for the buck.

Hummingbird has come a long way recently. Hbird was one of the most popular consumer grade sounders 20 years ago or so. Their were better sounders at that time. Interphase and Koden had higher resolution CRT (video) not to mention it was a time of paper display too, all blew HBird out of the water in the resolution end. As I said recently HBird stepped it up, with their new line I'd might consider one.

[RiverBassGuy]

I had an Eagle Fishmark 480 and loved it. I built a little portable pack for it and brought it to canada with me! It worked great up there and on lakes back home. For the money, a great value.

You can't rip on Humminbird too much....I know a few guys who still own "super sixtys!" They make some good products too. They were definately more popular amongst bass guys down south, but have since become the new sensation. Look at many of the top pros and how they've switched to Humminbird with SI.

[Eric Wettschreck]

I would go with the Eagle 480. Here's a bonus, if and when you decide to upgrade to, say a Lowrance GPS/Sonar, the Eagle 480 makes a great bow mounted sonar unit. All you would have to do is move it up front!!!

How do I know?? This is what I did.

[dairyman]

wow---I did a quick search on the eagle 480 and most of the consumer comments were negative-----got me wondering ---AGAIN

[Eric Wettschreck]

The question is why are they negative. Is it because the unit is bad or is it because the unit doesn't do the same stuff the higher end units do?

[dairyman]

most of them were problems with the unit