Wannabe,
Thanks for the info. I have a few questions:

1- What are the advantages of a color depth finder over a greyscale? Believe it or not, we used a paper unit for years when we were locating reefs in deep water for grouper. We hit a point where we'd use a LCD unit to find the bottom, then switched to the paper unit when we knew we were where we wanted to be. Finally, it became impossible to find paper and when we did it was prohibitively expensive. At the time, color units didn't do much but mark hard bottom with slightly more detail than their black and white cousins. I'm definitely behind the 8 ball when it comes to newer electronics. I guess what I'm asking is can someone catch me up on the progress of fish finders from paper to greyscale to color?

2- I assume the GPS feature is used for marking points for quick reference. I need to get used to this muddy water stuff. Used to be that we could just mark spots based on light and dark colors on the bottom out to around 15'. Not so much here.

One point I forgot to add:

I'm not quite done with saltwater fishing in my lifetime and I still fish with the Ambassador 5000 I bought when I was 12. I tend to hang on to things. Also, I'm unmarried, I have an awesome girlfriend. In other words, mounts, rod holders, and the like are expenses, but not major deal breakers one way or the other.

I've looked at the MK Powerdrive and it looks to fit my bill. MK makes a similar unit designed for saltwater use. On one hand, it's wireless and upgradeable. On the other hand, it's pretty expensive. Certainly more than I'd like to spend off the cuff. What experience do folks have with FW trolling motors holding up in SW use, especially with the electronic features prevalent in modern trolling motors?

Thanks for the positive feedback. Y'all are a class-act and I really like the way y'all run a forum.