I'd apprecdiate your opinion - Which New Fish Finder Do I Want?

Most here are far more knowledgable than I regarding fish finders, so I thought this would be the best place to seek advice.

For over 15 years I have been using a "basic" model hummingbird, with the transducer mounted on the foot of my old trolling motor. I gave away my old trolling motor and just mounted a MK Edge 50/42. Now I plan on buying a new fish finder, but the choices are such that I need some guidance.

I fish mostly farm reservoirs and Mississippi lakes and oxbows. Depths rarely exceed 25 feet, and are usually under 20'.

* My budget is $500.00 or less
* I don't require a color screen, never had one but I guess it would be fine
* The transducer will be mounted on the foot of the trolling motor (I've knocked off several rear-mounted ones going over logs, etc, so I won't mount the transducer anywhere else except on the trolling motor).
* I am most interested in seeing the bottom, seeing fish, and seeing stumps/submerged tree tops, etc.
* a unit that displayed the water temp would be ok
* I have no need for gps

So, what's available and which unit would you suggest?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

I am in the same boat...I am looking around with the same budget...I have heard more about the Lowarnce HDS systems than anything. I asked a bunch of striper fishermen and they all said lowrance hds 5...$549 The best finder I ever had was a lowrance x135. You can pick one up on ebay new for 200 bucks. Mine never broke down...It was very accurate and many times I would have gone home w no fish if I did not use the unit...I have had bad experiences with Lowrance customer service as well as Humminbird...They both replace broken discontinued finders with inferior products and expect the customer to be happy...I haven't tried Garmin but I have heard great things about the new echo 550c. It is not HDS with structure scan...Just some thoughts...Good luck...

i just bought humminbird 597ci hd/di .just learning about it.i have a thread started on it. keep an eye on that thread over the next few days i will be posting pictures and updates on the units performance. so far i think it is a great unit .in my opinion the best in class. the 596 is same unit but no gps and is in your price range

humminbird 570 is even a better buy no color

Save some money and go cheap, but color. Humminbird 345C Fishfinder 407660-1

Send the ducer in, unopened and HB will trade for this: XTM 9 20 T :: Humminbird

Color, under 300 bucks, and it'll do what you need based on what you are asking for.

thanks men.