need help on selecting fish finder

i am a noob when it comes to lake fishin. i have a 14 ' jon boat that is a decent boat .. i was wondering i am wanting to get into fishing the corp piles on the big O in OKlahoma. what would be my best route to go on some electronics on a limited budget of around 300. what unit can get me on the fish with gps and sonar to locate the piles.i do have the navionics app for the i phone and you can input coordinates on it . dont know if i could get by with that to get me close and maybe just good sonar. the only thing is im not sure the difference between the chartplotter and gps any input is gold for me thanks.

crappie hunter this my setup i run the eagle s350 cuda with g.p.s. on the back its about $250 i think i got mine at b.p.s. on sale for $209 its got a lot of stuff it can do for the money i mine to mark my brush piles and refine them and i got all my boat ramps in it as way point if the fog sets in i can get back to the ramp with no problem on the front of my boat i run garmen 300c color unit i got about $300 in it and love it. it kicks but and it does so much stuff i cant list it all just say it does i bet it does as much as a $1.000 unit does if you want a great color unit check it out

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Originally Posted by Crappiehunter918

i am a noob when it comes to lake fishin. i have a 14 ' jon boat that is a decent boat .. i was wondering i am wanting to get into fishing the corp piles on the big O in OKlahoma. what would be my best route to go on some electronics on a limited budget of around 300. what unit can get me on the fish with gps and sonar to locate the piles.i do have the navionics app for the i phone and you can input coordinates on it . dont know if i could get by with that to get me close and maybe just good sonar. the only thing is im not sure the difference between the chartplotter and gps any input is gold for me thanks.

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Chartplotter is general term that marine sonar manufacturers use for their units that have GPS capability overlaid onto a marine chart showing on the screen. ( showing lake shorelines, channels, topographical info, etc)

Conversely a simple GPS unit (such as some lower end units and some handheld units) have waypoint marking and "GoTo" capability but not actually showing a marine chart but only showing the waypoint, distance to waypoint, etc

Rickie

I can't offer you any advice about the fishfinder since I use a $100 Humminbird 160 and you're after bigger game.

But I can tell you that iPhones and water don't mix. My wife's iPhone was ruined just because she used it once in the rain. She took it to the Apple store; they inspected it and said it's gotten wet and not covered under warranty (it was only 3 months old at the time). It wasn't dunked, it wasn't dropped into water...just exposed to rain.

thanks for clearing some things up i appreciate that. recently bought a boat and trying to get just a basic setup to get me on some brush. anything helps me out thanks

Just about any sonar unit will find structure and water depth. .

An entry level depth finder and an entry level handheld GPS is even effective.....

Any thing else is bells and whistles of how much money you want to spend...GPS, color, multiple beam selection, etc...

Rickie

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Originally Posted by rnvinc

Just about any sonar unit will find structure and water depth. .
An entry level depth finder and an entry level handheld GPS is even effective.....
Any thing else is bells and whistles of how much money you want to spend...GPS, color, multiple beam selection, etc...
Rickie

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Excellent advice on all points! I purchased a Garmin GPSmap76Cx several years ago & have used it on hundreds of trips. Even though I upgraded to a GPS-enabled finder last year, I still rely heavily on the handheld unit to keep track of structure and other important locations. It connects to my PC so I can offload, edit, and reload waypoints, tracks, and routes. Also, it is totally waterproof--and floats. Unlike my finder, the GPSmap76Cx goes with me when I'm fishing with someone else and it helps me get to and from a few obscure launch points.

i purchased a fisheasy245ds by eagle a year or so ago on craigslist for 50 bucks said he used it twice or something. i couldn't pass it up knowing i would eventually get a boat i was wanting to get something better thinking it wasnt worth a crap and after reading these posts i think i am going to go with it. does anybody know anything about this particular unit.i replaced the transom this week to get it ready and am dying to get it on the water. thanks for all the input helps out alot

Looks like you can download the owner's manual at Downloads for FishEasy 245 DS | Eagle

I am really starting to love this site. awesome i appreciate that