fish finder suggestions

New to forum and glad to have found it.
I need to purchase a fish finder and want ( need ) to keep it in the $200 dollar budget. My wife and I bass and bream fish but would like to start crappie fishing. We have two boats, but the one for the new fishfinder would be our newly acquired Bass Pro 16' pan fish special. The unit on it doesn't work. Been lookin at the Garmin Echo 300C and see on the forum that the Eagle Cuda 300 is popular.
Would it be wise to have two units set up on the boat, one for the rear and one for the trolling motor.Please give me some feed back.
Thanks

With a $200 budget id go with 1 unit. You might check into a fish mark 480. I had a fish elite 480 before stepping up to a hds. It is a great unit for the money. The only difference between the 2 is GPS capability. The fish mark 480 should be closer to your budget.

Check out the new lowrance Mark4 and Elete 4 units around your price range. Checked out the elite 4x color yesterday. It had the clearest sharpest imagaes I have seen on any small unit. For 200. You could get mark4x monochrome with chart plotter.

Humminbird 570 is a nice unit with a bigger screen.

What if I bumped my budget to $300 I know absolutely nothing about these FF except that I have 2 that dont work..After reading on this forum seems one on the transom and trolling motor would be ideal. Would two transducers be a good way to go?

I would probably still have one....like the 570 DI.

What if I bumped my budget to $300  I know absolutely nothing about these FF except that I have 2 that dont work..After reading on this forum seems one on the transom and trolling motor would be ideal.

Since you know nothing I would recommend going to a store that has some units and go look at them and push some buttons and ask some questions. Don't buy anything just yet. Look on line for some info on some units u like and after you at least get a basic feel for some electronics then try to make a decision on what features or screens you liked most.

As for 1 or 2 units, I think having a unit on both the bow and transom is a good idea. I like being able to see a unit if I'm running the outboard or the trolling motor.
You can't go wrong with either Bird or Lowrance they both make nice units.

There are several units for sale by members on the "personal classified" board. Do a search of that board to filter out the other stuff. You might be able to come up w/ 2 units and stay within your budget. I don't have any reservations buying from members on the board.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by yankee doodler

There are several units for sale by members on the "personal classified" board. Do a search of that board to filter out the other stuff. You might be able to come up w/ 2 units and stay within your budget. I don't have any reservations buying from members on the board.

---

I agree 100%!!

I agree, too. A couple of years ago, I bought a Humminbird 575 from another member who was upgrading to side scan. Cost was within your $200 budget...with enough left over to buy a used low-end unit, too. The 575 has Quadrascan, the widest image cone available before side scan was introduced. It's an excellent finder and I still use it. Even if you don't see something for sale in the classified listings, post a want-to-buy thread & maybe someone has something he hadn't considered selling until now.

Used DFs can be great deals, but you want to see it operate and you need to check the wires carefully for damage and kinks.