Well my eagle fishfinder finally bite the dust and was thinking of upgrading to a better one with side scan. Was wondering if anyone has any recommendations,I looked at a couple online but wanted to hear from people that have actually used them.
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Well my eagle fishfinder finally bite the dust and was thinking of upgrading to a better one with side scan. Was wondering if anyone has any recommendations,I looked at a couple online but wanted to hear from people that have actually used them.
Aggravating. Lol. But that's been my experience
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Sorry to hear about your FF but that just means new toy! I have a Garmin Striker 7sv and love it! I am a bit biased as I work for Garmin but for the price and features you can't beat it. Great resolution, easy menu and lots of customization. The only downfall is it is has GPS but is not chart capable. In other words no basemap, just user waypoints for marking and navigating. But at the price you can't expect everything.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xpress25
What do you think about the echomap 73sv? I'd like to get one for my console and link to my 73dv
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Cabelas did have the HB 899 DI/SI on sale for ~600-700 a few days ago. The Helix version gets lots of good comments. I have the 899 and like it fine, don't use the SI feature as I have it mounted on the TM. DI is good. Base map sucks.
I have a Helix 5 with DI/SI and GPS and really like it. I use the SI to find structure and is especially helpful when I go new lakes. I recommend getting as big a screen as you can afford and will fit on your boat.
Everyone has their own opinion. I use the Lowrance HDS 7 touch units. Haven't had any issues with them. The network capability is what sold me as well as the easy to use software/touch screen. I've owned Garmin and Humminbird and neither one gets you to your screen as fast nor is nearly as customizable when it comes to screens and screen layouts. I really want to get a Garmin for the Panoptix feature but I cannot get over the slow use of hard buttons. Trying to put a waypoint on a screen for example takes 10 times longer trying to use the left/right buttons as it does to just touch the screen on the spot you want. That's not to mention the fact that you then have to use the arrow key to put a name on it instead of using a full keyboard to type it in. It's those little things that keep my line in the water and fingers off the electronics.
Yeah was really amazed at the current fish finders. Mine was about 7 years old so to be honest I really haven't looked at them in a long time. Its is amazing how much they have changed and what the displays look like. Of coarse I know that what they show as the display on the ads and online dont always look like what you see on the water but still the amount of detail they display in incredible compared to what I had
I have a Lowrance HDS touch 7 and love it
They all work. Each one has its particular advantages/disadvantages.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xpress25
I have Lowrance at present, but I have had Garmin and Hbirds. I can use any of them with confidence.
My units are sonars, not fishfinders. My field glasses are field glasses, not deerfinders.
I also have a lowrance gen 2 touch hds 7 and love it. dropped it off my boat once and broke it. called lowrance customer service, real person talking English answered on 3rd ring. I had a new one in 3 days, no questions asked. I had had it for two years and it was out of warranty (even though dropping them from your boat is not covered under warranty regardless of time). can't beat that with a stick. sold me on lowrance.
Guess I need to ride with somebody to see what these things do. I've had the same eagle for 15 yrs. Only use for depth and temp.
Cabelas has 899 hbird on sale for Father's Day I wana say they were priced around 450 or so.
Just looked all the 899s are gone
They've got a couple good deal at cabelas right now. I thought I seen the 998 and 999's too.
I don't know what kind of fishing you do, but I troll using several poles and found that the side imaging was no help to me at all, it was more important to me to see what's below me, so I invested in a good down imaging chirp sonar and it works awesome cause I can see if there are fish on the structure I pass over, if there is I go back and pass over it again or mark the spot. The side imaging seemed to me to be hit or miss when determining if there was fish on structure on either side of the boat.
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I agree with you to a certain point. At times it is hard to identify whether er not fish are there on side imaging, especially small fish like pan fish depending on the bottom type. However, even in your case, I think it can come in handy particularly if you are not as familiar with a body of water. It would at least allow you to see that there is structure there worth checking out that the down imaging would never have caught. I use it more as a scouting tool than a fish finding tool but it can be used at the same time so you aren't missing anything. Here's a pic of last weekend. I was looking for fish suspended on drop offs. I was able to find them with both side imaging as well as sonar/down scan. In this pic you'll notice that there's a lighter "cloud" or light spot little more than half way down to the right between 40-60 feet on the side imaging. It's another tightly packed ball of either smaller sized pan fish or bait fish. You can clearly see the 100+ school of panfish in both the side imaging and the down imaging.Quote:
Originally Posted by tim2deep
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...199e0a8309.jpg
I see what your saying, but I have confused some charting very similar and it ended up being nothing, but I can really tell here
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Sorry couldn't get the pic to upload.
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It can be confusing at times and at other times nearly impossible to discern what is on the screen depending on water clutter and bottom type variables so in conclusion I would certainly rely more on down imaging and sonar than side scan to identify fish. Each has their place no doubt.
http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...dfd87e759b.jpg
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It's fun in shallow water to get good pics of fish you can almost see the fins on!