Re: Best Fish Finder for $200?
I went to Gander Mountain and asked them about the fishmark 480. The guy there actually steered me towards the Humminbird Matrix 17, which was about $20-$30 cheaper. He said that was one he bought for his dad. He seemed very knowledgeable about the features. He said the Matrix was more user friendly than the Eagle and had what I needed.
The Matrix had a little lower screen resolution than the Eagle, but it had a lot more power. I went with the power for the simple reason, I am around a lot of muddy man-made lakes and it sounded as if more power would help cut through the clutter better. I also liked the fact that I can add additonal features, such as GPS and Weather stuff to the Matrix, but I don't believe the Eagle had that option. I have a hand-held garmin GPS and I believe I can wire it to the Matrix to get speed and set waypoints, etc. Kind of cool.
I haven't had a chance to hook it up yet, so I hope I made a good choice. One thing I just noticed is the Matrix is under the heading of "Fishing System", where others are under the heading of "Fish Finders". Don't know what that means.
Matrix 17
http://www.humminbird.com/products.asp?ID=636
Fishmark 480
http://www.eaglegps.com/Products/Sonar/FishMark480.htm
Good Luck!
