fish finder/gps advice

[underpressure]

looking to buy a fish finder/gps unit for my boat this winter,nothing to fancy something that works,we have a 1974 starcraft 14 foot ,just wanting input on what i should be looking at want to spend approx $400.00 or less on the unit ,thanks in advance for any info

 

[gcboat]

Re: fish finder/gps advice

The only thought I could possibly put in your head is to try and steer away from a single screen unit. If you loose the screen then ALL of your data will be gone. Look for a single unit for each function. I know it will look cluttered and the chances of it happening are probably a million to one - but it does happen. And usually at the crappiest of times.
Ah, just my $.02

 

[belairbrian]

Re: fish finder/gps advice

In the market myself. A basic unit even with twin beams can be bought for around $200. If you have an Academy Sports or Bass Pro they have dozens on display. So far I have not been impressed with the displays on the Garmin.

Personally, I think I'll buy a cheap depth finder and use my Garmin Etrex for now. I'm saving my pennies for a Humminbird side imaging unit.

 

[John_S]

Re: fish finder/gps advice

Personally, I think I'll buy a cheap depth finder and use my Garmin Etrex for now. I'm saving my pennies for a Humminbird side imaging unit.

In your case, if you are looking to go to a 700 series SI unit down the road, would recommend the lower cost unit you are considering for now, to be a HB in 300, 500, or 700 series. You will be able to reuse mounts and transducers and have much more flexibility when you add the SI unit.

FWIW: HB is coming out with allot more features in 2010. The SI units will have Down-Imaging, and others will have new features like Switchfire, ContourXD maps, and new waypoint management. Outside of the catchy marketing terms, they do provide improvements that may be worth waiting for. At a minimum, it should drive down the price of current units. A number of the new features will be available to current owners, via S/W update.

http://www.humminbird.com/company/media/press_release.aspx?id=1286

http://www.humminbird.com/company/media/press_release.aspx?id=1284