Help selecting sonar for my fishing boat

[shingo]

Hi, I have a 16 foot aluminium fishing boat equip with a 100$ sonar, I want to upgrade to a fishfinder/GPS combo here's my selection :

Dragon fly 7	699 $
Lowrance elite 7 chirp	879 $
Humminbird 859ci di	800 $
Lowrance HDS7 gen 3	1 600 $
Humminbird 999ci si	1 600 $

I'm in Canada, all price are the best I can get up here. I'm not an experience fisherman nor talented.

Do you think the side imaging is worth almost 1000$ more in investment?

So far I'm leaning toward the dragon fly 7, seem very good and simple to use. It's also 699$ instead of 999$

Please advise.

 

[Teamster]

Personally I am a Lowrance fan,...........

I just like them, And it is what I am used to using,........

I have friends that use the side imaging and like it, I don't have it, And I am not sure if I will spend the money for it,...

Here is a link to some informational articles about sonar, Might help you decide what you want.

 

[gm280]

Personally I'd love to have a fish finder that would not only go and find the fish, but tell me exactly where to drop the lure and what type fish would bite. But I can't afford that so I'll go with something a little simpler. I too like Lowrance units because of their quality design and electronics. I'll still have to locate the fish, but I don't mind. That is what fishing is all about in my opinion anyway... If you serious have never used any type locator, maybe you would be better off buying some cheaper unit or even a second-hand system and learn how to work and use them before plopping down big bills from the start. Because after you understand how there really work and can use one for your needs, then you can research the more expensive units and understand their additional capabilities and see if you really need then for the price. You also have to remember, the higher price systems do have a ton of bells and whistle. but you will also find out that MOST of those bells and whistle will never be used by the average fisherman. Oh yea really nice to have, but really not needed for most folks. JMHO!

 

[TexMonty]

I just did an HDS7 but stayed with the gen 2. I did a lot of research and it was the best for the money from what I found. It is also several hundred less the gen 3. I did install the Structurescan transducer and have not had a lot of time to play with it yet. Good luck!

 

[dingbat]

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[shingo]

I wanted to buy Garmin, the issue, is that the river I fish on is not mapped at all with garmin last time I checked last year.
I can check again, if Garmin would support Navionics, it would be an easy choice, but I don't want to buy a Garmin unit and not be able to use the map.

Is there any way to see if a specific river is mapped with Garmin? I live near Montreal.

 

[gm280]

shingo, it is funny how we now have so many gadgets on the water to "Assist" us in our boating pleasures, when not that long ago we were very happy to have a simple flasher unit for bottom and fish location. And it is amazing to see that even the extremely high end locators still have a flasher type screen option for those wishing to use them still. I have a few Hummingbird 60 screen flashers that still work and are very nice. And those units at one time were the cream of the crop... I said that all for this, regardless which locator your decide to purchase, bank on it being outdated in a years or so... Seems that has become the rule rather then the exception these days. And I have to agree with dingbat about companies dropping any type backward service for merely a few year old units. I have to say I have experienced that myself too... They act like they never ever heard of their older units when asked about them...

 

[dingbat]

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[cozzmo1970]

i was asking the same question on here. while i was leaning towards the lowrance hdi series i chose the dragon fly and am happy i did. lowrance has discontinued several of the hdi and hds series plus you need additional equipment if you want down and side imaging. however the dragon fly is a closed unit meaning what you see is what you get no add ons.

 

[UncleWillie]

... Do you think the side imaging is worth almost 1000$ more in investment?...

Side Imaging can be had for less than $300, and in the $600 range including GPS Charting.

 

[shingo]

I went to the store to check the garmin echomap series, nice units, the biggest issue I have with them is that the garmin map do not map where I fish, I need to buy the lakevu, so an added cost.

 

[gm280]

I went to the store to check the garmin echomap series, nice units, the biggest issue I have with them is that the garmin map do not map where I fish, I need to buy the lakevu, so an added cost.

I realize what you are saying about not every place is mapped in the unit. Put with a GPS capability, is there really a need for such maps. I mean after to go to any place you like to fish, you should have tracks to and from such places added into your unit. And looking at standard paper maps. you could also input coordinates for a place you'll like to go and basically get there close. Just wondering if making your own tracks would suffice...

 

[dingbat]

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