CTFishTalk.com: Recommend a depth finder for less than 500 - Connecticut Boat Repair, Electronics, and Motor Help ( CT Boat Repair, Electronics, and Motor Help ) - A Community Built for Connecticut Fisherman.

Bass Addict

Can someone recommend a descent depth finder for less than 500$. I have no clue where to start. Color and GPS would be nice with a at least a 5" display.

Also, if you have any tips for wiring that might be helpful. Thanks all.

Justin
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Sorry honey, looks like we will be late again due to motor problems.

Justin

slimecoat · Joined: 09 Nov 2007 Posts: 1576 Location: Newington, CT.

I bought a small Garmin a few years ago for the front of my bass boat, and I love it. When my old Bottom Line on the console finally dies, I will be picking up a new color Garmin unit. I believe they are about $400. They are very user friendly, and great resolution for a small unit. I imagine the larger units are even better.

There are plenty of other great units out there, it depends on the type of fishing you do and what you want to spend.

As far as wiring goes, it's just a power cable, positive to the positive battery terminal, and negative to the negative battery terminal, and a transducer cable, that runs from the transducer to the unit itself, and plugs into the back of the unit. When mounting the transducer to the transom, be sure to use a marine grade silicone to seal all the screw holes behind the mounting bracket.
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Life's Short - Fish Hard - Take a Kid Fishing

arctekjim · Joined: 30 Oct 2007 Posts: 17

justin, look at the raymarine ds500 it is phenominal unit... full color.

dave_376 · Joined: 25 May 2007 Posts: 171

i have used lowrance humminbird garmin and raymarine. i can honestly say that i have zero confidence in garmin. my buddy has a lowrance on his bow and a garmin at the console, the garmin constantly looses bottom contact, miss reading on the depth and misses stuff on the bottom that the lowrance picks up. raymarine units have a horrible display, look at them from the side any you can see very little, cheap junk!!!!!! the new Humminbirds are good units with.
i recently picked up a new unit i was on the fence between a humminbird and a lowrance but i got such a good deal on the lowrance i went that way.
my two pieces of advice are
1. to go to cabelas, they have a large selection to play with 20 25 units up and running.
2. check out http://www.wmi.org/bassfish/ and look at the posts made by LTBAMA
sorry for talking about another site on here but there is some very useful info on there.

Bass Addict · Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2007 9:45 am Post subject:

Thanks for the replies guys. Dave, my old man switched from Humming Bird to Lowrance 4 years ago. His Lowrance is still running strong. He used to have to replace the HB's almost every other year. He said that HB have a shorter shelf life(in his experience); he says he will never go back to HB.

So I am leaning toward Lowrance - what short of features should I be looking for as a bass fisherman?
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Sorry honey, looks like we will be late again due to motor problems.

Justin

Justin · Joined: 11 Oct 2007 Posts: 106 Location: Farmington, CT

Pretty much all of the Lowrance units are ready to use right out of the box and many have all of the same features...main difference is color, size of display, power and whether or not you want an internal hard drive.

You can check out Lowrance's website (www.lowrance.com) and do a side-by-side comparison of any units you are interested in.

If you aren't too concerned with a large display (or don't have the room), the M68C S/Map Compact Fishfinder looks pretty nice since it has the built-in GPS antenna, color and can do split-screen views. For larger sizes, the X510C is nice (you can get it for under $500), but you will most likely have to buy the GPS receiver seperate...and any time you have to buy accessories, that's when the price starts to jump.

dave_376 · Joined: 25 May 2007 Posts: 171

its gunna be tough finding a great unit for under 500. i have a lcx 25. i love the unit because it has a big screen. i know i would get pissesd off with a tiny unit like the m68c. the lms 520 would be a better choice. i still wouldn't be worries about getting a HB. like the 757 i have a hb that is 15 yrs old and still works....keep it for a spare. next year i may buy a new HB1197 and move the lcx to the bow.

Pauleye · Joined: 03 Jan 2008 Posts: 129

$500 is a generous allowance. This can be a "less filling, taste great" type debate. I will first strongly recommend going color. You can buy a nice, high resolution color unit for less than $500. Both Humminbird and Lowrance (and Eagle) make top units with great customer service although your phone wait times for Lowrance can be painful. Cabela's Bargain Cave typically has some very good deals. Also Reeds Sporting Goods (google search) is great, too!

You may consider a combo color fish finder/ gps combo for $500. Look a Humminbird 777c2 and a Lowrance 510c.

The best part is shopping so go to a boat show and play with the demos.