Looking at new fish finders

[scottyhoover]

If this is in the wrong forumn someone move it to a fishing forumn for me :)

Looking for a new fish finder for a small 14ft boat. I don't want to break the bank, as I already have a vexilar to mount. So as far as a cheap - mid priced lcd graph, do you have any recommendations. ?

There is one for sale and Gander this week, since the price is right, I might just go ahead and get it, it is '' EAGLE Fish Easy 2. ''

Excerpt from the ad below.
-------------------------------------
Super easy to use, with enhanced features in- cluding 240 x 160 reso- lution, a backlit screen & keypad, and 1500-watt peak-to-peak power. The FishReveal™ system uses 10-level gray tones.
Fish Easy 2 Locator w/Temp.....$149.99
-------------------------------------


Now I would also like a speed measurement which this won't give me but I also have a GPS. Just looking for opinions, sorry i'm so long-winded. Thanks in advance.

Scotty

[east bay ed]

scottyhhoover,
my rule of thumb is always get as many pixels as you can afford. the more pixels the better you will be able to detect things like fish, thermocline and prey.
lei makes a good line of sonars. if it were me i look to take any type of fish id off and let the machine run on manual. if you are in flint try to talk to lance valentine when he does his classes at gander. lance does one of the greatest electronics seminars out there and is very knowledgable when it comes to sonars. i know he teaches a class called walleye 101 at the gander in swartz creek and he used to have a web site. i'm not sure what the address is.

[Mike]

Take a look at the Eagle Fishmark 320. I paid a lot more for those same features last year.

Mike

[Gone Fishing]

I'm not sure if Lorance still makes their X 85 but that is a very good unit. I have one and you see a lot them on tournament fishing rigs. It might be a little more then you want to spend but worth checking out. Anytime I've shopped fishfinders by price, I was disappointed with my puchase. Good luck with your decision!

[scottyhoover]

GoneFishin, I suppose you are right about shopping by price.

The eagle fishmark 320 definitely has much more to offer, especially in resolution. And for only 50 bucks more than the 'on sale' FishEasy, I'd have to say i'm leaning in that direction.

Thanks for the suggestions, keep em' coming.

[higherpowered]

If it's only $50 why not make it $90 and go with the Eagle Seafinder 320DF. I just bought one through Boater's World website for $239, and it arrived last week. Actually, with free shipping and no state sales tax it's only $78 more. I haven't mounted it on the boat yet, but I've skimmed through the manual and I love it already. Hey scotty, I'm over off Center and Maple. If you want to come over and have a look and discuss it let me know.

[Ranger Ray]

Scotty.....Save your money and stick with your vexlar. If you want cheap then 0 is the best. Your vexlar will show you everything probably better than the cheap LCD. Then when you have the money buy a good LCD. I use my vex as much as my high priced LCD. I have owned my vex for 8 years and have never had to get it fixed, the LCD's well lets say they are a little more prone to vibration and moisture. They do exactly the same thing just present the info a little different. If you gave me one choice between the 2 I would pick the vex. :eek: ;)

[Beave]

Scotty,

I just picked up a Lowrance X71 for $200 on clearance here in GR. I'm partial to the lowrances personally. I did some checking in a few old fishing magazines and the X71 is supposed to be an incredible finder. It has a 160x160 screen.

It originally retailed for $300 but was recently replaced by what's basically the exact finder with a slightly higher resolution screen.

If you or anyone else is interested I'll buy the last one and sell it to you for the cost of the finder and shipping.

[kroppe]

scotty,

IMHO the best entry level sonar on the market today is the Eagle 320. I think you can get it for $200 base model, $239 with speed and temp. 320 x 320 pixels makes for an awesome image.

If you don't want to spend that much right now, keep your powder dry until you have the budget. The thought is you already have the Vexilar so you can get by without an LCD until you can afford a nice unit. The same money can buy either a VHF or alot of rod holders! ;)

[scottyhoover]

Thanks for giving me advice everyone, I appreciate it.

I do like that eagle 320 for a good entry level finder. Still waiting on my vexilar mounting kit to arrive.

Anyway, thanks again, I'd hate to buy something too fast, and not be ready.

Kroppe :) already got 4 rod holders ready to go. Thanks man!

[Swamp Monster]

I agree with the others, the Eagle Fishmark 320 his a heck of a unit for the money. A buddy has one and it was easy to install and easy to set up. The detail is excellent, easy to pick up structure and easy to see the fish in and around the structure. At this point technology is advancing fast so I wouldn't buy anything under 320x320 dpi. Anything under that will soon be obsolete soon. I owned them with 124 and 160 but they were not in the same class as the Eagle 320.

[DynoMoHum]

I too am in the market for a new depth finder. I've owned probably 8 differnt models over the past 20 years. I've owned a couple humminbirds, a couple Ray Jeff paper graphs and a Lowrance X70a 3D. I still have the very first color depth finder, the humminbird Color-1, which is IMPOSSIBLE to see in sunlight, but at night looks cool... I think I was the only person in the world with a real need for a 3D depthfinder, and two years when my 70a 3D died, I was very frustrated to find out that Lowrance does not service the darn thing, nor does it cary the transducer, wich is really all that's wrong with it. I did my research and due to limited budget I had decided that the Eagle Seafinder 480DF was the right model for this new purchase, took a trip to Cabela's to buy and/or look at things...

Let me first say I am amazed at how good some of the modern color units look... but honestly I don't have the kinda cash right now to afford one. Althought I'm still skeptical that they are truely readable in direct sunlight, and I REALLY wish Cablea's had a outdoor display for their fishfinders... Anyway, this year is not going to be the year I buy a new color finder...

So, meanwhile I'm thinking like someone previously said... get the most pixels I can afford, most power, etc... the Seafinder 480DF seemd like the perfect solution... 4000 watts (my x70a was 3000 watts and sometimes it sweemed barely acceptable in some of the deepest lakes I fish on in Canada)... 480x480 16bit grayscale, etc... However much to my extreme displeasure, the display on 480DF is nearly impossible to read even indoors at the Cabela's display... Having the backlight turned up ALL the way was barely accpetable, turnning the backlight off was almost useless...

I did notice that the Lowrance X135's display looked slightly better, most likely due to it's differnt (LED) backlighting... but still even this would be unacceptably poor visablity for my needs.

Well, to make a long story shorter, I'm now leaning towards the Eagle Seafinder 320DF. My reasoning is that unlike what some people might think (me included previously) the 320X320 pixel display is actualy slightly more viewable then the 480x480 pixel display. Now I haven't actualy seen the 320DF yet, because for some reason Cablea's doesn't have one in the store in Dundee. I have seen the Eagle 320, which is basicly the same unit minus the Dual Frequency transducer...

Cablea's is currently selling the Eagle Seafinder 320DF for $169. At 4000 watts, I think this has got to be one of the best yet least known deals in sonar...

So... am I totaly lost or what? I tell you... after spending a hour looking at depthfinders, I'm just amazed and somewhat baffled at how bad the viewablity of the monochrome LCDs are these days. My older LCD units with the big pixels were never that hard to see... I'm totaly skeptical of the color as well, and the the only affordable color units have very low power and are total unacceptable to me...

All this from a guy who owns what my father refers to as... the most well equiped 14 foot boat on the water... because I sometimes have a paper graph, my color-1, and used to have my X70a 3D going all at once.

[ozzgood2001]

firs toff welcome to the site dynomohum. lemme add that eagle will work just find i got the eagle 480 seafinder. got it for cheap too! check with our site sponsor www.tightlinerods.com (http://www.tightlinerods.com) he can prolly beat cabelas price. just email him your specific model ya want he'll get ya price and ships em out overnite.

[double trouble]

i was on a buddies boat a month ago and he had a garmin combo g.p.s. / fishfinder color unit. we were out all day and it was so bright you could read either screen in split mode from 6 feet away. even with the noon sun.not sure of the model # ,but i was surely impressed. the cost was in the $600 range.now if it only put the fish on the hook!!!!!!!

[severus]

lemme add that eagle will work just find i got the eagle 480 seafinder.


Ozzgood, how is that unit working for you? Is it easy to see in direct sunlight? Easy to use, etc?

Ken

[DynoMoHum]

Tightlinerods doesn't seem to cary any Eagle/Lowrance products... Maybe they can order them. However Cabela's is about a 45 minute drive for me, and well they have a very liberal return policy, and beleive me if I buy a new depth finder and it doesn't work as good as my older ones... It will be returned.

I've owned several Garmin products as well, but only GPS products so far. I am somewhat disapointed with the Streetmap Color GPS product I bought, but again this was one of the first color GPS products out.

I'm basicly a gadget freak... I've owned and still have the orignal Eagle GPS product, I forget the name of it now. This thing was really big for a handheld unit... at the time it was the best GPS product out there, but this was like 10 years ago... Garmin pretty much passed everyone by in the GPS world since then. Some of Garmin's fish finders look OK, but they don't seem to be that great of a value when compared to some of the Eagle stuff, but then I've never really seen one in action, just looked at the specs, and seen them on display, etc...

I been really dispapointed with Humminbird product, so I haven't really considered them this time around.

I think the Eagle Seafinder 320DF at $169 is probably going to be really hard to beat in terms of price/proformance I think... perticularly since I'm really kind of in budget mode right now. I don't fish as much as I used to, and I've got a 18 month old daughter that gets priority over my fishing needs these days.

[severus]

I been really dispapointed with Humminbird product, so I haven't really considered them this time around.

That makes two of us then. I bought a Hummingbird Legend 3000 DF fishfinder three years ago and regretted it - it went with the boat I recently sold, in fact. IMO, my Eagle 128 basic model I've had for years performed just as well.

Welcome aboard the site, DynoMoHum. :)

[DynoMoHum]

Looks like this could be a good forum for a Michigan fisherman... I found it while searching for data about the 320DF.

I went back to Cabelas today. I think the guy working in the Marine electronics department thinks I'm crazy... I've probably spent 3 hours there in the past 2 days.

I'm even more convinced that realtively small monocrome LCD displays (5 inch diagnal) don't really bennifit from having more then 300 or so pixels. I think the pixels just get too small and therefor are very hard to see when you put like 480 pixels on a screen that size. Do you know how small a pixel has to be to fit 480x480 in a 3.5"x3.5" space? .0075" is how big the pixels have to be... that is VERY small, like the thickness of a peice of paper small... with 320x320 the pixels are just .011" wich isn't a hole heck of a lot bigger.

But anyway, after going back and really looking closely at all of the monocrome LCD displays, I'm pretty well convinced that todays highest resolution screens don't look that good. I think maybe they've crossed a line where more pixels doesn't nessasarly mean a better screen... Now I know for sure I can see arches on a LCD with just 200 vertical pixels from my X70a days, and as long as I can see a arch clearly then I'll be happy... So I asked Cabelas to get me a 320DF from their wharehose, should be in Dundee by Friday.

[ozzgood2001]

im loving the 480 seafinder so far little tweakin on the ducer to get my arches to read correctly but other than that its nice easy to read and such. tightline does or can get everything and will have it to ya within the week but return policy i have no idea.

[POLARBEAR]

im loving the 480 seafinder so far little tweakin on the ducer to get my arches to read correctly but other than that its nice easy to read and such. tightline does or can get everything and will have it to ya within the week but return policy i have no idea.


hey chad, my f/f is marking fish but not arches. could it be that the transducer angle is wrong? is that what you were saying?

i am confident i was marking fish and bait. but it just isnt hooks.

[scottyhoover]

could be your chartspeed darrin.

[POLARBEAR]

could be your chartspeed darrin.

to fast or to slow?

thanks

[bolodunn]

uping the ping rate seems to help. now that the weeds are bad your really can't jack up the sensativity as it will leave you with a black screen

[DynoMoHum]

What kind of depth finder do you have PolarBear?

I think increaseing the ping speed would be better then slowing it down. However speeding the scroll speed of the screen itself might help too.

Cranking the sensitivity helps as well... but as others have said, this is not always desireable. Cranking the sensitivity adds clutter on the screen even if your not in weeds, however if you can get used to looking at a screen like that sometimes your better off, since you usualy then can see archs as well. Just how cluttered things get will depend on the water condtions and other things...

Remember that the arches come as a result of the fish passing through the cone of the transducer. When the fish is in the outer frindges of the cone the signal is week and mayb take slightly longer to return to the transducer, as the fish goes through the middle of the cone the return gets stronger and comes back faster, etc... this is what creates that arch.

Apparently if your transducer isn't horizontal you can get half arches, if you could figure out which way you have to move it by which side of the arch is missing, but I haven't given it alot of though as to which way that is... If your not getting any arch at all on either side, then it's probably not your transponder angle.

On my x70a I could barely see a arch unless I turned up the sensitivity so far that the screen was gray with noise, even then I'd get about 1/4 of a arch most of the time. The reason I kept my paper graphs for so long is cause I could ALWAYS see a arch on them. The only way I ever learned to see a arch on a LCD screen was by playing with them side by side with a paper graph. My paper graph sounders have a 50khz transducer, I'm not exactly sure if that was a big factor or not, I think it probably was, but more related to cone angle then actual frequency.

Anyway... seeing arches on a LCD generaly takes some practice. Once you figure it out... then you ignore anything but a arch... :)

[POLARBEAR]

gramin 240's. one with speed and temp and one with temp. there is a water line on the hull, i am going to look at that closely and see if the transducer's are at a correct angle, and i am going to adjust the speed the next time i am out. garmin offers a video to run these f/f. i have considered buying it. $15. i have taken the manuel out in the boat way to many times. i have had them adjusted correctly, but i cant always remember the exact adjustment. :lol:

[brdhntr]

That makes two of us then. I bought a Hummingbird Legend 3000 DF fishfinder three years ago and regretted it - it went with the boat I recently sold, in fact. IMO, my Eagle 128 basic model I've had for years performed just as well.

Welcome aboard the site, DynoMoHum. :)

The Humminbird Matrix has been great for me. My only regret is that I didn't wait for the 27 to come out, and ended up with the 10. When it can mark a 3/8 oz jig on in 20+ FOW on the Detroit River, and watch a fish come up and hit the lure, I don't need any more power. Plus is upgradable with a plug into my computer, uses my handheld GPS for a reciever and shows the plot and waypoints on the FF. Stores my fishing waypoints on the FF. Never had a problem reading the readout, either. Will buy another in a heartbeat.

[DynoMoHum]

Arches...

http://www.lowrance.com/Tutorials/Sonar/sonar_tutorial_10.asp

it's worth reading the whole tutorial that starts here...

http://www.lowrance.com/Tutorials/Sonar/sonar_tutorial_1.asp

and ends with

http://www.lowrance.com/Tutorials/Sonar/sonar_tutorial_11.asp


If you haven't already, turn off all gizmos like fish ID... I think even turning off things like 'grayline' and other glitzy features sometimes helps too, but somtimes you just have to play. Also, it would seem that the fish finder 'simulations' are either in ideal circumstances or overly exagurated, since I personaly rarely find conditions that show as many clear arches as you tend to see on a depth finders 'simulation'. For the most part all you need is good chart speed, good power, and reasnably good resolution and some decent firmiularity with your finder.

[Sixshooter]

I've been VERY pleased with my Garmin Fish Finder 250 I put on the big boat this spring. You can read it from the back of the boat in the sunlight. Very good definitions.

I'm not positive if it will mark the ThermoCline yet because we havn't had one really set up yet. But i'm sure it will. I bought the dual frequency model from Fishdog Company and they did me right. Had my unit in a couple days.

On another note I have a Lowrance X-65 that has been very durable on the little boat. However, the Garmin has a great definition and a better picture than the Lowrance. But they are about 7 years difference in age too...

[tubejig]

Dyno, thanks for the links. They will help me make my next purchase, unfortunately its going to be next year.

[POLARBEAR]

thanks for the help dyno. :)

i fished with a friend in a new stratos. he had the lcx17c's in the front and on the consel. both color units. he returned them and got the standard. the color units were harder to see. so i fished with him saturday morning and i watched the f/f. really nice units, they marked bait well and hooks. so on sunday i fished the same area and once i got on the fish i knew i was marking bait and fish, just not hooks.

thanks for the help guys. i am gaining confidence in my electronics as i go.

[DynoMoHum]

Mostly for kicks, but also to make sure I wasn't missing out on some good deal... I called Lowrance today to find out about what they offer as a consolation for not being able to do a repair on my X70a 3D unit. Apparently they offer some rebate on the purchase of a new Lowrance product... They offered $100 off of a X-125 or X-126DF unit (these are 480x480 monochrome screen finders with good 2400+ pp power) They typicaly sell for $300-350. When I asked about rebates on a low end color unit I was told that they would give $50 on the purchase of a 102C... basicly he told me the more popular the unit, the lower the rebate, hence the mesely $50 on the 102C. Bottom line is that for me, this rebate doesn't help much... I think I'm much better off just going with the 320DF at the excelent price of $169, perticularly since I don't really care for the 480x480 monocrome display...

As far as my bad feelings about humminbird finders... My first depth finder was a Humminbird, I forget the model number, but it was a big old LCD screen with like 120x320 pixels and was like 5x8". I really like this finder, that's why when the first Humminbird eight color depthfinder came out I bought it. That color finder was impossible to see in anything resembling sunlight, I was extremely dispapointed but it was basicly a close out purchase so i couldn't return it. That color unit was only sold for less then one full season to my knowlege. (I still have it and I think it still works, maybe I should sell it on ebay).

My next purchase were my Ray Jeff paper graphs, i paid $50 for one, and $25 for the second one because they were sitting in a local sporting goods store for who knows how many years, etc... Those paper graphs really taught me about what a depth finder really could do, I still have these as well and at least one still works, the other is for parts.

But back to Humminbird... They came out with some sort of a 3D finder and I felt I had a perfect use for it and purchsed it... The darn thing never worked right, I sent it back and was sent a second one, the same thing was wrong with the second one but I was days away from a trip to Canada... after a one week trip to canada with the second one instaled on my boat, I got back and returned it promptly for a full refund. Every time I'd turn the gain up all the way on these units they would shut down... I don't know if Cabelas had a whole batch of bad units, or if Humminbird really blew it on the design of this perticular fish finder...

Meanwhile I then bought my Lowrance X70a 3D, and had probably 6 good years of service from it before the 3D transducer failed... I couldn't get it serviced at that time however, and I'm kinda mad about this thing too... but I did get a half way decent life span out of it.

My general feeling is that Humminbird has placed too much emphisis on gimicks and didn't perticularly care about useablity. Remember fish ID that showed 'fish' with a red dot? Not really your hard core fisherman's function in my opinon, preticularly after youve seen a paper graph in action.

In all honesty, Lowrance is really on the border line of marketing flashy gadgets that don't have that much value to a fisherman... but I'm still giving them the bennifit of the doubt at this point. However this is also why I'm buying the low end of Lowrance's (LEI/Eagle's) product line too.I think many of their more expensive products are largely just over hyped over glitzed and over priced. I don't think their going public with there stock is likely to help Lowrance's product line much either... but anyway I think if you choose wisely there are some worth products still there.


Oh, and as for my use of 3D... In Northern Ontario I fish on some small lakes with greatly varying bottom depth(mosty very rocky too), and often fish for lake trout in these lakes. There are some places where you have to kind of thread the needle of some under water valleys, etc... The lakers ussualy sitting right on the edge of the rocky slopes. Often you can't really tell which side of the boat is going to be deeper and/or which way to turn to make it though some really narrow strech of water that's just barely deep enough to troll though. I have had some sucsess using 3D depth finders to know which way to turn while trolling through these trecherous waters. Not enough sucsess howerver to make me want to invest in another 3D unit, cause it seems they have a very short lifespan and are really mostly a glitzy unnessasary gadget that doesn't seem to get supported very well by the companys that make them.

but enough of my rants about fish finder storys of my past.

[Jason Adam]

Hard to beat a Furuno, hands down...

[greg123]

Lance Valentine works at Freeway Sports in Fenton, and is always willing to answer questions on electronics, when he's not chartering. His seminars at Gander Mountain in Swartz Creek got moved to Freeways 2 yrs. ago after some problems with GM. He uses and recommends LEI products and has a book available, he wrote, on how to get the best performance from your units (both f/f and gps). His seminars usually start in early March and are FREE! They are pretty intensive but don't be intimidated because he starts at the beginning. I've attended the last 5-6 yrs. and learned something new every year. Highly recommend them to anyone that wants to learn how to interpret what that crazy screen is showing. He has even given out his cell phone # for people to get in touch with him.

Greg

[Jason Adam]

We had Lance do a presentation on using your fishfinder at a Detroit Area Steelheaders Meeting last year. It was quite possibly the most informative and informational seminar I've ever sat through(on any topic, work or play). We have been trying to get him back, but apparently he must be busy doing other things. Never the less, if you have a chance to sit in on his seminar, do yourself the favor. I personally think LEI equipment is garbage, but thats who sponsors him, so I understand he needs to promote it, but his seminars are not brand biased.

[catchnrelease]

Yesterday I tried out my Furuno 582 that I had upgraded for sunlight visibility. Now I can see the display from the back of the boat -- what a difference !! And does it mark the fish in clear bold colors -- when you hit a big one you know it from the colors -- yellow, red, brown.

Anyone needing an upgrade like I did contact:

Lenny Merryman
Man & Machine, Inc.
lenny@mmimd.com
301-341-4900 ext. 44
301-341-4078 fax

[DSsam]

I just bought my first F/F a Hummingbird 565 its a dual beam 360x640 pix. For $199 at G/M I thoght it was a good price for the pixs. http://www.humminbird.com/products.asp?ID=362

I dont have any thing to compare to since this is my first F/F and first boat. I fish out of Lexignton area. seem to have a lot of options,settings ect. for dialing in for what your looking for. I went in to it totaly blind taking the salesmans advice. If any one has feed back on this F/F please let me know.
Sam

[Jason Adam]

Yesterday I tried out my Furuno 582 that I had upgraded for sunlight visibility. Now I can see the display from the back of the boat -- what a difference !! And does it mark the fish in clear bold colors -- when you hit a big one you know it from the colors -- yellow, red, brown.

Anyone needing an upgrade like I did contact:

Lenny Merryman
Man & Machine, Inc.
lenny@mmimd.com
301-341-4900 ext. 44
301-341-4078 fax

What was the upgrade? A software flash??? What was the cost? I have no problem viewing mine, but just curious..

[catchnrelease]

Jason;

Here's how they discribed it on the packing list "APPLIED BRIGHTNESS AND A/R ENHANCEMENT FILM TO LCD AND A/R FILM TO FRONT OF PROTECTIVE PANEL". Sounds pretty simple, but it REALLY did do the job (but it was expensive !!). Without it though I honestly couldn't have used it.

Ned

[chamookman]

If You don't mind the input from an "old Fart" ;) , check out the Bottomline - Tournament 480 Max. Bigger screen - 480vert. x 320 horz. pixels - 2,000 watts peak to peak power. GREAT unit for the price ! Have owned many differant units over the years, and seen many on other boats, Bottomlines resolution and target seperation is second to none. My .02 worth - Bob

[garyrodbender]

Try putting your unit in MANUAL MODE for arches,take it out of auto.mode My .02.

[DynoMoHum]

I thought I'd check back in and report of my use of the Eagle Seafinder 320DF depth finder I bought awhile back...

I took my semi anual fishing trip to a few inland lakes in norther Ontario....

My 320DF worked great. I'm 100% satisfied. I'm also pretty convinced that at $169 this was proably the best buy I could have possibly made on a depth finder for my needs. Cabelas now reports it as 'sold out' 'can not back order'... which is pretty much as I expected... that it was a end of life product line, and that's why the price was as good as it was... There may be some still available at other retailers however, but probably not for long...

Either way... for my needs it was/is nearly perfect considering the price... I mean sure I'd like a screen that was twice as big... but you know you can't have everything... But seriously the screen size of the 320DF is NOT a problem really... I found it very easy to read.

As with any new depthfinder, there is some learning curve. However by the end of my 7 day trip to Canada, I was 100% confident that I could identify fish with it, and well... what more can you ask for.

I guess only time will tell as to the reliablity and/or the ablity to get a repair on my 320DF... but I really have no reason to expect that it won't last me for at least 5 years or more... If it doesn't... well I only paid $170 for it... it's got speed/temp, and the DF transducer is the same one that Eagle/Lowrance uses on all their DF depth finders, so if that should ever fail, I don't think it will be hard to buy anohter, etc...

I'd deffintely recomend the 320DF to anyone who might be in the market for a low cost, high proformance depth finder right now... but hury if you want one, because they probably won't be making any more from what I can tell...

The 420DF appears to be your next best buy in the Eagle/Lowrance lineup... but I honestly don't like the 420x420 pixel screen as much as I like the 320x320 pixel screen... outside of the scrren the 320DF and 420DF are identical.

[kroppe]

I agree 100% with your review of the 320DF. I have used it to fish the full gamut of Michigan species - from bluegill to walleye, muskie and salmon. From 3FOW to 125FOW. No complaints whatsoever. You can track your cannonballs easily with the dual frequency feature. The speed and temp feature are perfect. The speed agrees with my GPS within 0.3mph most of the time. I've had mine for almost 3 years with no trouble.

[greg123]

ScottyHoover, did you get a new fishfinder yet? If so what did you go with? Last time I was at BassPro I think they had the Eagle 320 for about $150.00. Bought one last year to use on the bow, and only complaint I have is the depth ranges are not adjustable like my X-85 on the console. The ranges are 0-10, 0-20, 0-30 etc. If your in 22 fow and use the 30ft. range you lose some of the screen. X-85 you can manually adjust any depth, other than that the 320 works great for the money.

Greg

[Splitshot]

Scotty,

I purchased a vexilar CLC-200 5 color Liquid Crystal Depth Finder about 18 months ago. It is a great unit and works great once you affix the transducer up properly. lol
Here's a link. http://www.reedssports.com/Product.taf?_function=detail&_ID=4828

I also have the Boundry Waters accessories to make the unit portable.

I used it with a Garmin I-Que GPS unit until I hit a wave and the I-Que got wet. It was then that I realized that Garmin will not warrant water damage. My I-Que was okay, but I decided to pruchase a combination GPS and depth finder.

I bought the portable unit so I could use it ice fishing, but I also have a Vexilar FL-8 so now that I'm not using it in summer I really don't need it.

I have been planning on putting it on e-bay, but never get around to it. Anyway I have over $500.00 in it and I'll sell it to you for $295.00. I have the original box and all the manuals, even an extra manual I printed out in bigger type so I could read it easier.

Send me a PM if your interested.

[ozzgood2001]

scotty has been thru like 4 fishfinders since this thread originated in 2003...now he is saving change for a gps combo for da' new boat eh!!!

[scottyhoover]

can i get extra credit for threads with longevity.

[Splitshot]

Scotty,

I purchased a vexilar CLC-200 5 color Liquid Crystal Depth Finder about 18 months ago. It is a great unit and works great once you affix the transducer up properly. lol
Here's a link. http://www.reedssports.com/Product.taf?_function=detail&_ID=4828

I also have the Boundry Waters accessories to make the unit portable.

I used it with a Garmin I-Que GPS unit until I hit a wave and the I-Que got wet. It was then that I realized that Garmin will not warrant water damage. My I-Que was okay, but I decided to pruchase a combination GPS and depth finder.

I bought the portable unit so I could use it ice fishing, but I also have a Vexilar FL-8 so now that I'm not using it in summer I really don't need it.

I have been planning on putting it on e-bay, but never get around to it. Anyway I have over $500.00 in it and I'll sell it to you for $295.00. I have the original box and all the manuals, even an extra manual I printed out in bigger type so I could read it easier.

Send me a PM if your interested.