Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Need Advice on a New "Fishfinder"..

..for fishing fresh water lakes on a 19' "fish 'n ski" type boat. I am looking for quality and GPS capability but don't need a thousand functions. Will consider a price range of $500-$700.

Thanks for your help.

I know you aren't looking for lots of bells and whistles but I really like the expandability of the NMEA network that combines fishfinder/chartplotter/digital electronic readouts. My 480 is a couple of years old now and is b&w, but it's available in color screens now and the network gives you options of on-screen digital readouts like fuel flow, battery voltage, ground speed, water speed, etc.

My use is saltwater in a 21' GlasPly hardtop so I started with a compact 480x480 pixel dual frequency unit that was capable of either fishfinder or chartplotter displays or both as a split screen. I've since added added a 480x480 color screen for chartplotting. I like the Lowrance charts just fine, but some people really like Garmin charts better and another option I've used is Furuno.

My Humminbird Side Scan has some features that allow you to identify the bottom of the lake or river almost like an ultra sound. The GPS is flawless and requires few key strokes to manage. It also has my favorite feature, which is three programmable keys which you can choose to see any of the dozen or so screens with one push of the button.

During all the use of this fish finder, I push the powerup button, choose one of the 3 screens each with it's own button, and then the + and - buttons to zoom in or out. I've only had this since April, and it does have a level of complexity if you really dive into all the functions. I liked the mapping with the GPS, and the fishfinding. The side scan was a bonus.

This was an expensive unit, but you can go to their website and buy them direct as refurbished units for about 1/2 the cost. It's how I bought this one. Refurbished with full warranty does not bother me at all. And this one has been flawless since I put it in.

JJ, I see the 700,900, and 1100 series all having units with side-imaging. What model are you using?

I'll have to go look, it's the one with the smallest screen, wish it was bigger, but economics just dictaed this model.

Mine is a 798.........Hmmm Maybe it's a 789? In anycase it's a 700 series. Man this intermittant dyslexia and poor memory is haunting me!

Don't worry JJ; of the 100 or so things that go south as you age, memory is either 2nd or 3rd or 90th; I can't remember which .

Thanks for the info on the fish finder.

I use a hand held GPS that I use in a bracket when fishing. My 15yr old Eagle sonar unit went bad this spring. I ordered a discontinued Lowrance X 510 c Series Sonar from Cabela's for $329. It is a color unit with temp and 480x480 pixel. I've not installed it yet, but have read good things about it. It is still available. Good luck.