FishFinder - Which one?

[bligh]

I just installed the lowrance elite hdi 5x on my tender ( about 500 bucks and 3 hours to install.) It came with a transom mount transudecer. the picture of the bottom is incredible, even at high speeds. I didnt take any pictures but here is a link to the unit.

 

[GwenFarley]

I need a new depth finder/fish finder.
I really want the dual imaging because I am more concerned about the bottom detail than the fish.
Right now, I am trying to decide between the Garmin Echo 301Dv and the Humminbird 561 DI. They both fit the bill as far as features and price.
I sure the Garmin with color would be much easier to see in all conditions than the Black/greyscale Humminbird would be.
Anyone here familiar with either of these units?

Thanks in Advance

Tony B

Better fish finders are available now specially after deeper smart sonar fish finders have become really portable. I recommend that you get what you can handle specially on small vessel like kayak. 301 and 561 both are good but if you really want to understand the details on the screen colors are must. I found this guide this may help you in deciding. Fishes form arcs and color ending at arc is identifiying point. With colored screen it will be easier to identify those hiding rewards.

 

[sealion2288]

Lots of advancements have been made....in the almost 3 years since the last post in this thread was made

 

[Mrwesson]

I like the Raymarine dragonfly series.

Wifi seems like a gimmick until you have tablets/cell phones connected using Navionics.

Depth and chartplotting in your pocket is nice.

 

[psneeld]

I like the Raymarine dragonfly series.

Wifi seems like a gimmick until you have tablets/cell phones connected using Navionics.

Depth and chartplotting in your pocket is nice.

I agree about wifi being a good tool.

My Raymarine MFD in the Saloon with the anchor alarm set will wake me up if activated. I then can reach for my cell hone and see my position and depth or just check it anytime.

 

[Xsbank]

I just purchased a Si–tex sounder and I'm pleased with it. Good price. My last Si-tex lasted 25 years.

 

[what_barnacles]

I agree about wifi being a good tool.

My Raymarine MFD in the Saloon with the anchor alarm set will wake me up if activated. I then can reach for my cell hone and see my position and depth or just check it anytime.

Someday raymarine will add anti-grounding to thier autopilots and you wont need to get up from your nap any more.

 

[Seevee]

Bought a HawkEye a while back for a small boat I had. Just wanted a small round digital depth finder. Was cheap and a real POS. Tech support was poor in that they would only email.... wouldn't talk. And the guy was a "go between" between me and the real tech guy. Tried to transducers and two indicator heads and hours of time trouble shooting and finally packed the whole mess up and sent it back.

The best it would do was intermittent.

I put a Garmin unit in and worked from day one and has never failed. Great tech support, but didn't need them.

I would have considered others, like the Hummingbird, but only the low cost units were available in the smaller sizes, and tech was lousy. I never was able to get any communication going from Hummingbird so gave up on them.

 

[BrotherDave]

I buy Garmin GPSmap products because I've had several so I'm familiar with them and because I think their charts are excellent for my area. I think the 840xs is currently a great price/performance point. You can get a transducer for transom mount or thru-hull.

Many mounting locations on your hull will have little to no deadrise angle so it's usually not too difficult to select the correct one. If you need to determine deadrise, buy a cheap angle indicator tool from Amazon and hold it on your hull where you want to mount the transducer. Transducers are offered with a range of built-in deadrise adjustment so buy the transducer that fits your hull angle.

For example, on my troller the hull deadrise angle where I wanted to mount the thru-hull B75 airmar was 18degrees. This transducer is offered with models to accomodate 0degree, 6-15degrees, and one model that accomodates hull angle of 16-24 degrees so this one works perfectly for me.