depth sounder is toast !

[scott craven]

Re last post..
i think i'm in the market for a new sounder....
not looking for anything real fancy, just a monochrome
display. something that reads well in saltwater
anybody got any recommendations ?

Scott

 

[doubletyee]

I just finished installing a new Garmin 188c in my boat. I left my 2 year old Humminbird Panasonic view fish finder in the boat. This was one of the better humminbird finders a few years ago. I ran both of the finders at the same time in my boat yesterday and found that the garmin out performed the humminbird over and over. The Garmin was great no bottom skipping (even going over 50 mph), less noise and better relability finding fish. I usually fish QCI for the July and had had numerous days out fishing when I mark no fish on the finder and am hooking one after another. Seemed strange to me when you are fishing 30 ft deep in 150 ft water, no fish showing on the screen and I am hooking one after another. Makes me question the relability of the Humminbird. I am going to Nootka on Wed and am planning on running both units to test them. Hope this helps.

 

[SSfisher]

I have an eagle seafinder 480df. It is the best inexpensive sounder i have owned. It works right up to full speed. Yesterday I was cruising at 28 knots, and it was still showing a good bottom signal at 740 feet. Its dual frequency, and has temp, speed, and distance. Allso on the weekend i was seeing all these lines going everywhere, and coming up to the surface, so i stopped and looked over the side to see about 15 dogfish swimming around the boat. And it was picking them up at cruising speed. It will also show a 3 ounce lure getting dropped down to about 60 feet. and it will show a lingcod following up a rockcod. I am very impressed with the unit. It cost me $269.99 at sherwood marine.

 

[silverchum]

SSFisher,

Do you have any trouble reading the 480DF in direct sun? I have a Navman 4432 which works well as a finder on cloudy days, but is horrible to read in the sun... I'm not sure if it's the fault of the finder or the LCD tech in general.

Does the viewability of grayscale finders in the sun vary between manufacturers/models, or is it always going to be tough to read? Is colour the solution? I'm confused because I've read some old messages about colour finders washing out in the sun.

 

[scottyboy]

my lowrance colour works great in direct sunlight , i can always see the screen . works 4 me . tight lines scotty

 

[SSfisher]

I've never had a problem reading mine in the sun.

 

[LouDogII]

Scotty,

My buddy just got one of these. Don't know if you're still in the market. Seems like a good deal, company merger and discontinued model but still with warrany.

http://www.boatersworld.com/product/319393575.htm

Scooter

 

[scott craven]

Thanks Scooter...
ended up buying Humminbird matrix 17
works fine. the nice color units were not in the budget !