Favorite Fishfinder

[MTChief]

Hey all,
I'll throw this out there for discussion; what is your favorite make/model of fishfinder/plotter/GPS and why? What e-charts have you found to be most useful for saltwater fishing off the BC Coast?
Have Fun!

 

[sookeaholla]

I have the Lowrance LMS525DF with the Navitronics gold chip for Vancouver Island. Small screen for a small boat, works great - easy to figure out. Nmea compliant, optional radar, VHF DSC capable. Great little unit for an inshore boat, not unrealistically expensive.
If I were one of the "Big Boys" fishing offshore, I'd go with Raymarine/Furuno. Oh yeah, and when you are fishing off Vancouver Island, and the fog rolls in, and the gps fails. Which direction do you travel in fellas? Always have a compass onboard, and charts/chartlets too!

 

[SIR]

I've been running with the Lowrance LMS525 with the Navi chip for about a year now and have been very pleased with the unit. There are a few menu screens that are a bit of a pain in the butt to do with how you cancel navigation but generally the menus are intuitive, the sounder shows great bottom detail, the gps has worked really well, I love the side by side display when trolling reefs with uneven contours and the capability to create your own custom screen layouts is really nice. I'll be putting the same unit on the new boat this summer. Can't speak to other units but I'd certainly recommend this one without any worries.

 

[Last Chance]

I have a Raymarine E120 with the DSM300 and thru hull transducer, I have to say, I'm a little dissapointed.

 

[Slabby20]

My best sounder/chart plotter was a Lowrance LCX 18c. I recently upgraded to a Lowrance LCX 37c and so far I've been impressed.

Slabby

 

[Whole in the Water]

I just bought a Lowrance LCX 37c sonar/chartplotter. It's colour, dual (50/200 mhz)frequency, 8.5" screen, with 600x800 resolution, with a fuel flow sensor. With this a have the new Navionics Platinum mapping chip for Van. Isle that allows for 3d contour mapping. I also got the new Lowrance Broadband sonar enhancer that increases sensitivity and boosts the output signal to over 1kw.

In my opinion, with the research I have done you can't bet Lowrance for performance and features for the money you pay. However, I have yet to install it and use it, but I am anxious to see real fish arches(not goofy fish symbols) in saltwater over 40 ft. deep. Wish me luck!

 

[Pablo2079]

Probably not in the same ballpark, but I'm currently shopping for a portable for my tin can. I've been searching on ebay, but it seems like a large percentage of portables only go to 99 feet.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Paul

 

[highflyn]

quote:Originally posted by Whole in the Water

I just bought a Lowrance LCX 37c sonar/chartplotter. It's colour, dual (50/200 mhz)frequency, 8.5" screen, with 600x800 resolution, with a fuel flow sensor. With this a have the new Navionics Platinum mapping chip for Van. Isle that allows for 3d contour mapping. I also got the new Lowrance Broadband sonar enhancer that increases sensitivity and boosts the output signal to over 1kw.

In my opinion, with the research I have done you can't bet Lowrance for performance and features for the money you pay. However, I have yet to install it and use it, but I am anxious to see real fish arches(not goofy fish symbols) in saltwater over 40 ft. deep. Wish me luck!

Whole in the Water, when you get your broadband up and running could you let me know what you think of it, I'm thinking of buying one for my LCX 113c HD.
Thanks Highflyn

 

[Deewar25]

pablo...I use the eagle fisheasy2 portable (got it on ebay)..depth non issue (out in the middle of the straits 500+ no problem), only issue is if the depth is more than 140' or so, it's pretty much only good for depth - rarely get a good read on bait. Best performance is 100' bottom or shallow...

could try the 245ds listed on ebay..looks comparable

 

[teamchachi]

We use the with the dual frequency 50/200 transducer on the transom. Works great! We've got the Navionics Gold chip for the Island. I don't think that you can beat Lowrance for value. In a perfect world, I'd have Furuno... but that is a lot of cash!

http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine/Large-Screen-SonarGPS-Chartplotter-Combos/LCX-27C/

 

[Gypseas]

Got the LCX15MT 50/200 with northwest navionics map. Not too bad for the dough but a friends running LCX113 and woooo baby I want one but not enough cash in the bank right now.
cheers

 

[haverodwilltravel]

I use the Eagle Fish Easy 2. Works great for depth only. Lies a lot when searching for fish.... but sometimes it tells the truth. I like it.

 

[R-escape]

I bought a Garmin 298 last year. For the first while it was the bomb. untill I was trolling with the downrigger with 100 ft out and bounce, bounce, can't be bottom its 200' deep hear. turns out it realy 100'. Know it reads to deep and to shoulow, it all over? has anyone else had these problems? I've tried cleaning the tansendor with no change. Any suggestions?
Thanks and good fishing!

 

[Slabby20]

R-escape,

The only suggestion I have is make sure the sensitivity isn't way out of whack. Try adjusting the sensitivity and see if that helps.

 

[Charter Tofino]

I agree sometimes mine picks up thermoclines and i have to turn it down. Mines junk though a cheap humminbird.

 

[Gone Fishn]

LCX-37C its Sweet!!! Haven't got the platinum chip yet... but its a thought, as is the Broadband sounder. As for the portable you mentioned above, check out the eagle 245DS, pretty good unit for the price (130-150 bucks or so)

 

[Copper Moon]

quote:Originally posted by Pablo2079

Probably not in the same ballpark, but I'm currently shopping for a portable for my tin can. I've been searching on ebay, but it seems like a large percentage of portables only go to 99 feet.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Paul

I had a few Humminbird portables that I had problems with because they were not waterproof enough. I got a Garmin portable 160C this year and it is a lot more durable. I use it for prawning so it needs to find bottom 300-400 feet, which it just manages to do. The portable is set up to use 8 D cells which just doesn't last, so I bought a lawn tractor battery at Costco ($40) and just periodically recharge it. Got it @:
http://www.prairie.mb.ca/product/010-00403-00.php

 

[baz]

ive just upgraded to the raymarine a60 from a lowerance 525,
ive only had a chance to use it twice so im no expert on it yet, but i goto say im missing the lowerance.
for some reason when ive got the balls down the unit thinks that the depth the balls are the sea bed?? when really its off by 100ft?
i might mess around with the sensitivity an see if that fixes it
anyhows theres ma 2 cents

 

[Gone Fishn]

Curious why did you upgrade to that from a 525? Screen size?

 

[eastpoint]

Baz and others

What type of charting would you recommend, I just bought and installed a Raymarine A50D, is 3D worth the extra dough? Have you wired up the DSC signal to your VHF?