Your opinions on fish finders

[Jake B]

So far I've had horrible luck with the lowramce systems. I was wondering which ones you've all tried or have that's tried and true. I fish lakes and delta mostly. Thanks jb

[Darian]

Could you expand on what you mean by "horrible luck", please??? Was it performance, display, requires constant repair, etc.?? I'm curious as I'm about to buy a system and was considering Lowrance.

FYI, over on Blanton's BB, there's been some discussion about Hummingbird brand....

Thanx

[Idadon]

Hummingbird always worked for me. Seemed to be the least complicated too. Turn it, turn it off, see bottom structure, depth and fish in between. I popped for a side-finder with GPS a few years back but never really took the time to learn how to use it. Simple is good unless you're fishing for money.

[Jake B]

Horrible luck as in internal gps kept losing position then would just go blank sent unit back twice and took at least a month to get back with same problem after a couple uses then it just shit off and wouldn't work anymore and the latest was last weekend with another unit it just shut off and won't turn back on. I've gone over the wires and all fuses so I had a buddy come double check and all were fine. Tested the plug that goes into unit and it's fine. I'm just done with them and think the customer service was awful as well so time to move on

[Darian]

WOW!!! That is bad performance. Thanks for sharing that....

[Mr T]

I've had just about all of them- the lowrance gps issue has been around off and on in lots of years.

Best luck has been with furuno and raymarine, just put a dragonfly chirp unit on the kayak- good stuff.

[Cutthroat]

I have an old Eagle fish finder. I strap it on my Scadden Renegade and use it on lakes. It doesn't have GPS, but I don't want or need it. It shows me the bottom, and marks areas that have fish. If I find an area with fish, that's all I really to know. My unit is black and white, and adequate for me. I think it's equivalent to a Lowrance with a value of about $200. I just row my frameless pontoon, but I do understand the need for GPS in large areas like the Delta.

[BenFishin]

make sure you research the mapping package that comes with the unit, almost as important as the brand you select. IMHO Navionics is far superior to the rest of them but not all manufactures support it

[OceanSunfish]

Good prices on units right now. Rebates by Lowrance this time of year........ In addition, some retailers have been doing some one day 20% off online sales that include marine electronics. Take 20% off then the rebate, and the price is dramatically less.

I will say that it is really easy to get caught up with all the side scan or structure scan stuff........ just remember that you have to have the time to decipher what you're looking at, etc. If you have days on end to 'map' the bottom floor of the delta or lake xyz, then go for it..... if you are getting a day here or a day there to fish, then you may not wish to spend the time looking at a screen as opposed to actually fishing.

IF the fisheries of CA were as healthy as they ever were, we wouldn't need any electronics other than a depth sounder and the GPS would be nice for safety reasons.

[JAWallace]

make sure you research the mapping package that comes with the unit, almost as important as the brand you select. IMHO Navionics is far superior to the rest of them but not all manufactures support it

I have been 100% Lowrance for 25 years, except for a Raymarine unit I got with a boat that I truly hated and sold it. Ben's comment about the Navionics chip is spot on--best thing to happen to small sonars in years. I have topo maps on demand for almost any lake I need and my fish count has improved because of it. I have a 4" on my pontoon and a 7" on my Whaler. Could not be happier, and yes, it does need to be reset on occasion but that's been the extent of my problems. Hear Humminbird has some very good new products too but the display is better with Lowrance IMO.