Fishfinders

[back on eerie 2016]

Who runs what? I'm looking at humminbird. All input appreciated!

 

Sent from my moto z3 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

 

 

[Ready or Knot]

Thats a pretty open ended question. Alot depends on your personal application of it. Just open water trolling , inland lake , etc.... ?

[Legacy]

10 hours ago, back on eerie 2016 said:

 

Who runs what? I'm looking at humminbird. All input appreciated!

 

Sent from my moto z3 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

 

 

 

 

 

Humminbird all the way and I havent looked back.

[Sk8man]

Ready or Knot makes a good point. It really does depend on how you intend to use it and what features are actually necessary (not necessarily desired as a lot of stuff ends up not being used). If only a fish finder is sought Furuno is day in day out year after year dependable and is the way to go. If you fish for multi-species in addition to trolling for trout a such as walleye etc. and use mapping extensively the combination units made by Humminbird, Garmin, and Lowrance etc. offer more sophisticated charting features which can be pricey and some enticing but seldom actually used by many folks (e.g. down or side imaging etc). So regardless of the unit selected it should fit your actual specific fishing needs and is worth the time to think it through and do your homework researching it rather than relying on other folks opinions (although they can be helpful information-wise). Another aspect worthy of consideration is the American belief that "size matters" . In reality "bigger is not always better" despite the enticing  quality of it. *Advanced selection of the space available for locating the unit selected is critical and the ability to clearly see the display (especially in bright sunlight) and not have the unit interfere with other important things such as the steering wheel

Edited November 15, 2019 by Sk8man

[Dan M]

I have a Raymarine Dragonfly Pro 7 - nice unit, no sidescan. Love to go 9" - but for the price the Dragonfly was good.

[FishingFool34]

Depends on what you're fishing for. For salmon you really don't need any imaging or even CHIRP for that matter. Walleye/Bass fishing on the other hand, imaging and CHIRP are much more useful. Brand-wise it's basically a ford/chevy/dodge debate, people like what they like because they just do. I like Humminbird because it's what I have always had and am comfortable using them. Some feel the same way about Lowrance. Simrad, Raymarine, Garmin are other big name names that make really good units and likely have one that will do whatever you're looking to do.

[Jomat]

Couple of observations from my first year running one of these multiple scan transducers.  
* salmon fishing out of Oswego this summer I was able to mark a baitball on sidescan that I would not have seen in traditional or downscan.    Staying on that baitball allowed us to get 7 bites in 2ish hours and basically paid for itself imo with that one trip.

* downscan has been really helpful out at Erie locating bottom composition transitions where Waldo was hanging out in the spring time.  Stopped using it after about June when fish went deeper and started suspending...anything over 50 fow and it hasn’t been terribly useful for me.

* I basically traded gps mapping for a 9” screen by going with the Garmin striker 9” that has really basic/not upgradable mapping.  Instead for mapping I mounted my iPad in the boat and used navionics with a stand alone gps.  Navionics is powerful and the touch screen on my iPad works way better than the touch/buttons on the fishfinders out there...even the fancy lowrances.

* I’m still looking at the traditional chirp most of time and it’s awesome for seeing how fish are reacting to your downrigger...but having the 9” screen and being able to layer in sidescan and downscan can be really handy.

[spoonfed-1]

Furuno.Never had a reason to look elsewhere.

[rolmops]

12 hours ago, spoonfed-1 said:

Furuno.Never had a reason to look elsewhere.

x2

[UNREEL]

14 hours ago, spoonfed-1 said:

Furuno.Never had a reason to look elsewhere.

X3.  Matched with an Airmar thruhull transducer. 

[J.D.]

X4    620 with Airmar P66 transducer

[NiagaraFishingShow]

You may want to hold off your purchase to attend some of the Marine Electronics seminars at the Greater Niagara Fishing Show this January 17 - 19. Lance Valentine and the Garmin guys will be doing the seminars and also have booths where they can show you in a 1 on 1 setting the functions, features and tranducers that would best fit your price range, boat layout, where you fish and what you fish for.  Check out www.niagarafishingexpo.com in early December for when the Seminars will be offered.