best fish finder under $500

L

Lowlysubaruguy

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Dec 3, 2012
Messages
514
Looking for a new fish finder. I have not purchased a new FF in so long many things have changed.

Things i am looking for. Foremost i boat some pretty rough water so its exposed to some hard jarring this is formost on my list of needs and it rains a lot, accurate depth readings at high speeds or airated or poor water conditions. id like low speed and temp if possible for trolling. i fish a lot of the same water, while some exotic fish finder thats capable of really IDing fish below the boat would be nice its really the least important of my needs.

I did a little shopping at marine West and it looks like I have no idea what I want or even need they have changed so much. my current fish finder is probably 10 plus years old. It was the best a $400 fish finder would buy at the time. But it looks like $150 FF today is half the size and 5 times the functions.

Im thinking something below $500 more iff necc but i dont need a lot of fluff i want something that works and is reliable.

Thanks
 
L

Lowlysubaruguy

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Dec 3, 2012
Messages
514
Re: best fish finder under $500

I live on the Columbia River in Washington State mile wide river depths of 300 feet rough water most of the time Im out. Up to 50 MPH winds into current are pretty common ( windsurfing capitol of the world) Depth and durabuility top of my list then slow speed and water temp readings and lastly if it was moderatly accurate at pin pointing structure and even fish simple enough right.

Marine West has the Lowrance Elite 5 gold on sale Monday only for $299 this runs about $500 to $600 at most marine and sproting good stores found one on Amazon for $400 something but thats the lowest any where that i found. The speed and temp sensor will add $80. Great reviews few if any bad reviews. Most think a fish finder should put fish on there hook none were complaints about the fish finder in general. So i think its at the top of the list. My only hesitation is navigation dont know that I need it then if I get it will I become addicted to it and have to buy updates very often. Or my real question which i will try and ask. Is how accurate its navigation program really is. Our rivers have changed a lot in the last couple of years new sand bars growing sand bars tributary I live on had a damn removed a year and half ago changed everything for a ways in the main river as well how long before these are loaded into its programming. We had a barge haulling oil high center in the designated river channel a couple years ago they have now moved the becons to show the new channels.

Well thanks for your input.

Andy
 
OllieC

OllieC

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Dec 8, 2011
Messages
535
Re: best fish finder under $500

The Lowrance Elite 5 is a nice unit for that price. I had one but returned it for the Lowrance Elite 7 HDI with downscan. It is basically the same unit as the 5 but with a sounder, downscan and a chart plotter. For fishing I would stick with the standard sounder.

I had a Garmin. The thing I like about the Lowrance compared to my old Garmin is that I can add info onto my chart plotter screen without having to split screen the sounder. Like depth, temp, time, speed, etc. This way I can have a full map when I want to head to a location. Also on the Elite series, if you are trolling and find a hot spot, you can track back on your sounder and it will show you where you were on your chart plotter.

Also, my Garmin, when I hit about 15mph, the sounder stopped working (7 years old). The strakes that caused turbulence,(the only place to mount the transducer on my boat) interfered with it working. However, I mounted my Elite 7 transducer in the same location and there is no problem. Had it up to 45mph last weekend and it still tracked the bottom.

Anyway, I hope that helps. The Elite 5 is around $349-399> However you will "want" to get the maps which will run another $100.
 
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