Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

[JamesCoste]

I was going to order from WalMart online, but decided to purchase from Cabela's since the price was both at $169. As I proceeded through the checkout the WalMart final price ended up at $188 due to taxes and shipping. Cabelas was only $182 because the shipping was higher but there were no taxes. Iboats wasn't too much higher than both of them.<br /><br />Why doesn't Cabela's have to charge taxes when WalMart did?

 

[Javelin 353]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

give us some feed back on the unit after you use it. Thanks

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

I owned a less-expensive Eagle (around $90) that I received as a gift about 7 years ago. I loved it but I sold it with my smaller boat. It gave me an accurate reading of the bottom and depth unless grass surrounded the transducer.<br /><br />I figure I'd stick with the brand for which I am familiar.<br /><br />Other than being "cheesy", why do the more-expensive depth/fish finders only show arcs for fish, when the less expensive ones show little fish? I'm going to have a tough time explaining to my kids (ages 9, 5, 3) why my new fish finder only shows pictures of arches instead of fish.<br /><br />Or does this one also have the capability to show little fishes?<br /><br />I'll find out when I get it.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

James<br />Tax Question- It all depends on state where you live and where company does business. Example I live in California, Wallmart has many stores in Calif but Cabela's does not so no tax for Cabela's. If Cabela's opens a store in California then they would also have to collect tax for sales to Califorian's.<br /><br />I do not know if your unit has fish symbols or not you can down load the manual from there site. As for the reason one shows what is actually there the other just a fake symbol. To me it is like watching a pretty girl in a tiny Bikini or a stick figure of a girl on a blackboard.

 

[phototom1]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

James<br /> The Eagle Fish Mark 320 does show the little fish symbols in the Fish ID mode the fish track shows the depth. the other modes shows the arches. This is a very good unit. I bought one in July of 2004 and it is working great . I went out with mine after I installed it to the lake just to work the system and to get fimular with it very easy to use out of the box. Great unit.<br /><br /> Tom Harvey

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

Boatist,<br />Thanks for the tax answer. I just didn't flat-out understand. I will try to download the manual as soon as I finish posting here.<br /><br />phototom1,<br />I am excited about this unit. I will have some installation questions once I get it although the manual should answer most of them. I installed my other Eagle one and it worked well. I'll be heading out to the nearby lake once it is installed. Do you run yours on a separate battery? I'd like to run mine off of my starter battery. When I get my trolling motor I'll buy a separate battery for it as well. Then I guess I can see what battery works best with the Eagle.

 

[phototom1]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

James<br /> I run mine off of the starting battery and it seems to work just fine. I have read that you should not run on same battery as your trolling motor as might cause interferance. If you have any questions just let us know there are a lot of people with a lot of good experience on this forum. Just curious what part of the country do you live in ???

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

phototom1,<br />I'm from Tallahassee Florida. As with many boats, my captains chair and console are on the right side of the boat. I plan to mount the depth finder above the steering wheel somewhere. The cables will run back towards the right (stern?) side of the boat. The shifting cables and ignition cable for the main motor are also on that side of the boat. I plan on running my depth finder cables along the same side. I hope to not have too much interferance due to the cables being near each other. I guess I'll find out soon.

 

[dy168]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

Hi all,<br />Does the 320 come with the tranducer or have to buy them seperately. I don't know much about fishfinder and also in the market looking for one.

 

[phototom1]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

riverwolf they come with a new transducer and all mounting hardware and complete instructions to do so.<br /><br /> Tom H

 

[jtexas]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

James, do you have a casting deck in the bow (front) of your boat? if so you won't be able to see your fishfinder while operating the trolling motor & fishing. I mounted mine up front where I can still see it from the driver's seat and also from the fishing seat. I just bundled the transducer cable in with rest of the wiring & cabling - never a problem.<br /><br />These devices draw very little current from the battery - you could leave it on all night & still have plenty of juice for cranking. I have one batt for the trolling motor (which doesn't get charged by the outboard alternator) & everything else on the cranking batt.<br /><br />The Eagle 320 is on my Christmas list - it was highly recommended by a couple of fishing guides.<br /><br />All the guides say turn the fish ID off & learn to read the screen, because the fishfinder will use a fish symbol for any sonar return, whereas only a fish shows up as an arch. I leave fish ID on because that's the only way to get a readout of the depth of the target on my cheap humminbird.<br /><br />catch a big 'un & post a picture!<br /><br />jtw<br /><br />p.s. stern = back<br /> bow = front<br /> starboard = right side<br /> port = left side

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

Thanks for the terminology lesson. I knew it started with an "s", but said stern instead of starboard. <br /><br />You brought up a good point! I will be using a bow-mounted Minn Kota trolling motor and doing a lot of fishing and trolling from the front of the boat. When I used to own a Gheenoe, I mounted the depth finder in the middle of the boat near the livewell. When I used the large (5hp) outboard, I could see the depth finder. When I fished from up front, I simply spun the depth finder's mounting bracket so I could see it from the bow by turning around a bit. I'm not certain if I can do this on this boat due to the glare from the windshield, but will definitely think hard about where to mount it.<br /><br />I'll mount the wiring with the rest of them and see if I have any problems.<br /><br />I already downloaded the manual and have read most of it. It "should" arrive at my doorstep today. I've got a deacon's meeting tonight at church, but should be able to install it tomorrow and test it out this weekend.<br /><br />I'll take pictures of it when it is installed and show them here.

 

[JamesCoste]

Re: Just bought a Eagle FishMark™ 320 Sonar with Temperature

I took the boat for a test drive on Veteran's Day. The depth finder worked well and my kids loved it. I basically kept the wires all together and had no interference whatsoever. The depth finder worked good while on the move as well.<br /><br />I am well pleased to say the least.<br /><br />The entire intent for the trip was to test out the depth finder, but since the kids wanted to go, my wife talked me into taking a few rods/reels with us. My son dug up 8 or 9 worms and I figured I'd catch a catfish or two. We ended up catching 6 catfish and 10 bream in just a couple hours fishing in about 12 feet of water (the deeper parts of this smallish river). After running out of worms, I was ready to go. "Mission accomplished" in my mind. My wife had other thoughts. I had to run up the bank and turn over fallen logs in search for more bait. <br /><br />I think my wife is getting hooked on fishing.<br /><br />Anyway, the depth finder worked well.