Recommend a sonar unit

[fairchaser]

I'm a crappie fisherman and I'm looking to buy a new sonar unit with GPS but I don't want to spend a grand. I want to be able to see brush piles in deep water and see fish and be able to mark it with the GPS. I've got an older black and white model I use for depths and will move that back to the console. Looking for ideas. There are so many to choose from.

 

[WTM]

max price range? countour mapping or just a gps plotter? i assume its going on the TM so would you want side imaging as well or just down imaging and 2d sonar.

 

[WTM]

here are a couple of deals you can look at:
7" hummingbird unit, side image, di, 2d, gps and base maps, mapping can be upgraded
https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Humminbird ... 0310-1.htm

9" garmin unit
https://www.thegpsstore.com/Garmin-echo ... QEQAvD_BwE

has everything as the helix unit, probably a little better mapping thats included. BUT, you cant use navionics on this model only garmin mapping.

the side imaging is better on the helix, down imaging is about the same and 2d on the garmin is the best there is for now.

lowrance has some Hook2 tripleshot models that are competive but they dont have mapping, only gps plotter for waypoints, like the garmin striker series.

 

[fairchaser]

Thanks for the recommendation. That Garmin looks pretty sweet.

 

[Simpleman.2]

I'm a crappie fisherman and I'm looking to buy a new sonar unit with GPS but I don't want to spend a grand. I want to be able to see brush piles in deep water and see fish and be able to mark it with the GPS. I've got an older black and white model I use for depths and will move that back to the console. Looking for ideas. There are so many to choose from.

Pm sent


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[nitro_z17]

I'm a crappie fisherman and I'm looking to buy a new sonar unit with GPS but I don't want to spend a grand. I want to be able to see brush piles in deep water and see fish and be able to mark it with the GPS. I've got an older black and white model I use for depths and will move that back to the console. Looking for ideas. There are so many to choose from.

Lowrance 9 Elite Ti, totalscan

 

[WTM]

I'm a crappie fisherman and I'm looking to buy a new sonar unit with GPS but I don't want to spend a grand. I want to be able to see brush piles in deep water and see fish and be able to mark it with the GPS. I've got an older black and white model I use for depths and will move that back to the console. Looking for ideas. There are so many to choose from.

Lowrance 9 Elite Ti, totalscan

yeah but thats a $1000 unit, which he didnt want to pay.

 

[nitro_z17]

Get a 5

 

[WTM]

Get a 5

lol, why would anyone want a 5" screen when they can have a 9" screen on a garmin for the same price.

 

[nitro_z17]

Just trying to help. I've only used lowrance

 

[WTM]

Just trying to help. I've only used lowrance

thats fine, i had an elite and now garmins, nothing against lowrance. with all of the last gen sales going on its hard to keep up and usually hummingbird and garmin has more units on sale than lowrance that would fit certain budgets.

you got to read the descriptions too. a guy i work with thought he was getting a deal on a helix 7 g2n and thought it had side imaging. nope only down imaging. he had it over a month before installing it and amazon wouldnt credit him.

 

[nitro_z17]

you never have "new" graphs, they're old in 6 months lol.

 

[WTM]

you never have "new" graphs, they're old in 6 months lol.

lol yep, same for phones, computers, etc. but most of the time the updates are just little tweaks or new handy features. the graphing updates are usually not worth buying a whole new unit. my iphone 6plus is 3 years old and works just the same as an iphone x, except for the camera upgrade, lol.

i look for lowrance to come out with some interesting stuff since they made a cross patent exchange deal with garmin, to settle their lawsuit. garmin is already going back to their original down imaging crystal design like lowrances. competition is great.

 

[nitro_z17]

ya i still have a 9 HDS gen2 on my console, works fine for me. elite ti 9 on bow, with that fish reveal im good to go.

 

[bluball]

Theres a guy on crappie.com that has a used garmin stryker7sv if your interested

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[Big Pop]

Garmin is excellent choice, bigger screen the better.

 

[fairchaser]

Apart from screen size or ease of use does one brand have any features that are clearly better. I've seen some with chirp technology, 3D vs 2D, side scan vs down scan, internal maps, graphing, etc.

 

[WTM]

Apart from screen size or ease of use does one brand have any features that are clearly better. I've seen some with chirp technology, 3D vs 2D, side scan vs down scan, internal maps, graphing, etc.

dont buy one without chirp, the difference is night and day. it rejects a lot or the unnecessary noise from the sonar return. as cheap as some of the chirpunits are on clearance right now it just doesnt make sense to buy a non chirp unit, unless you are just going to use it for depth/nav/mapping.

all of the brands have their strengths and weaknesses. hummingbird has better side imaging, lowrance has better down imaging(may not anymore with hummingbird mega and some of garmins xducers, and garmin is light years ahead in 2d and panoptix type technology. thats not to say garmin or lowrance's side imaging is not good, it is, they are just a little grainier. their transducers are designed to show more on fish returns than detail, where as hummingbirds narrow beam xducer shows higher degrees of detail, but will show fish if the settings are adjusted. garmin and hummingbird's side imaging will reach out past 100 ft usable on each side, where as lowrance is about 80ft before it goes dark. (may not matter much as most folks scan at 60 ft max on 7" and 9" displays).

 

[bluball]

Apart from screen size or ease of use does one brand have any features that are clearly better. I've seen some with chirp technology, 3D vs 2D, side scan vs down scan, internal maps, graphing, etc.

dont buy one without chirp, the difference is night and day. it rejects a lot or the unnecessary noise from the sonar return. as cheap as some of the chirpunits are on clearance right now it just doesnt make sense to buy a non chirp unit, unless you are just going to use it for depth/nav/mapping.

all of the brands have their strengths and weaknesses. hummingbird has better side imaging, lowrance has better down imaging(may not anymore with hummingbird mega and some of garmins xducers, and garmin is light years ahead in 2d and panoptix type technology. thats not to say garmin or lowrance's side imaging is not good, it is, they are just a little grainier. their transducers are designed to show more on fish returns than detail, where as hummingbirds narrow beam xducer shows higher degrees of detail, but will show fish if the settings are adjusted. garmin and hummingbird's side imaging will reach out past 100 ft usable on each side, where as lowrance is about 80ft before it goes dark. (may not matter much as most folks scan at 60 ft max on 7" and 9" displays).

Gps lowrance is better than bird in my opinion,thats one of the reasons i have lowrance and humminbird on my boat.I can fish a crappie bed and never throw a marker bouy.Bet garmins gps is good also,they have been in the gps business for years.

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[WTM]

Apart from screen size or ease of use does one brand have any features that are clearly better. I've seen some with chirp technology, 3D vs 2D, side scan vs down scan, internal maps, graphing, etc.

dont buy one without chirp, the difference is night and day. it rejects a lot or the unnecessary noise from the sonar return. as cheap as some of the chirpunits are on clearance right now it just doesnt make sense to buy a non chirp unit, unless you are just going to use it for depth/nav/mapping.

all of the brands have their strengths and weaknesses. hummingbird has better side imaging, lowrance has better down imaging(may not anymore with hummingbird mega and some of garmins xducers, and garmin is light years ahead in 2d and panoptix type technology. thats not to say garmin or lowrance's side imaging is not good, it is, they are just a little grainier. their transducers are designed to show more on fish returns than detail, where as hummingbirds narrow beam xducer shows higher degrees of detail, but will show fish if the settings are adjusted. garmin and hummingbird's side imaging will reach out past 100 ft usable on each side, where as lowrance is about 80ft before it goes dark. (may not matter much as most folks scan at 60 ft max on 7" and 9" displays).

Gps lowrance is better than bird in my opinion,thats one of the reasons i have lowrance and humminbird on my boat.I can fish a crappie bed and never throw a marker bouy.Bet garmins gps is good also,they have been in the gps business for years.

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+1, forgot to add that in my post. gps tracking is really good in lowrance and garmin. also, the really good images that you see in advertisements for humminbirds side imaging is not the xducer that comes with the 9" or 7" units, but you can get an upgrade for $85bucks. i have some screen shots comparing the compact si and hdsi xducers but the forum says the pic files are too large.

i would place the ease of use for newbs on the garmin echomap and lowrance hook2, elite ti units.