NEED Opinion: Finder/GPS Combo

[bowbender]

Looking to purchase a new finder/GPS combo this year and asking you guys with newer units to give your opinions. What unit do you suggest primarily for trolling and where to purchase for the best price? Also what do you think about shoot thru hull transducers? Thanks in advance.

[Yankee Troller]

My opinion is to stay away from Lowrance. Their customer service sucks bad and trust me you will need to use them when something goes wrong. I was huge into bass fishing and had many Lowrance units. EVERY one went bad.

Hummingbird has really stepped up their game in recent years. Billy C has some great screen shots of the FF capabilities. The GPS is really neat too.

Garmin is another good MRI function unit too.

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[Billy V]

I love my 1157C and my 955C. I also have a Humminbird 255 VHF radio that's been great too. These screen shots were taken from my 1157C last May when we were fishing Wilson:

[K Gonefishin]

If you have a glass boat, shoot thru hull transducers are a great option. I have one and love it and I'll never go back to to skimmer/transom mount.

(true thru hull are the best actually but $$ and typically need to be installed by a dealer),

[bowbender]

Yeah I've had a problem with Lowrance in the past and am ready to move on but I never thought about Hummingbird. I'll have to look into them, what about Ray or Garmin, any thoughts?

[Yankee Troller]

Raymarine makes some GREAT stuff, but you will pay for it. I really like their C and E series, but I just don't want to pay those prices. Garmin has always made some decent stuff. Their top of the line combos seem to work for guys on the great lakes just fine.

[Billy V]

Humminbird has come a LONG way from the days of being a Wal-Mart bass fishing sonar unit. To give you an idea of just how far, I owned a new Furuno 585 prior to my 1157c and the Humminbird's sonar capabilities are right on par with that unit plus it serves as a GPS/plotter and it has XM Weather too. It's a great unit, and if you want to see one feel free to stop by the boat next spring and I'll show mine to you.

[Jack]

I think it really depends on how much $$$ you want to spend . Unless your going to buy a combo with a 8" or larger screen I would buy 2 units . I picked up a nice Ray DS500 on sale at Bethel marine and plan on buying a Garmin GPS this spring . I am never a big fan of putting all my eggs in 1 basket , so I like knowing if one unit is going in for service I will still have the other. And I will do it for well under a $1k .

On the transducer do you mean setting the puck inside the hull and letting it shoot thur the fiberglass or drilling a hole in the bottom with a hull mounted transducer?

The best I believe would be , hull mount , transom mount and then thur the hull .

Good Luck !

[Iceman]

These have been working great for me.

Streakers in this shot

Olcott in the Spring

[Edd]

PM sent.

[thompsm7]

This is a great thread. I'm almost sold on Humminbird.... How would the 957/958 with NVB and 50/200kHz transducer work for Lake Ontario? How much detail is on the maps? How will it track the downrigger? Also, if that does work, where is the best place to get good pricing it?

[Jack]

I would look at : BOE marine - Anchor Express - GPSonsale .

Good Luck!!!!

[bowbender]

I'm glad I started the thread because everyone here has at least tried the products instead of reading all the promotional stuff. I too am narrowing down to a hummingbird but now the question is do I buy two seperate units or do I go with the combo? If I had a lot of dashboard than I would go with seperate units but I'm only a weekend warrior, so should I really try to have different units or go with the combo? Oh and I'm trying to keep under a $1000.

Another location to find good prices is Ebay, auctions only. I will check the ones Jack is talking about too. Once again thanks guys for all the input, its my first salmon boat and I want to set it up right the first time if thats possible.

[thompsm7]

I too am a weekend warrior.... Here's my take, and the more experienced people can correct me where I go awry:

GPS - I bought a Garmin GPSMAP 440 w/Costal maps for $475 from Anchor Express. I ran it all 2009 season and loved it. The maps have NOAA depths for the lake and some contours that give you a good idea of the lake bottom. The maps are not the best out there, but I can find the shipping lanes without any issue. With the entry level Garmins like I have, be sure to go with COASTAL maps, as the Lake map doesn't have depth info for Lake Ontario.

Fish Finder - I've got to replace my 13 year old Lowrance finder. I see the following features being critical to ensuring you have good value for your fish finder: 50/200kHz dual frequency transducer (better for tracking downriggers than 83/200kHz), high power (500W rms minimum),color screen (because everyone is doing it & it seems color should help distinguish targets), and solar display (viewable in bright sunlight). These are completely subjective and I only have two years on Lake Ontario, so this is where the seasoned fishermen can help reprioritize. I have the following options:

- Lowrance HDS-5x (no chart plotter) w/50/200 ducer - $550 @ Anchor Express

- Furuno FCV620 w/50/200 ducer - $833 from Anchor Express

- Humminbird 778c w/83/200 ducer - $434 from Anchor Express

Looking at the pictures above, if the Humminbird 778 can track downrigger balls like that with the 83/200 ducer its obviously the best value and it will track the ball and mark fish. The 1157 in the picture has 1000W rms while the 778 has 500W. I don't know how much difference there would be, but I assume it would be noticeable. The Lowrance HDS-5x has the same power output as the HDS-10 so it probably has more power than the Humminbird 778 (yes I understand Lowrance has some sort of digital rating so its not apples to apples). Any insights on 50/200 vs 83/200 and sonar output power would be great.

My own experience is that I love having the GPS and finder on at the same time. When we're fishing the shipping lanes, its important that we can see where the wall is, while watching depth/marking fish. A smaller screen like 5" wouldn't be very user friendly in that application. If it were me, I would want a minimum of 8" so I can split the screen and have enough screen to see what I just went over (or hopefully what is following my downrigger ball). If I was going to get a combo it would be the Humminbird 958c with Navionics Value Bundle (NVB) for $1300 from Anchor Express. Its very similar to the 1157 in output power/transducer. If you can sacrifice the 500W rms and the smaller screen, the 788ci Combo w/NVB for $730.

Hopefully the veterans can help clear some of this up.... There are ways to get something without breaking the bank, its just prioritizing features. For me GPS its depth/contours and finder its the ability to track downriggers and read fish deep (250 feet). Thanks in advance for any input!

[Jack]

FYI was just checking the Garmin web site they have a $100.00 rebate on some of their marine gps's

[Erbyjoe]

If it was me I would stay away from eBay when buying new electronics. Most companies will not honor the warranties if bought off of eBay. so I would be careful doing that. Give Jim a call at BOE he will match any price plus free shipping on orders over $250 (I think) I buy all of stuff off of him he knows his stuff and customer service is A+. I have had very good luck with them that is all I'm saying.Here is another couple of site to check out for price matching. Good luck

http://www.boemarine.com/

http://www.jthelectronics.com/

http://www.hodgesmarine.com/

[thompsm7]

PM sent

[Gray Ghost]

This is a great thread. I'm almost sold on Humminbird.... How would the 957/958 with NVB and 50/200kHz transducer work for Lake Ontario? How much detail is on the maps? How will it track the downrigger? Also, if that does work, where is the best place to get good pricing it?

These are snapshots take on Lake Champlain with HB957 NVB. I would have some shots from Lake O if I didn't forget the SD card at home.

[Billy V]

Great shots Gray Ghost! Something new for 2010 from Humminbird are new color palettes. So if you like the colors of your Lowrance unit, you can have that on your Humminbird now. It's pre-installed on all new units and if you already own a Humminbird unit you can get the new color palettes with a free and very easy firmware update by registering your unit on the Humminbird site.

Another new 2010 feature is "Switchfire" sonar. We began using that last year with great results. Here's a good description of it that I copy/pasted from another forum, along with a couple of pictures of one of the new color palettes:

"Switchfire is the name given for a sonar technology that allows the angler the choose between #1-a screen presentation that is clean and doesn’t show smaller objects like zooplankton, algae blooms, small individual baitfish etc (THE CLEAR MODE of SWITCHFIRE) or a screen presentation that shows full detail of objects in the water. This screen has more information but the information also adds a lot of clutter on the screen (THE MAX MODE of SWITCHFIRE).

This is the same technology that we released in a software upgrade earlier this year (TVG OFF/TVG ON). It just now has a name behind the technology (SWITCHFIRE).

SWITCHFIRE: Clear - Is the high precision sonar system Humminbird has been using for many years. It features Humminbirds exclusive TVG (Time Variable Gain) software that features the ability to to display sonar returns equally with depth. So a return for a 5 pound fish will be the same at 10' deeps as it is at 100' depth. It also provides excellent performance in shallow water as the unit can automatically adjust power to provide the optimum readings with user having to shange settings and over power the unit in shallow water and losing bottom. The coverage is very percise making a smaller are for displaying baits in vertical fishing but when you use is very accurate and allows precision control.

SWITCH FIRE: Max- provides the ability to show everything in the water including zooplankton, algae blooms, small individual baitfish. It also provides a greater area for vertical fishing and makes it easier for the user to see bait on screen. It also provides data display like competitive manufacturers. Making transition easier for users to make the switch and feel comfortable with a sonar system they understand. Best used in water depths over 10' due to variable band sonar control is less effective in shallow water as the Switchfire:Clear."

Switchfire Clear:

Switchfire Max:

[thompsm7]

Okay... I now own a HB957 NVB. The information provided by Billy V and Gray Ghost has been extremely helpful and really answered the questions I've compiled over two years fishing the Henderson Harbor area of Lake Ontario. I can't wait to get the system installed and start fishing for browns in the spring. Obviously I still have a lot to learn about HB finders, but they seem user-friendly enough that I'm confident this was a good purchase for the boat.