fish finder with GPS

[Quacksmacker935]

I am looking into getting a fish finder for my boat, i want one with GPS. My question is what one is the best for the money? Is a color screen that much better then black and white? Any input would be nice

[Don Supon]

Color is much better than B&W. Baitfish clouds on mine show in blue dots, but have orange areas where tightly packed. A fish arch is always orange. Particularly helpful when fish is very close to bottom, color shows fish from bottom structure.

I'll never go back to B&W.

My FF is a HuminBird. I run a seperate GPS because I don't want to sacrifice screen space on the FF.

All major brands have good combos.

This equipment is invaluable to the fisherman. Expect to pay $1000 or more, don't cheap out on this. Visit stores where they have demos of different brands (Gander Mountain for example) and pick whatever you like best. Lake O goes to 500 ft., make sure your choice can show at least that depth. The ability to zoom into any area of the water column is VERY healpful.

Happy shopping!

[jekyll]

I won't hazard a suggestion of which brand is best. I run Lowrance but would have a Furuno if I could have afforded it at the time I bought my last unit. Not a suggestion, just a desire.

Combo units are great if you have a small dash. Mine is a combo but, I also have a dedicated GPS which does most of my GPS duties. Ensure you get one that has a slot for a Navtronics card so you can add detail. My unit (and I assume most others) allows you to add data to the F/F screen such as GPS speed and bearing. This really reduces the need to have the GPS screen showing allowing you to devote the full screen to what's under your keel.

Color is not necessary but, is much 'mo' better.

Internal antenna versus external: Internal works through canvas and through my hard top (28 Penn Yan). External takes more work to install an antenna and coax run, also more links to fail.

A good dual frequecy, internal antenna combo unit is an affordable, neat package that is hard to beat. I bought mine when I had a smaller boat with limited space. I purchased a second transducer and wiring harness, and a quick mount system when I purchased a larger boat. This allowed me to use the same unit in both boats by swapping the unit back and forth between boats when I changed up. One menu system to remember. I'm using a 5-year old Lowrance 527 and am very happy with it.

Lake O is over 600 feet deep. 50 htz will hold the bottom and mark all the way down but, those fish are are made of unobtainium. 200 htz will hold the bottom to 450 feet and mark fish to 350 feet - still unreachable though.

[zackblain]

I picked up a humminbird 597ci hd for well under 500$ not too long ago and have been very impressed so far. Take a look into it

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[ontherise]

lowrance HDS Gen. 2 the only way to go..sick unit.. The 5 inch is great but if you can afford it, get the 7.

[TyeeTanic]

Lowrance Elite 5 Gold - is worth every cent. It is a great unit for about $500. Color, dual frequency 83kHz and 200 kHz. GPS with navionics maps - user friendly, etc.

If you want to spend more, there's better out there.

Yes get color - don't cheap out on B&W. It tells you a lot, for instance color will show you if a fish is directly under you or off to the side of the boat (as the signal return gets stronger the colors go to red).

[Chas0218]

I run 2 one is my FF and the other is gps. I paid less doing it that way. I bought the gps at bass pro on black Friday because of the killer deal I got. My FF is black and white but at the time was one of the top of the better units. I will upgrade eventually but know my unit well so it's hard to buy a new one. My units are HumminBird for my FF and lowrance for my gps. Both work well but like the HumminBird for its ease of use and has better mounting options (swivel base is nice stock)

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