finders, chart plotters gps?

[rlconverse]

just getting into lake Ontario salmon fishing trying to get my boat set up. i have been looking at a lot of depth finders/gps chart plotter combos. im not sure what i should be looking for could anyone shine a little light on this for me? thank you

[stoutner]

Don't make the mistake I did... I bought cheap, then more expensive, then more expensive. If you can afford it, buy a Furuno 585 or Lowrance 8 Gen 1 or 2 or something like that. ...and, I'm getting ready to go even bigger and better this year. 4 years and 4 different finders = a lot of wasted money.

If your budget doesn't allow any 8" or larger unit, any 5" unit with combo would be o.k. But be prepared to spend $500 - $1000 even for a a smaller unit.

[rolmops]

The 1KW Furuno 585 and 587 are top of the line and at the same time overkill for Lake Ontario. The Furuno 620 and its new and improved brother the 627 are all you need down to 600 feet and holding bottom.

99% of our fishing is done at depths not exceeding 200 feet so the 600 watt is fine (it is what the Furuno 582 uses). Another fishfinder that you may want to look at is the 600 watt Sitex 650. It's new on the block,but Sitex is right up there with Furuno in the commercial market.

[Adk1]

The 1KW Furuno 585 and 587 are top of the line and at the same time overkill for Lake Ontario. The Furuno 620 and its new and improved brother the 627 are all you need down to 600 feet and holding bottom.

99% of our fishing is done at depths not exceeding 200 feet so the 600 watt is fine (it is what the Furuno 582 uses). Another fishfinder that you may want to look at is the 600 watt Sitex 650. It's new on the block,but Sitex is right up there with Furuno in the commercial market.

What about the more economical Humminbird combos..i.e. the 500 series or 700 series?

[on the lam]

The 1KW Furuno 585 and 587 are top of the line and at the same time overkill for Lake Ontario. The Furuno 620 and its new and improved brother the 627 are all you need down to 600 feet and holding bottom.

99% of our fishing is done at depths not exceeding 200 feet so the 600 watt is fine (it is what the Furuno 582 uses). Another fishfinder that you may want to look at is the 600 watt Sitex 650. It's new on the block,but Sitex is right up there with Furuno in the commercial market.

The 585 is not overkill for lake O.. it has a 600w or 1KW output, you choose the appropriate transducer. I use a 600w ducer. The 582l is a great unit and I ran one for years, but the 585 is top of the line recreational machine. I don't think anyone here will dispute that in its price range.

Standard Features:

Dual-Frequency 50/200 kHz

New DSP Filter makes the picture clearer and easier to discriminate between baitfish and larger target species

8/16/64 Color Echo Presentations

Hands free adjustments of gain, STC & output power through digital filtering

8 Range Scales to 2,500 feet

High output power of 600W or 1kW via transducer selection

Audio and visual alarms for water depth, fish echoes and water temperature*

Wide variety of transducer options

Bright, 8.4" color LCD gives excellent readability even in broad daylight

Waterproof construction permits installation on open bridge

Selectable automatic cruising or fishing modes to suit your style of boating

Automatic function for detecting fish and bottom in both shallow and deep water

User-programmable nav data display provides analog and digital nav data*

Alarms: Bottom, Fish (bottom lock and normal), Speed, Water Temperature and Arrival (Speed, arrival and water temperature alarms require appropriate sensor)

White line feature helps discriminate fish lying near the bottom

Destination waypoint feature provides range, bearing, and time-to-go to destination waypoint (up to 20 waypoints)

[rolmops]

The 1KW Furuno 585 and 587 are top of the line and at the same time overkill for Lake Ontario. The Furuno 620 and its new and improved brother the 627 are all you need down to 600 feet and holding bottom.

99% of our fishing is done at depths not exceeding 200 feet so the 600 watt is fine (it is what the Furuno 582 uses). Another fishfinder that you may want to look at is the 600 watt Sitex 650. It's new on the block,but Sitex is right up there with Furuno in the commercial market.

What about the more economical Humminbird combos..i.e. the 500 series or 700 series?

I currently run a Humminbird 575 with side imaging and a triducer. It is their best (16 different shades)black and white. It's fine until you go searching for fish at higher speeds.

The main problem with these humminbirds is that they make their own transducers and unlike the Airmar it is not always compatible with a different fishfinder.

Furuno is in a class of its own.

[rlconverse]

thank you for everybody input i welcome anyone else ideas as well

[Xxx]

Here is the game I'm going to play, IMO I think that the 5" screens are going to come down in price,with all the new HDS units in 8"&10" touch screens comming out that this will calm down the price of the 5" hds5- I'm in need of a new unit also but don't see the need for a $1500.00 unit, being a week end worrior with a weeks vac. in the summer. IMO a hds5 with a 50/200 ducer will do the trick, right now they are around $650.00 let's see what happens in a few months?

[rolmops]

Here is the game I'm going to play, IMO I think that the 5" screens are going to come down in price,with all the new HDS units in 8"&10" touch screens comming out that this will calm down the price of the 5" hds5- I'm in need of a new unit also but don't see the need for a $1500.00 unit, being a week end worrior with a weeks vac. in the summer. IMO a hds5 with a 50/200 ducer will do the trick, right now they are around $650.00 let's see what happens in a few months?

Right now ,the Furuno 627 with an Airmar p66 will cost you $859 if you register with "The Hull truth" and buy it from Semperfifishing as a member of the Hull Truth .

The Sitex SVS 650 with the same transducer costs $630 from that place.

Both fishfinders are as powerful as the furuno 582 , they have a much higher resolution screen than the 582 or 585,but their screens are a bit smaller than the 582,the SVS 650 being a bit larger than the 627.

[Iceman]

The Furano 585 is now 7 year old technology. Electronics change immensely over a few years, The new technology kicks butt against the old technology.

[chinook266]

The Raymarine a67 is a gps/finder combo with touchscreen for under $1K

[Chautauqua Tony]

I like the screen on my Raymarine combo! My buddy has a Furuno and that thing is sweet too!! Guess it just depends on how much you want to spend. Next time around I probably will have two separate units for GPS and sonar instead of a combo.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[hooknup]

I have a lowrance hds10 gen2. It is paired with a 1000watt thruhull transducer from airmar. So far so good. I am able to track the bottom at 35mph+. Also, it has a split screen for the 4g radar& gps. My reason for going with the lowrance was dashboard space. I wanted one unit that "does it all". I dont have the room for a seperate fishfinder and a gps. So the lowrance filled my need.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Yankee Troller]

The Furuno is a great unit. If you can afford the $1000 to buy it then go for it. However, it's just a fish finder. You will need to buy another unit for your GPS. That's another $500-$1000. For $1300 you can have a big screen and the best of both worlds! We ran this unit for 2 seasons before going with the 11" screen (1198). You will be very happy with the performance of this unit, and if you ever have any questions Humminbird customer service is great to deal with. With this unit you can also add Humminbird Radar in the future if you feel the need to. One unit will do it all for you!

If you feel the need for two units you can go one step lower and get the Humminbird 858. For under $2000 you can have two head units. If you have any questions regarding Humminbird units feel free to ask away. We've run them for 6 seasons now, and we are very happy with them.

Humminbird 958

[Xxx]

I'm really leaning towards the ELITE 7 I've been doing alot of research on this unit and can only find 2 faults 1 is it's only got a 1 year warrenty, 2 there is no up dates avalilable, but power wise it's right up there with the top notch units, go to www.lowrance.comusa. it's the first thing that comes up, see what you guys think, and report back on what you guys with the hds8&10s think. thanks PAP.

[Goatboy]

I'm wondering

 

Can you use your standard car GPS with Lake paos on it?

 

They are a hell of alot cheaper and more user firendly

[Xxx]

Ok, my minds made up, I'm going to buy the ELITE7 it's everything I need, and as far as not being able to up date over the internet a tech savy person told me you can update this unit, but you need a card reader and the right card and download the info to the card reader then remove the old card in the unit, install the updated card then reboot the unit and then you have Lowrances up date, a little bit more involved than the new HDS units, but for $750.00 I will put up with that inconvience, now I have a question,I need some help here, which transducer should I get they have 3 choices, 83/200,83/200-433? 0r 50/200 which ducer can you see your rigger ball, I talked to a guy that says he can see the fish come into the lure,and then back out if the fish isn't interested, which ducer is that, I mainly fish for walleye but, also for salmon and lakers in the deeper waters also. Any input would be great, kind of confused? THANKS PAP.

[rlconverse]

i have been doing a lot of research one the elite 7 also, i have the same questions about the transducers. i was also considering a thru hull

[Xxx]

Just a heads up, Bass Pro is putting the ELITE7 on sale next week, I don't know what or how much off the price, but keep an eye open next week, see what happens PAP.