Best fish finder with gps $500 or less?

[sstout]

I'm looking for opinions of the best fish finder for $500 or less. It'll be replacing a 12 year old lowrance unit, so I'm sure it won't take much to be better. I primarily troll, and would love a built in gps. A couple I've looked into are the Garmin echomap 53cv, lowrance hook 5 and 7, lowrance elite 5ti, or the humminbird helix 5. Any opinions or other suggestions are much appreciated! Thanks

[fisherdude]

i have lowrance, the elite 5 chirp and elite 5 hdi both work very well had no problems . the lowrance hook was new last year , have seen post on L O U that the hooks have problems with them and the customer service is poor to none . my buddy up graded to the garmin echomap 73 sv and its better than the lowrance any day but he spent more than 500 $ on it 

[rolmops]

Your best bet for a very good fish finder in that range will be a second hand Furuno (even a 582). It far outstrips just about anything new on the market.

Edited December 30, 2016 by rolmops

[Yankee Troller]

The HELIX 5 is a solid unit, and easy to use. However, why not go with a little larger screen and the newest generation for under $500?

 

http://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/marine-electronics/sonars-sonar-gps-combos%7C/pc/104794380/c/104707080/sc/104588280/humminbird-reg-helix-trade-7-chirp-sonar-gps-g2-combo/2418271.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fsonars-sonar-gps-combos%2Fhumminbird%2F_%2FN-1100517%2B1000003678%2FNe-1000003678%2FNs-MIN_SALE_PRICE%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU

 

If you don't need the latest and greatest you can go with the Gen1 for the same price, and get a $50 Cabelas gift card.

 

http://www.cabelas.com/product/boating/marine-electronics/sonars-sonar-gps-combos%7C/pc/104794380/c/104707080/sc/104588280/humminbird-reg-helix-trade-7-sonar-gps-combo/2070613.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fsonars-sonar-gps-combos%2Fhumminbird%2F_%2FN-1100517%2B1000003678%2FNe-1000003678%2FNs-MIN_SALE_PRICE%3FWTz_st%3DGuidedNav%26WTz_stype%3DGNU

 

 

Lastly, if you do go Humminbird DO NOT make the mistake and get the DI (down imaging) HELIX for trolling. It doesn't come with a wide beam 2D (traditional sonar) option. 

[Charlie P]

They have the Garmin 73 in the cabelas bargain cave for $499 right now.

Sent from my LGL22C using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[sstout]

Thanks everyone. I'm leaning more towards a garmin unit with lake vu. Anybody have any experience with lake vu? I primarily fish Cayuga lake. Is it included in their lake vu package?

[Traveling Circus]

I've been using a Garmin 547xs (w/chirp xducer)for 2 years, and have no complaints....... The preloaded lake vu isn't extremely accurate, but I mostly troll Ontario/Erie and it's not a drawback in that application. 

Edited January 11, 2017 by Traveling Circus

[Yankee Troller]

Nothing wrong with a Garmin, but be prepared to use ONLY their maps. You CAN NOT use Navionics or Lakemaster. If your lake isn't mapped you'll have poor cartography.

[sstout]

Not to change topics, but does anyone have any experience with Garmin lake vu vs. Navonics?

[Jakehnter]

Ice Helix 5 Sonar/GPS unit works great for me in the winter and I have a separate mount, power cord and transducer in the boat. I just move the display from one to the other. The units is very powerful, 4000 watts peak and is good for 1500 feet. Way more than I need. I am just starting to use the way points and GPS. Flasher is great, sonar works good for jigging has a timer, clock, battery status all built in. I don't think I will ever use all the capability the unit has. Lots of choices out there. Let us know what you pick.

[tuffishooker]

You cannot go wrong with the " bird " depending on the application !

[rolmops]

$500 can probably get you a fantastic used Furuno 585

[sstout]

It's funny looking back at this. I posted this topic 3 years ago. I ended up choosing a garmin echomap 53cv. After three seasons it's been awesome. The graph has great detail and the gps with mapping is great. I've been 8 miles offshore in lake O on a calm day and to have the GPS has made it really easy. I'm definitely a garmin fan now. 

[leadcore troller]

I just picked up the Garmin Striker 5 for my son for xmas, a friend has it and the unit works like a charm. I have a Helix5 that I have been using and am not impressed one bit, it seems hard to program and I have called hummingbird several times. The tech support seems to always rush me off the call. The problem I believe is me not understanding the term used as to what setting I would need, In the past I've had many flashers, paper graphs and for years I used an Eagle ID6300 , it was totally automatic, just power up and leave it alone. These newer units with all the different setting I find extremely confusing, and not sure what settings I need to have set. I'll start the year using the Helix5 again and try to see if I can get it right, if not i'll pick up the Garmin Striker 7 for myself.