The used 16' Smokercraft I bought a couple years ago came with an Eagle DF480 fish finder. It never worked great, but at least would reliably find how deep the water is. Now it can barely find bottom.

I'm pretty ignorant regarding the options out there, but does anyone have a good suggestion for a fish finder that will do the job fishing puget sound, lake washington, baker lake, etc. and won't break the bank?

We have just bought a Lowrance 7HDS gen 3 , not cheap ($1000) but a super finder. I heard that the Hook series may be discontinuing and they have been on sale.I see units occasionally on fishing forum sites or craigs list, I had a decent Garmin for sale on this site for two or three weeks that sounds like it is just what you are looking for, but wound up selling it on Craigs list. Bob R

I just got a Cabela's catalog in the mail advertising various Lowrance Hook models for between $174 and $349, but I don't even know the difference between those models themselves, much less between those and the HDS models, or the Hummingbird Helix models, or whether I'll need a new transducer or what.

Hell, maybe a new transducer is all I need in the first place. Not really sure.

Bought a Garmin 201DV last fall at Cabela's, (on sale,) for $140. Everything I'll ever need.

Anyone want to convince me that a Lowrance Hook-5 Mid/High DownScan Sonar/GPS Combo for $300 ($400 + a $100 visa gift card) is or is not a good idea?

I run an lowrance elite 9 ( same as hook) . Sold my hds 7 because I prefer the elite over it. Does everything I need it too. Spend some extra coin for the largest screen you can afford

I'm a Garmin guy, never had anything but bad luck with Lowrance. I've settled in Simrad for the new boat. No buttons, intuitive iPad style navigation, very quick and fluid navigation and orientation. Simrad is local too.

Simrad and Lowrance are the same company. On the other hand we have had great luck with Lowrance. Go figure. I would look at features and reviews on line. Don't be intimidated by info or manual on whatever unit you decide on, just work on one thing at a time "till you get comfortable with that and move to the next item. Bob R

Damn stuff changes so fast that it is darn near impossible to keep up and a lot of small things between makes and models. It is all about money and preference. I got a HDS 9 Gen 3 and you can jump up to 3d with the added hardware on it. Humminbirds 360 while weak on sonar display it can run the downriggers and you have a 300 ft 360 sweep for fish that is absolutely stunning in use. Frankly what I did was decide my top $ and researched what could fit my budget. One thing for certain the idea that a tiny screen is a good thing is bs as much as a big screen but down graded performance so I went with 9 inch Gen 3 and Skimmer transducer.

What are the main differences in transducer types?

Simrad might be the parent company of Lowrance but they're not even in the same boat (pun intended) I've seen plenty of Simrad on commercial vessels but have never seen Lowrance on a commercial boat. Simrad is orders of magnitude better than Lowrance, as is Raytheon/Raymarine. But everyone has their preference....blonds, brunettes and redheads....

Seen so much bad press about nearly NON-existent customer service at Lowrance that I can't imagine anyone going that route these days. They treat their products as disposable and expect the same of you. Gotta problem? No sweat, just buy the latest upgrade to that model.

No thanks.

I subscribe to the 3G principle of marine electronics...

G-otta
G-etta
G-ARMIN!

I went with the Raymarine a-Series because, like many on here, I was DONE with the Lowrance lack of customer service. As has been mentioned, when something fails and you finally get someone from customer service, they try to up-sell you even when your unit is only 3-4 years old.

I like my a-Series (7" screen) and it has CHIRP which I like a lot but it is limited in utility to 200' or less. That limitation makes it sorta saltwater useful (good for finding clouds of shrimp on bottom) but it really shines in shallow water fishing where the detail is so much greater.

I spent $1200 on it at the Boat Show. Would I buy one again? Maybe, maybe not. I admit to being intrigued by the new Garmins and has been mentioned already, the bigger the screen, the better. The ability to have a split screen when bottom fishing for example is great when you can track your course on the GPS map to see where the boat is drifting while watching the depth on the sounder. It is WAY easier to do this on a bigger screen than on a smaller one, especially when you are jigging in the stern.

I expect the most use I'll get out of the fish finder will be fishing puget sound for salmon, fishing Lake Stevens for kokanee, and fishing Baker Lake for sockeye. So, a mix of fresh and salt, but not a whole lot of shallow fresh water fishing.

I bought a Hummingbird Model 597 CI HD, does everything, and more, that the unit should do.

The only thing I'd do difference is get a larger screen but that wasn't an option when I purchased mine in 2011.

IMO...person needs to go to a place, like Cabalas, where many models are on display, then get a knowledgeable sales person....and have him point out the + and - of different units.......it will be "mind overload" if you don't have some kind of background before you get there.

Technology is changing SO FAST, that it is tough to stay current on features that different companies provide. Cost can be shocking, more features, bigger screen....can get over $2000+ pretty quick.

Good luck!!!!!!

Well, I ended up getting a Hook 7 Sonar/GPS combo. With the mail-in rebate, I figured the overall price made the risk of bad customer service rep worth it. If I get burned on that front, at least it will be on a $400 ($500 - $100 rebate) unit instead of a $1200 unit.

I have had three Lowrance units over the last 35 years or so. The first one was a flasher unit I bought used for $30, used. It was a Lowrance and worked for 10 years or so 'till the motor went out. Still a great deal. The next one was a Hummingbird, it worked , but was a portable unit and was definitely lacking in features. Sold it later when we bought a Lowrance 527c (I believe that is the number). It had a problem with the transducer not reading surface temp. after a year , could have taken a hit on a rock, but Lowrance sent another transducer, no cost at all, not even shipping or returning the original transducer. Talk about service! It still works fine, been a great gps/ bottomfinder for over 10 years. We just got a new boat, we kept the older unit for our smaller boat and bought a Lowrance HDS gen 3 with a 7 inch screen, also got the structure scan transducer. It has been great! Lowrance has answered all my questions on their help line quickly and have been super helpful with installation questions as well. It replaced a newer Garmin that came with the new boat,that I had for sale on this forum but no one bought it so Craigs list it went. It didn't have maps or the ability to load them from navionics even though it had GPS! The newer Garmins are crap, plugs are cheap and come out easily, downscan isn't downscan, they did not have the rights to that technology and changed it to "clearview", a crappier version of downscan ( a patented Lowrance product) that Garmin doesn''t use anymore because of legal issues (i.e., they didn't want to pay for Lowrance technology). I couldn't even sell it for less then half price even though it was basically new.All this info can be found on the WA. lakes forum under boats and boating topics section, thread is called "don't buy Garmin, etc. The person who wrote it is super informed on sonar, evidently they changed hands and customer service sucks now. Also check out his thread (also in that heading under boats) about sonar interpretation, most informed info I have ever seen, including tutorials. My Garmin was garbage, I sold it. Don't believe everything people say , look for reviews and READ THAT THREAD! It will make a world of difference on how you read sonar. Bob R

Garmin's focus has been avionics both fixed wing and rotor in recent years. In fact they are taking over the rotor market as well as big dent in fixed wing upgrades such as King Air ( the most produced civil aviation plane period ) and others. The marine sector is a secondary part of their business and but they will roar back as Garmin is jumping way a head of folks in research. All brands cycle that way just Lowrance is peaking with its tech now but others will pass them sooner or later as others research moves forward. Humminbird get 3d ( as lowrance ) with the 360 scan and look out.

For me it is about all that and this, your dealer! It is always best that your shop service ( or trouble shoot ) what you purchase. Works better.

I bought the Raymarine Dragonfly 7 when it first came out a couple of years ago. Found out that they immediately revised the front controls and they also update the firmware a dozen times per year.

It took me a second trip to the boat show in order to get my transducer mounted correctly (included instructions do not give the subtle hints that you need to know).

After all that, I love the unit. Less than $900 new.

At the time, the boat I had purchased from my employer had an old Raymarine Multi-function display, which could take weather, radar, GPS, and depth/fish, and also had two video out connections. They no longer made a compatible GPS antenna. I sold the unit in two days on Craigslist for $700.

So my buy in to the Dragonfly 7 was only $200.

fool