|
|
| I was asked by a friend of mine about purchasing a new sonar/GPS for his leisure/fishing boat...I've never really researched units in that price range to recommend to him...He'd like to have something that fairly easy to use...Thoughts? Lowrance? Hummingbird? Others? Model?
He previously had an old lowrance unit that is on the fritz....
Any help would be appreciated. |
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 625
Location: LaCrosse, WI | $500 is a tough number to crack for a good combo. If you need to stay under $500 exactly, I'd say the Eagle Fish Elite 640C is about the best bang for the buck. You allready know how to use Lowrance products, and you'd be getting a color unit with a 640x480-pixel, 256-color display. This unit would take Lakemaster or Navionics chips.
If you could scrape together the extra money, I'd seriously look at the Lowrance HDS5 that you can get for $615 through Jolly Ann Marine www.jollyannsales.com. It says $649.99, but the reduced price gets added to your cart when you click the add to cart button.
The nice thing about the HDS 5 is that you can add on the side imaging/down imaging later if you want. If you decide in the future that you want this feature, it will be an extra charge to add it, but not a thousand dollar plus investement for a whole new unit. The high def map chip options are pretty cool too.
I'd save up the extra $115 and buy the HDS5. Plus Jolly Ann ships free and there's no sales tax (that probably saves $30-$40 on a $500 unit).
Edited by GNWC Rookie 7/21/2009 2:38 PM
|
|
| |
|
Member
Posts: 885
| I just bought a 640c for my brothers boat and I love it. It took me a while to figure out the menues, but it has every feature my Lowrance units have. I especially love the ability to overlay speed, temp, and depth plus other digital items ontop of the individual screens. When I want a full size map, I get the map with the depth and time displayed. When I want a Depth Finder, I get the ground speed and time and water temp.
You can choose seperate overlays on each fullsize screen and they can be different. It's like having 2 units on your boat in one. (This is my first combo unit...so take it easy on me)
It took me about 2 hours to figure out how to turn off the "fish ID", but after spend the last 2 weeks on the water with the unit, it works perfect. I bought mine brand new for $450 on ebay.
Purple Skeeter |
|
| |
