Help which fish finder!

yoyo · 22 September 2005, 22:15

Hi Guys,

Im currently getting ideas to fit out my new 4.5m rib for the first time. (when i purchase the console).

What fish & depth finder for under £150 max do you good people think is the best value for money. Garmin, Navman etc. Any info or user feed back will be very helpful.
thanks in advance.

YOYO.

Tim M · 22 September 2005, 23:49

I can't remember which model it is but I've often looked at a Navman priced at around £130. It had all the features I'm after. Must get around to buying it! I do however have a Navman 7100 and if that's anything to go by the fishfinder will be pretty well made (no probs with the radio after 10 months in the elements.)

Garmin has an exellent reputation for customer service although I can't pay testamony to this.

roycruse · 23 September 2005, 00:29

I used to have an Eagle on my old humber that came with the boat when i bought it - i replaced it with a garmin plotter/sounder as i didnt have enough room for seperates - to be honest as far as fishfinding and bottom tracking went the eagle was a much better unit.

you can get the Eagle Fish Easy 2 from JGTech for £129 inc VAT and inc Delivery

Whatever you buy though - make sure you get one intended for salt water - some of the cheaper units only have low power transducers intended for lakes which will not work so well in salt water.

Jizm · 23 September 2005, 13:03

My mate's got one of these Silva eagle Cudas, very compact and only £80 from towsure.

wavelength · 23 September 2005, 14:08

We have a couple of those cheapy Cuda sounders (ours came from compass24.com). Work fine with the transducer simply siliconed into the well and sounds away happily at most speeds. If you only want a cheap reliable sounder, and thats all I need, they are fine, and certainly better than the humminbird we replaced. If you turn the sensitivity up you can kid yourself (or at least your passengers) that the sea underneath you is full of fish

yoyo · 26 September 2005, 22:07

thanks roycruse,

Anybody else got any user reports on the eagle easyfish2 or sea-finder240df against Garmin etc.
i notice that the sea-finder 240df can handle a speed and mileage log. Is this worth the extra bucks?
yoyo.

Jizm · 26 September 2005, 22:25

I haven't had a lot of luck with the speed reading on mine, (navman fish 440) so it's a bit of a waste of time really. The paddle wheel thing is a bit 10-1 ! quite a few people on here have found that. Better to have a dedicated speed/distance item such as gps or a 'pitot' (i think

) type speedo / log.

Simon B · 27 September 2005, 09:21

We have the Eagle Cuda 128 its a very good basic instrument but as you would expect it is missing some of the fancy features you'd see on more expensive ones i.e. "Zoom" or "A" lock (I think its called) where you see the bottom part of the water coloumn. This is a feature favoured by divers if locting a sea floor feature.

yoyo · 09 November 2005, 19:31

I am visiting the states soon where the local West Marine chandlery in Stanford CA. has got the Lowrance X58df fish-depth finder on offer. It works out with US tax at about 93 quid which sounds very reasonable as they are about £180 this side of the pond.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...01/10879/140/3

Does anybody have any user feedback on this model good or bad. Should I take the risk buying state side ie warranty etc.

They look very similar to the Eagle fish easy stuff. Are they the same instrument under different badges….

Any info much appreciated thanks

roycruse · 09 November 2005, 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoyo

They look very similar to the Eagle fish easy stuff. Are they the same instrument under different badges….

Yes - Eagle stuff is made by Lowrance.

yoyo · 09 November 2005, 21:39

roycruse,

Thanks once again for the info.
Did you check the spec of the Lowrance on the link i posted. What do you thinK?
It looks the same as the fish easy 2 that you once owned but with a few extras!!
I have never owned a fish finder before but to me it looks like a good spec with a great price!!!

BTW. Congrats on the new RIB it looks well cooool..

roycruse · 09 November 2005, 23:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoyo

to me it looks like a good spec with a great price!!!

BTW. Congrats on the new RIB it looks well cooool..

i would agree looks like a great fishfinder for the money. Im trying to get a navman 2100 or 3100 fuel flow meter from over there at the moment due to the price difference my self. But dont know anyone who lives there to mail order it to.

Thanks for comment on my boat - now i have got over the painfull bit of the running in - it is really putting a big smile on my face...

Searider · 10 November 2005, 13:53

Fitted a Garmin Fishfinder 80 this year and have been very pleased with it. Even works at high speed.

Multi way plug is a bit large which makes running the cables tricky.

Use it as a depth sounder rather than a fish finder so have not worried too much about the small screen or fishy features!

Andy Moore · 10 November 2005, 14:28

How well do fishfinders work? I mean, when you see the display with an array of 'ickle fishy icons, how much of a 'pinch of sait' is required?

ashbypower · 10 November 2005, 15:09

Find our fish finders work well, however must be aware that anything floating below the surface will make a return and show as fish. Actually managed to "Ping" divers this year as I was waiting to pick them up

Brian

Andy Moore · 10 November 2005, 15:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashbypower

Find our fish finders work well, however must be aware that anything floating below the surface will make a return and show as fish. Actually managed to "Ping" divers this year as I was waiting to pick them up

I was told that fishfinders pick up the fish's swim bladders. Is this true or b******ks?

ashbypower · 10 November 2005, 15:29

Pass on that! It's my understanding that the transmit the sonar signal and await the return "ping", the time between transmit and recieved is halved then depth is calculated utilising the speed thr water of the signal. Therefore anything between transponder and bottom that returns some of the signal is identified as a fish AKA my divers!!

Brian

yoyo · 08 December 2005, 01:47

Roycruse,

I have managed to buy the Lowrance X58 depth/fish finder now during my stay in the USA. I am very pleased with all its features (on paper anyway) and the price! (About £92).

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...001/10879/140/3

One thing that I didn’t count on was the size of the transducer, it's a dual frequency 50/200 skimmer type and it is as big as my hand. Is this the kind of transducer that was with your old fish easy2

Cheers.

Mike B · 08 December 2005, 10:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Moore

I was told that fishfinders pick up the fish's swim bladders. Is this true or b******ks?

Yep its true see here:

http://www.find-fish.com/index.pmg/p...ilder/pageid-4

roycruse · 08 December 2005, 10:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by yoyo

Roycruse,

I have managed to buy the Lowrance X58 depth/fish finder now during my stay in the USA. I am very pleased with all its features (on paper anyway) and the price! (About £92).

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...001/10879/140/3

One thing that I didn’t count on was the size of the transducer, it's a dual frequency 50/200 skimmer type and it is as big as my hand. Is this the kind of transducer that was with your old fish easy2

Cheers.

I seem to remember mine being smaller - but then i also seem to remember it being metal.

That is almost identical in size to the garmin dual freq transducer that I have with my 178c chart plotter/fishfinder in my new boat though. Also those lowrence / eagle ones look a bit more streamlined in shape than the garmin ones.

All you got to do now is decide weather to transom mount it or weather to epoxy it onto the hull inside the boat