I need a fish finder/depth sounder and / chartplotter

[booyagasha]

like the title reads, i need a fishfinder/depth finder. My old lowrance has taken a poop....it intermittently turns on,reads and all, just flashes once every...5 minutes...My chartplotter works fine, although a little old, and lacking some color on the screen, works as it should.

?Now my question is this, should I just play frugal and get a bang for the buck fish finder, and just use the current chartplotter.?

or do i buy a combo like the Lowrance HDS5/7 or something cheaper like the hummingbird?(or cheaper brands like humminbird and eagle even worth it)? and use my current chartplotter as backup?

thanks in advance for any help...keep in mind, im a baller on a budget..so lets try to keep prices minimal


ALSO, is my old lowrance trash? how about the transducer?i know it's probably a long shot, but, can i use the old transducer to save the hassle from running the wires?

[Suthrngntlmn]

I just got the Lowrance Elite-5 DSI Color Fishfinder/Chartplotter, it's a great little unit. Only bad thing is it doesn't have much of an owners manual; you just got to learn as you go, that's if you want to go with a completely new unit all around.

[booyagasha]

Originally Posted by Suthrngntlmn

I just got the Lowrance Elite-5 DSI Color Fishfinder/Chartplotter, it's a great little unit. Only bad thing is it doesn't have much of an owners manual; you just got to learn as you go, that's if you want to go with a completely new unit all around.

What are some good prices for the hds5?

[Sea-Trac Offshore]

HDS-5 w/ transducer $656.95
The HDS units are great bang for your buck. I would go that route and keep your old chartplotter for backup or run full screen fishfinder on hds when you want. None of the old cables are worth keeping

[flounder_smacker]

I would seriously consider garmin unless u want the lowrance for the side scan.

[booyagasha]

School me on fish finders..I mainly use em for depth finding purposes. Do they actually see fish?
Never fished with one for fish finding purposes ...if not ill just get a cheapo for depth finding

[Suthrngntlmn]

If you just want a good depth finder, you can get that for a $100 - $200 depending on brand. Now you see fish on mine, or at least what they say is fish.

[flounder_smacker]

Where do u mostly fish? Sonar is used for scanning bottom finding structure, drop offs, holes etc. They don't actually find fish but mostly show u where they might be hanging out. If u want to actually want to see the fish u will need side scan in either lowrance or humminbird.

[Sea-Trac Offshore]

The HDS or any fishfinder can find fish. I use mine for locating fish in drop offs and holes during the winter finding where the trout may be stacked up. Once you get an eye for using it it becomes a great tool. The Lowrance units you can actually see your lure going down. You need to get away from the auto settings and manually adjust gain and such and it wakes the units up