Re: fish finders
Mark,
You have a wide selection of fish finders from different price levels -- a bit like comparing apples to oranges. However, I think your choice of fish finders depends a lot on whether you are a hardcore fisherman or just a person who occasionally wets a line. You didn’t specify which category you fit in but if you are a hardcore fisherman I would definitely stick with Furuno (another biased furuno person). A friend of mine has the Furuno 582l and it’s a very impressive machine and if I was purchasing a new fish finder this is the unit that I would purchase. I have also heard very good things about the Furuno (6100?) and it seems to be viewed as the best lower priced unit on the market.
Currently, I have a monochrome Raytheon CRT unit on the boat that works fine and I am happy with. I use the machine primarily to find specific bottom structure such as humps/ muscle beds/ holes/ where the stripers like to hang out- seeing actual fish is secondary. However, I wish my unit was a color unit as I find the color screens really helps me to determine the fish type/size, bottom composition, as well as seeing the fish laying up tight against the bottom. When I find my seacraft it will definitely be getting a color machine! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
I am leery of those Garmins since I wonder if the engineers/ designers at Garmin have ever spent any time out riding around on a small boat? A boat is stressful environment and the wiring /mount/transducers that Garmin utilizes IMHO are complete pieces of crap. I can see myself breaking that flimsy Garmin plastic mounting bracket trying to install the thing never mind when someone accidentally bumps the unit while you are running. The Garmin fish finders may work fine but I don’t want something that’s going to fall apart in a year on my boat.
Bottom line (no pun intended) is that whatever fish finder you choose, once you learn how to interpret what the screen is telling you a sounder becomes an extremely valuable tool.
p.s when I have had the chance to fish on other boats where money is no object ( Merritt, Blackfin, Hatteras, Bertram) they have all had Furuno sounders....
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