which fishfinder has the best display ?

[mainshiptom]

I am thinking of a new fishfinder since the old depth sounder has just died..

What should i get ? also I am not going to put the transducer through the hull but place in the bilge inside a bag or poll full of water !

Are the raymarine's the best ??

 

[duncan]

the best will depend on a lot of things but an adequate display (as oposed to say a 10inch CRT commercial colour one) is around the 5inch diagonal - 240x240 pixel - and it's the vertical pixel count that makes the difference.
The big issue is going to be transducer - and you cannot beat a high quality through hull according to all the american reports - skimmer/back of hull comes next (suffers some turbulance wherever mounted) and inside the hull close behind it (suffers power reduction which impact in salt or silty water adn at depth) . Note if your boat stays afloat the inside the hull can suffer significantly if any fouling grows on the outside where the 'ducer is mounted.
As the technology's move on I would expect Garmin to produce a high quality colour sounder based on their Blue Chart compatable colour chart plotters but right now the only other notable ones on the market are the Lowrance X series (I admit to having the 480x360 pixel (I think!) LCX-15MT and use it as both a plotter and sonar. There are 2 colour ones as well. The other advantage these units have is that you can record interesting features or ground onto smart media cards and then replay on a PC. If, like me, you have connected a GPS to the unit you simply place the cursor on a poinnt of interest in the comfort of your home and it tells you the GPS coordinates which it records with the sonar track as it goes along!
Hope this helps

 

[Stingray]

I have an Eagle Strata which works very well with the skimmer type transducer attached to the inside of the hull with sealastic. Been in place nearly a year now without any problems.

 

[whisper]

Wow, that 's all far too technical for me - sounds expensive as well. No wonder I don't catch any fish!
If you want a fishfinder for fishing then you need a far better & costlier piece of kit than that required as a replacement depth sounder.
If you only want the latter then a 128 vert. pixel machine will be perfectly adequate IMHO.
I have had both Humminbird & Garmin instruments in the past and think that the Garmin has the better (clearer/larger) display for the same sort of money. I found for example, that I could read the numerals on the Garmin screen without needing my glasses.
Check out www.powerboat-reports.com and look at their fishfinder comparisons dated Oct.2002 . A Furuno LS6100 comes top with the Garmin 240 a close second . I'd buy the Furuno but it looks as if it may be too large.

 

[richson]

Agree with whisper - Garmin 240 easy to read numbers and very clear display. Works great for me in depths of 200ft plus with good resolution of wrecks etc. I mounted transducer midships using epoxy supplied, but I know others who use silicone sealant and are happy. Silicone has higher vswr than epoxy so will not be as good, but probably good enough unless you use in v deep water. At least you can get it off if you do get a problem with turbulence . .

 

[brianrunyard]

I can thoroughly recommend the Garmin 240. I find it very clear, good resolution and easy to use.

Brian
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/brunyard

 

[jointventureII]

If youre on a tighter budget the garmin 100 is good too, but the screen is very
small but thats not too great a problem.

 

[wakeup]

New Garmin - Sneak Peek

Checkout the garmin web site www.garmin.com

They have a sneak peek section showing their two new fish finders about to be released the 80 and the 320 , both look very good indeed.

yada yada..

 

[mainshiptom]

Re: New Garmin - Sneak Peek

The Garmin 80 looks very good and is affordable for a xmas presi..

I will wait till its out unless some one knows where you can order one early on the web ??

And who is YADA ??

Thanks

tom

 

[whisper]

Re: New Garmin - Sneak Peek

Excuse me for interrupting but where is this "sneak peek" on the Garmin site? Can't see it anywhere.

 

[wakeup]

Re: New Garmin - Sneak Peek

Go to www.garmin.com then select marine and you should see it on the middle of the page.

http://www.garmin.com/marine/

The see under the heading 'Latest' and its the first in that list.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by wakeup on 20/11/2002 17:33 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[boatone]

Re: New Garmin - Sneak Peek

BoatsOnTheWeb Photo Gallery

 

[wakeup]

Re: New Garmin - Sneak Peek

Also

http://www.garmin.com/products/ff320/index.html

For the colour DBs version

yada yada..