The dirt on eagle.

[oldboot]

I'm looking at a new plotter/ sounder/ combo/ what ever.

the new tub came with a 5" b&w eagle sounder & it doesn't seem too bad at all.

So I've scoured the catalogues.......I recon 5" is a fair thing....big enough to see and you don't have to rob a bank to get one.

Now the eagles seem to be (on paper) pretty good value for money.......good res, big enough screen.....and they dont try and do everey damn thing with 3 buttons.

AND...... you can buy the eagle 5" plotter for arround $ 750... but for $50 more you can get the combo.

I've heard all sorts of dirt about other brands.....

Whats the news on eagle.. good or bad.

cheers

I;m not looking for some sort of space station interface.....just a good sounder/ plotter/whatever

[Aunty Jack]

I beleave Eagle and Lowrance are made by the same people.
All good in my books but others will disagree.

[Moonlighter]

Hi Oldboot

I have an Eagle Seacharter 500cdf so can provide some info.

Basically, excellent units and very similar to their Lowrance "sisters", but a few less menu features - its like "last year's slightly detuned model".

The 500cdf is a 500w rms colour unit with dual frequency transducer, have used it out to 90m water and got excellent pictures of the seabed at that depth even at speed using 200khz - no need to go to 50khz to get picture at those depths. Could easily make out the wireweed when in at the 37 fathom reefs.

The main difference in them that you wont see in the spec's is chart limits function on the sounder.

They don't have the ability to set both upper and lower chart limits, (ie on Lowrance if you're in say 80m of water you can set the upper limit at 70m and the lower limit at 82m, which means the full screen shows you the bottom 12 m which gives you excellent detail.

So the only way of getting a closer look at the seabed with the Eagle is to use the "zoom" button and 4x zoom is the max. In 80m the range is say 90m so 2 x = 45m and 4x = 22m. It's not a plane crash issue but the deeper you fish the more this will bug you. In depths of up to about 75m its no great issue really.

Screen res is excellent even in bright sunlight.

Takes similar charts to the Lowrance, although I don't think they can handle the newer 3d versions.

In all other practical terms, excellent units.

They do have the same keypad as the Lowrance pre- HDS models and they are/were prone to a known problem (reported numerous times on Ausfish) where the keypad fails and its basically like the on/off switch is jammed and the unit turns itseld on and off and flashes madly like a strobe. Had to send mine back to the States (bought on net) to get fixed out of warranty, but even with that cost, still cost me half of the (then) price I could get if for in Aust.

So if buying here I would be very tempted to buy an extended warranty because it seems that it takes a couple of years for this problem to emerge. I've fitted a in-line switch so when not in use the power is disconnected to the Unit - having power connected when not in use seems to hasten this problem's occurence in my opinion.

I was quite used to running it in split screen mode and it's OK, you can change between the sounder/GPS menu by hitting the "pages" botton twice in quick succession, and you can quite quickly resize the split on the screen to give you more/less of whichever side you want.

I have eventually succumbed and bought a Lowrance HDS5x at the boat show and will now run the Eagle as a pure GPS (you can turn the sounder side off) and the HDS is a pure sounder model, so I now have 2 x 5" screens which is much nicer! But I couldn't afford 2 units when I got the Eagle and was happy with it for 2 years running in split screen mode.

Happy to have a chat on phone if you want - just PM me your contact #.

Cheers

ML

[Bowser]

Eagle are a downgraded Lowrance. As above you generally don't get th efeatures but most importantly they are lower power units. Not a problem in shallowish water but needs to be considered in deeper water. It may be worth upscaling to a Lowarance.

[dazza]

i am in the process of replacing my eagle,
i had the bottom line model, purchased about 8 years ago, it has served me very well. it is mounted out in the open in my tinney, has spent many hourg getting drenched by saltwater, baked by the sun and the kids play with the buttons constantly, hasn't missed a beat until is s@#t itself a couple of weeks ago.
for a little entry level sounder it was fantastic.
cheers
dazza