New sounder questions

[aadam]

hi guys,
im in the market for a new sounder to use up front on the electric. I only fish rivers and inland impoundments and am looking for someting that can help to locate schooling bass and structure for other inland species. I can only spend about $500 and i am not sure where to go from here. I would like the option for a gps, but dont need a full blown chart plotter.

Humminbird 718- dual freq, gps option
Lowrance x125 good screen res, no gps option, good power output
Eagle fishmark 480 same as x125 with lower power
garmin 400, colour unit, small screen size
furuno ls4100- gps option, lower pixel than x125

any oppinions of any of these or other units in this price range would be greatly appreciated.
cheers
Aadam

[BaitThrower]

I'd go the Fishmark 480. I have the Fishmark 320 and it is awesome, so i'd imagine the 480 is even better with its higher resolution.

[Gator]

Adam,
I'm in the same boat at the moment. I have been running a Lowrance X75 for years now and have had no trouble at all. The only thing is the cables are starting to deteriorate. I just bought replacement cables from Trymax at Capalaba. I am going to run this unit off my bow mount minn kota and I plan to buy a new unit to run down the back.
I had planned to buy the Lowrance X125 ($475) but the boys at Trymax reckon I'm betting off buying a colour Garmin 400c ($480) unit for the same money. I disagree.
The Furuno 4100 ($499) is also a great unit and is easy to operate. It is a matter of personal choice between the two.
Personally I would go with the Lowrance X 125 as they have a great track record of hassle free use.
I have been considering spending a little extra on the Lowrance HDS5X colour sounder ($770)but after reading reports on here that folks have been having trouble with them I'm not so sure.
I don't really think I need a flash colour sounder in an open tinny just to fish rivers and impoundments. What do you think?
I'd be interested in which you go!
John.

[Mossy247]

Hey aadam, Just a thought my Furuno 4100 is great and does an awesome job, I looked at getting the GPS enabled and it requires a receiver that is spliced into the wires to connect to the Furuno. Personally I would get an external hand held job from garmin the waterproof ones have the same functionality GPS wise as the Furuno itself. Waypoint marks etc. MY opinion anyways... the Furuno is a magic number I think the transducer is pretty wicked also. No problems with mine.

[aadam]

hi guys
i think i have narrowed it down to the fishmark 480 or the humminbird 718. i beleive the fishmark is the same unit as the lowrance x125 with less power output however as i only fish relatively shallow i dont think this will be an issue. the humminbird 718 is a dual beam job and can be connected to a gps for track plotting. is anyone able to compare the fishfinding abilities of these two units.
cheers
aadam