fish finder recommedation

[retired]

I am looking to buy my first fish finder to mount on my 14 ft. Lund with a 9.9 Merc. I mostly fish the big lake in spring and occasionally some of the smaller lakes and ponds. With limited knowledge I am looking at the Lowrance HOOK Reveal 7TS Inland Water at Bass Pro. The features look good and the price is at the top of my budget at $719. I would appreciate some advice on the best fish finders based on knowledge and experience. Can anyone help me?

[SAB1]

I'm not familiar with that model but they make decent finders IMO. My only knock against Lowrance is that make parts available for a certain time period and then once it breaks your SOL. They will however give you credit toward a newer model. That drove me away from them though.

[fatlazyless]

I would go to the Walmart in Gilford NH and get a fish-finder for about ninety-nine dollars. Their Gilford store has a larger selection for fish-finders.

[brk-lnt]

Have you looked at the Raymarine Element series?

[ishoot308]

I am looking to buy my first fish finder to mount on my 14 ft. Lund with a 9.9 Merc. I mostly fish the big lake in spring and occasionally some of the smaller lakes and ponds. With limited knowledge I am looking at the Lowrance HOOK Reveal 7TS Inland Water at Bass Pro. The features look good and the price is at the top of my budget at $719. I would appreciate some advice on the best fish finders based on knowledge and experience. Can anyone help me?

I am not familiar with that specific model but I have two older HDS series Lowrance units that have been bulletproof! I use two side by side in my boat. One is used strictly for sonar the other is used in the chart / GPS mode utilizing a Navionics chip which is great! I actually use one of them during the winter months for ice fishing. I have it mounted in my ATV. It’s been through hell and back and still works flawlessly!

For fishing, at least on Winni I see most people using Lowrance products. That does not mean anything bad about other brands. Back in the day, I know a couple of well known guides on the lake were affiliated with Lowrance and I think that is why they are so popular on Winni.

Dan

[retired]

I checked out Raymarine online. Are they a NH company?
Most of their products seem to be geared towards the ocean.
Does anyone have any firsthand experience with their products?

[dam1960]

It's really personal preference and budget. Lowrance, Hummingbird, Garmin are all good. I personally think the Lowrance are a bit more user friendly.

[brk-lnt]

I checked out Raymarine online. Are they a NH company?
Most of their products seem to be geared towards the ocean.
Does anyone have any firsthand experience with their products?


Raymarine is part of Teledyne FLIR, with their primary R&D in the UK. NH is where their service and support is based through.


There is no practical difference in saltwater vs. freshwater use, particularly when you're talking about the relatively shallow depths of NH lakes.

[burgerunh]

If $700 is your budget this is a far superior unit for the same as that hook reveal.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lowrance-HDS-7-inch-Live-Portable-Fishfinder-with-Active-Imaging-3-in-1/355614802?athbdg=L1600

[retired]

Thanks, the HDS looks pretty good. Do you have one?

[ishoot308]

Thanks, the HDS looks pretty good. Do you have one?


I have the older version of these…HDs-7…see my post above.

Dan

[Rob M]

Both the Lawrence Hook and Hummingbird Helix are good/solid units. I would wait a couple weeks and Bass Pro has their Spring Sale, you will be able to get either unit for roughly 40% off.

I have both units, I prefer the Hummingbird, but the knock against that is if you ever wanted to add a second unit to the boat, you can not link the two together to read the same GPS or share waypoints, which you can with the Lawrance.

Also you will need to buy a LakeMaster SD Mapping card, which loads the lake maps into the unit. I believe they cost about $159, with out it the GPS is pretty useless. It will track, but will not be able to tell you any depths/contours of any lake.

Down Imaging is also an option on all units which gives you a different view of what is below you, and is a relitively cheap upgrade on the unit. Hope this helps.

[burgerunh]

Thanks, the HDS looks pretty good. Do you have one?

I do not however the Hook is the entry level unit and the HDS is the high end.

On my 14 footer I have a portable fishfinder that is a Humminbird Helix 5. The tranducer is on a suction cup mount and it has its own small battery in the case. It works pretty slick for me and is completely removable at the end of the day. I also have an ice fishing transducer for it so I can use it in the winter. I like the setup and it works well for me. The whole setup could be had for less than $500.

On my pontoon I have a 9" Garmin that was bought on sale at Bass Pro for about $600.

If I was in the market right now I would be looking hard at that HDS unit I sent you. It's a great sale on a high end unit.

Bottom line is these things go on sale especially when it is last years model. Bass Pro will have a spring "fishing classic" sale in March as someone mentioned and there should be a couple of units that are on sale. That's when you will get a good deal!

[retired]

I bit the bullet and made the decision to buy the Lowrance HDS 7 inch live from Walmart for $698. Thanks for the link to it. I think it will work just fine. I am planning to mount it to the transom on a plate. What is the suction cup mount about? I only fear I will become too reliant on the technology and not enjoy the experience as much. I guess I can always switch it off.

[mattmass]

This is a great machine with CHIRP sonar, SideScan and DownScan Imaging. If you are looking for underwater terrain and fish this is your machine. It is on sale right now on the Cabelas web site. I bought one and love it.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/lowrance-elite-fs-7-fish-finder-chartplotter-combo

[retired]

I used it while fishing the spring salmon season and it worked flawlessly. It did show the fish on the screen when I passed over them and their depth. I really enjoyed the downscan imaging that showed the depth and contour of the bottom. It was fascinating to see what was on the bottom. We only caught two salmon this year but the fish finder made trolling a lot more interesting.
Glad I bought it.

[Sugarsandbeach]

I have a garmin echomap uhd 73sv that came with lake maps loaded onto in that I bought at bass pro last year. I find that the depth chart is equally as important as marking fish. I can color code the depth so if I’m fishing in 40-60 ft of water. It shows up as dark blue on the map so I just keep the boat trolling in the dark blue, color coding depths is fully customizable so it’s great for trolling. I love it for my weekend fishing with the kids on my 18’ center console