Looking for some fishfinder advice

[Bob5292]

I have been fishing Neah Bay and the WCVI for the last 3, years fairly effectively without a fish finder. But now I have a new boat and need some new toys. I don't want to spend an arm and a leg since I already did that on the dual GPS, VHF radios, and EPIRB. I realize you get what you pay for, but I am looking to spend around $200. I have gone through the old posts on iFish and keeping in mind what I have found, the Furuno LS4100, Lowrance X59, and the Garmin Fishfinder 250 have made my short list. Do any of you have experience with these or is there another Fishfinder that I should be looking into. I was looking at the Navman F4433 because it has a fuel management screen, so I would only need to spend $110 on the fuel kit rather than about $300 for their 3100 fuel management system. But overall their fishfinder doesn't look too impressive. Any insights will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Bob

[Afishinado]

I like the Garmin myself. Ive used the Furuno on a friends boat and its a nice unit, but all in all i would go with Garmin. Lowrance - ive been hearing mixed reviews on their units. One review said that they have dropped there quality down with their eagle brand. I guess i would be leary.

[pijon]

I have used Eagle for 20 years and only had a single issue with a transducer. A replacement was sent free of charge.
There is a seminar on GPS/Sonar coming up in April. I will start another thread and post the details.

[5 Salt]

Furuno would be my choice.

[Onokai]

F U R U N O 1 st

Garmin 2nd

Hummingbird s are for feeders

[Reelentless]

[Paddler]

I own two Lowrance units, a nine-year-old X-85 and a vintage X-16 paper graph. I had the X-16 gone through by Lowrance a few years ago for $99, and the X-85 has been trouble free. Both work perfectly. I just bought a new Lowrance, we'll see how it does.

At your price point, I would consider Ebay. You could get a very good unit buying used.