Help choosing fish finder

[Hard Cast]

I am in the process of purchasing a fishing boat. This boat will be used mostly in the CR, lakes, and bays. The boat has an inexpensive depth/fish finder and I would like to upgrade to a higher quality unit that has a plotter, fish locater, and GPS included in one unit. I know nothing about these units so I don’t even know where to start looking. I would like to get some advice from you all before I start the shopping process – before the sales people start working me over.

What do you all recommend?

TIA

[hookumhi]

I like my Lowrance X26 ! It all depends on how much money you want to spend and how big of a screen you want and can have on your dash or wherever. The new units also have a GPS antenna built in which I like a lot. Hummingbird has a nice 3D unit . I personally don't like the Garmin. They now have the units that give realtime weather which is Awesome for the Columbia and big Blue. In the end its down to the almighty $$$ How much you can $pend

[sucker]

Try to get one with as wide a beam as possible; most lower end units only have a 20 degree beam. If you get one with a dual beam even better. Say a 60 degree and 20 degree you can see a much larger area to the side of the boat which is important in 50' of water or less and get better resolution with the 20 degree beam for ID underwater structure. If you are fishing deeper water you will need more power. Of course higher resolution screens helps to ID fish. As you can see it is all a compromise depending on the $$$ you want to spend.