Budget Fish Finder - Your Recommendations

[Kendall]

Hey gang,

I'm looking for a solid, budget fish finder. I figure a decent one is better than none.

1. I'd like to stay in the $100 region, if possible.

2. Vast majority of use will be in lakes for trout and some kokes. Don't know if dual beam is necessary or not. Seems kind of cool to have the option.

3. Alarms would be nice.

4. I have an old Garmin GPS that is working ok. The screen is beginning to have issues, though. So I would consider a GPS combo for up to around $200. Seems like the screen sharing is not so ideal, but I could use the room in the cockpit. Your thoughts on this would be cool.

5. I've seen lots of options like the Garmins, Eagle Cudas, Hummingbird Piranhas

Thanks in advance!

[nwsoftball]

Originally Posted by Kendall

Hey gang,

I'm looking for a solid, budget fish finder. I figure a decent one is better than none.

1. I'd like to stay in the $100 region, if possible.

2. Vast majority of use will be in lakes for trout and some kokes. Don't know if dual beam is necessary or not. Seems kind of cool to have the option.

3. Alarms would be nice.

4. I have an old Garmin GPS that is working ok. The screen is beginning to have issues, though. So I would consider a GPS combo for up to around $200. Seems like the screen sharing is not so ideal, but I could use the room in the cockpit. Your thoughts on this would be cool.

5. I've seen lots of options like the Garmins, Eagle Cudas, Hummingbird Piranhas

Thanks in advance!

I've got a Hummingbird matrix 12 with GPS that I'd let go for $75 and a donation to iFish. It works just fine. It does have a single cone, but I've thought that I need to see more of what's going on below me so I'm upgrading to a new Lowrance in a few days. If you're interested, let me know. I'll be listing in the next few days after I get it off the boat.

Russ

[minicuda]

In you price range used is going to be the best way to go. They pop up all the time here on Ifish.

[stupenny5]

send your garmin to the factory they will fix have had to do it twice due to water in unit. Save some money and time.

[Kendall]

Originally Posted by nwsoftball

I've got a Hummingbird matrix 12 with GPS that I'd let go for $75 and a donation to iFish. It works just fine. It does have a single cone, but I've thought that I need to see more of what's going on below me so I'm upgrading to a new Lowrance in a few days. If you're interested, let me know. I'll be listing in the next few days after I get it off the boat.

Russ

That sounds like a heckuva' deal, but with so many lakes I fish being more on the shallow end, it seems like a wider cone would be a good idea. No?
.

[Doc_Rhen]

The 20 degree cone is pretty good, many of the upper end dual frequency units not named humminbird run a 11/23 degree cone so you are not losing much over them, I use the 11 degree cone on my finder quite a bit, certainly the 45 degree cone gives more information but on a budget I would find 20 degrees perfectly acceptable.

[Kendall]

Originally Posted by Doc_Rhen

The 20 degree cone is pretty good, many of the upper end dual frequency units not named humminbird run a 11/23 degree cone so you are not losing much over them, I use the 11 degree cone on my finder quite a bit, certainly the 45 degree cone gives more information but on a budget I would find 20 degrees perfectly acceptable.

Thanks!

Even in 25' of water?

[fishin-rn]

I've got a humminbird matrix 12, plenty of times i'll mark fish in less than 25' and have had the bell go off. I also catch fish without marking them on the finder. It would be nice to have a wider cone but i never found one for less than about 200 it seems... and i do miss it often. for the used price listed here i'd buy it just for the GPS. Now i've only got a 14' boat and mostly fish lakes, bays and the lower/upper willy so it suits my boat just fine.

[Kendall]

Originally Posted by fishin-rn

I've got a humminbird matrix 12, plenty of times i'll mark fish in less than 25' and have had the bell go off. I also catch fish without marking them on the finder. It would be nice to have a wider cone but i never found one for less than about 200 it seems... and i do miss it often. for the used price listed here i'd buy it just for the GPS. Now i've only got a 14' boat and mostly fish lakes, bays and the lower/upper willy so it suits my boat just fine.

Thanks!

That IS a great deal!

But I already have a GPS. I would like a combo to save room, but it's not necessary. I can get dual cone fish finders for around a hundred bucks new, but I don't know if they're any good.

I used this triangle calculator and with 20 degrees and each side of the triangle going down into the water 30 feet at that angle makes for a 10' diameter circle at the bottom, is all. So at 25', you gotta' be right over 'em with a 20 degree cone!

http://ostermiller.org/calc/triangle.html


EDIT: I found this chart. It shows that a 60 degree cone at 25' deep would yield just over a 25' circle on the bottom. That doesn't seem overly wide to me, but I'm no expert!

• 20 degrees - 0.35 or roughly 1/3 of depth
• 24 degrees - 0.42 or roughly 2/5 of depth
• 30 degrees - 0.53 or roughly 1/2 of depth
• 40 degrees - 0.72 or roughly 3/4 of depth
• 50 degrees - 0.93 or roughly 9/10 of depth
• 60 degrees - 1.15 x depth
• 70 degrees - 1.4 x depth
• 73 degrees - 1.48 x depth
• 80 degrees - 1.68 x depth
• 90 degrees - 2 x depth
• 100 degrees - 2.38 x depth
• 110 degrees - 2.85 x depth

[kokaneepoweroregon]

Originally Posted by nwsoftball

I've got a Hummingbird matrix 12 with GPS that I'd let go for $75 and a donation to iFish. It works just fine. It does have a single cone, but I've thought that I need to see more of what's going on below me so I'm upgrading to a new Lowrance in a few days. If you're interested, let me know. I'll be listing in the next few days after I get it off the boat.

Russ

Russ do you still have this unit availible .I may have someone interested . Thanks Greg