best depthfinder/gps for under 500.00

[Pickles]

I am currently looking at upgrading my depthfinder to one that has gps mapping capablilties. Two that I am interested in are the Humminbird matrix X67 and the Eagle fishelite 480.
Does anyone have any comments on these or any others within the 500.00 dollar price range?

[Surething]

go with lowrance you wont be sorry

[blubeast]

Suggest you consider seperate gps and fishfinders... couple of reasons. I watched a friend with his Hummingbird constantly switching from gps to ff and back... not cool...very clumsey setup.

Also with two...if one malfunctions, the other still works. I went with a Raymarine maping gps and Raymarine ff... nice clear displays on both.

Go to Rodgers and spend time with their display units to be sure which you find most readable.

[Pickles]

Two units is ideal, but I have a space problem on the dash of my jetboat.

[Billy Tillamook]

I have owned humminbird's for years and have been extremely happy... just my opinion. I'd go to fishermans marine and have them give you some demo's ...they'll help you out!

[Pickles]

Well I made my selection. After shopping for the last month, I settled on a Humminbird matrix 65. Fishermans has them for $399.00 . At that price, I determined that was definetly the best bang for the buck.

Go Anywhere With Detailed Maps Of The Entire U.S. Built In
• Humminbird UniMap™ with 4NM Detail of the Entire U.S. Inland Lakes & Rivers and Coastal Areas Built In; No PC/CD Download Required

• Built-In Waterproof Memory Card Reader for Navionics® MMC Format Charts

• WAAS GPS Receiver for Highest Accuracy

• DualBeam PLUS 60° Sonar - 1200 ft. Capability

• Advanced Accessory System - Supports WeatherSense Fishing Condition Monitor

• Water Temp Included

• 240V x 240H Display, 500 Watts (RMS) Output Power, 2 ½" Target Separation

[Pete]

I have a Lowrance LMS 320DF that I love. It's been replaced in the line up by the LMS 480MDF, which has higher screen resolution. It's got enough power and lots of features. I don't think you'd be sorry to own one!

[Pickles]

Thanks for the info pete, I wanted the LMS 320 in a bad way, but I could not convince my wallet to spend the extra $200.00 .

[jaydee]

I recently found a Garmin 188 for less than $600.
Its an outstanding unit that went for a lot more when it first hit the shelves.

[jaydee]

Oh, and a friend picked up a $100 mail in rebate at the seattle boat show. $459+tax and trade in/postage all things done and said.

J.D.

[Lepper]

you can go with an eagle.. sine lowrance makes them.. you get the same unit for like 100-200 cheaper..
d

[Pickles]

Well I have made the purchase, and it was the Humminbird. The reason for this was because the Humminbird offered the most Power for the dollar. For the money I had It was narrowed down to two options, either the Fishelite 320 or the Humminbird matrix 65. the Eagle has better resolution, but that is about it. The Eagle did not have a dual frequency transducer, or Nmea outputs (very important), Also the Eagle only put out 175 watts rms VS 500 watts rms on the Humminbird. The Price of the Eagle was 409.99, the price of the Humminbird 399.99. If money wasn't an object, I would have gone with the Lowrance LMS-480.

[Pickles]

Oh almost forgot, Eagle is manufactured in Mexico. Humminbird is manufactured in the USA. I would much rather buy American given the choice.

[corrirod]

Model #M68C is brand new this year from Lowrance for under $400! :shocked: This is the one I was going to buy until I found a different used model. If you're looking for one that's compact, color, and has both depth and gps mapping, and most importantly inexpensive, this one looks pretty good.

Here's the link to Lowrance's site: Click here

[YaHoeeFishOn]

Lowrance Electronics, Inc.
12000 East Skelly Drive
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74128

Eagle Electronics,
P.O. Box 669, Catoosa,
OK 74015-0669.

Both are American companies, I don't now where it was assembled, where parts were built.

Lowrance and Eagle are same , Thought they where in Tulsa ? I was checking into sending mine into repair when I mounted the trolling speed paddle wheel thermometer pickups and found the speed was out on unit. I took it back to Fishermans when they were located on Columbia and manager swapped it for me at store. I installed new one to see it was a older unit and didn't play "achors away" when I cast off at bouy10. Much to my brother's objections I then took that unit back . Erick at fishermans gave me another unit , that I had in my boat last 10 yrs. its a Lorand/fish finder . In 94 GPS had just comeout and were a couple grand .

[ 01-27-2004, 03:34 PM: Message edited by: YaHoeeFishOn ]

[CARTMAN]

Eagle cuda 240.. i believe it is called has both ff and gps also water temp. saw them at fishermans. Don't know much about it but it was $200 if i am not mistaken. I am sure if you call they will answer questions and be able to tell you if it is any good. I have a cuda 168 ff and it works fine for what i do. Good luck.

Cartman.

[Pickles]

Well I know that Eagle is an american company, but they manufacture their units in Mexico.

[illbfish]

fish-addict I like your post,

BUY AMERICAN WHEN YOU CAN. IF YOU DON'T SOME DAY WE WOULDN'T FISH WE WILL BE WORKING FOR FOREIGNERS