Sonar Replacement

[Daffy]

My Hummingbird widescreen (1995 model) has a cracked screen. Now the silly thing fades ins and out and afraid it's on the way to a painful death by me smacking the chit out of it when I need it!!!

So what brands and models of fishfinders mounted on the front of your boat and the trolling motor do you guys use or would buy? Lowrance comes to mind for me. Like the x125/x135 models. Wanting to buy one that doesn't come with a transducer so I can get the trolling motor mounting version. Most only come with rear mounting transducers right?

So what works on your boat or thinking of buying?

[Walter]

I have an Eagle 320. For less than $7 I purchased an adaptor to use it on my trolling motor. I got it at Bass Pro Shop.

[Daffy]

Cool.

So what is it you like about it? Just because you got it cheap doesn't mean it's a good buy.

Is it a dual freq deal? What makes it so special?

[Walter]

I'm sorry, I guess I didn't make myself clear.The adaptor lets me attach the transducer to the trolling motor. It's the adaptor that cost $7 dollars. It works well, but people tell me that it can't take a lot of abuse. It uses a stainless hose clamp, and they are easy to come by.

I hope this helps.

[Daffy]

My bad I didn't read your first response very well.

Yeah Eagle's are suppose to be a fairly good fishfinder.

But like you said abuse is not what they like.

The Hummingbird got cracked when I didn't move it to the side and the trolling motor was lefted out of the water.

[Tigerhaze]

Eagle is made by Lowrance, just like Chevy's are made by GMC. I have an Eagle Magnaview Plus that works well for me. Eagle has stood by their products....I had one for many years that had a bad sceeen and Eagle replaced it for a nominal cost, even though it was out of warranty.

You may want to try asking the guys in the walleye forum. They have had several large threads about fishfinders.

[Daffy]

Thanx Tiger.

Good info there for sure.

[ackermannsacre]

I like the Eagle/Lowrance products. Depending on your price range:



Eagle FishMark 480 = $200

Lowrance x125 = $300

Lowrance x135 = $400

Lowrance x102c = $500



These all have the same size screen and resolution (480x480 pixels). The difference in mainly in the amount of power, starting at 1500w for the Eagle.



Also the Eagles have an amber backlight and the Lowrance has a white backlight.



If you don't have a few buddies boats to look at I would suggest going to a store that has demo units hooked up so you can see the differences and features between the Eagle, Lowrance, Humminbird, Garmin and BottomLine.

[ackermannsacre]

Also, like lookin good, I always use the transom skimmer transducer that comes standard with most units and get the trolling motor mount for it.

[Daffy]

ack - That there is some more very useful information.

Had no idea that the Eagles were a by product of Lowrance as Tiger told me. My current one is screwed, and the deal is right now is my boat and the fishfinder is over a hundred miles away at MTL.

Would like to see if Hummingbird would stand behind there products before I make the leap and buy another brand. Oh well the fish are just waiting to be caught. Not like I am going to bet hung up on worring about a silly sonar at this point.

[ackermannsacre]

Daf - they prolly won't replace it, but I think that Humminbird has a trade in program where they will give you some credit on your old one if you buy a new Humminbird.

[Triton X2]

I think Lowrance will do the same thing,ACK..

[Daffy]

I toke it apart today.

It only needs to have the screen super-glued to stop the water from getting to the electronics.

Kinda neat, because it has one of those small desiccant bags in there. Helluva setup for a 1995 fish finder.

I guess Hummingbird is alright in my book now.

[Rafe Hollister]

Daffy said:
I toke it apart today.

Toke?

[coyotewhacker]

Daffy...if it helps any with your decision to buy a new one or not, the walleye guys are almost all Eagle or Lowrance users. I have had Humminbirds in the past and they seem to be more breakage prone than Lowrance or Eagles. I recently got a new Lowrance X135 which is the most powerful black and white sonar without GPS. It's rated at 4000 watts peak power and 2400 between peaks. In layman's terms, it is one powerful unit and it gives a great picture of the bottom and everything above it. It is one of the few LCD sonars that will define a fish lying on the bottom . To be honest, if I had the bucks I would go with a color unit because they make gamefish (walleyes) stand out better, but this X135 is so far ahead of any Humminbird I've ever used that there is no comparison. The transducer is mounted on the bottom of my trolling motor with the factory adapater kit (about $10 bucks as I recall), but I have seen some homemade mounts using bent aluminum that are really slick.
FYI, you can probably get a pretty nice color Eagle unit for the price I paid for the Lowrance. It won't have the pixel count or power level, but not many of us fish in 900 feet of water around here. Good luck on finding what you want.Once the screen or case is cracked open, they usually will not seal up completely again and you may have more problems.