Sonar?

I know this has been beat to death over the years, but with new stuff coming out every year, I'll post it again. I'm in the market for a fish finder. (not a fishing buddy) Looking at Cabelas, Bass pro, etc, there seems to be decent units in the $200 or less range. I would want temp reading and depth maintly (don't think speed is crucial on a toon, at least with my rowing skills ). Also, a bit confused if I need multi cone angles, or not.
What are you using?

I have an Older Hummingbird that works great, but I am now looking at color. I guess you can see stuff you can't in black and white. Check this one out:
Humminbird 343c Fish Finder Combo

A good buy is the Eagle 480. It is a 480 X 480 pixel unit that has good detail images. I saw it on sale recently for $150. It is a black and white sonar, but it be hard to find a better sonar for $150.

Have fun looking,
Rex

Chewy,

How much you need to spend, and what kind of bells and whistles you'll want, will depend on what you want the unit to do.

As far as just 'depth' goes, then just about any sonar unit out of the toy class will do that for you.

If you really want to learn to use the sonar to 'see' stuff under you, that is a different story.

I personally do not like Hummingbird Sonar units. Too much 'processing' of the signal without user control makes them, in my experience, unreliable. I have heard that they are getting 'better', but once burned, twice shy. They 'lost' my business years ago, and I'll not go back.

Lowrance makes the best, Bottom Line is great, as are Garmin and Apelco (they make sonar for the US Navy, so they know what it is). Eagle is made by Lowrance, again a great unit for the price.

The 'key' to sonar performance in the lower end (say under $1,000), is vertical pixel count. The higher the pixel count, the more acurately the sonar signal can be interpreted. This enhances things like target separation which allows multiple targets to show separately.

If you really want to be able to 'use' a sonar unit to help you find structure, cover, and even fish, you have to get one that allows you to set the controls manually. If you turn off the 'little fishys' (they aren't fish, by the way), you can actually see and learn to interpret the sonar signal returns that your screen can show you.

With a 'decent' sonar properly adjusted you can accurately find breaks on structure, what cover there is, individual fish, the thermocline (or lack of one), schools of baitfish, even individual shad(if you are paying attention and know what that looks like).

Too many folks don't take the time to undersand what sonar is and how it works. They look at the 'picture' on the screen of their unit, see all those little fishy symbols and what looks like sticks and rocks, and actually believe that they are 'seeing' a 'picture' of what is under them.

Sadly, this isn't the case.

Good Luck!

Buddy

You are so right Buddy. The Himminbird I have, when I received it, was the top of the line. When looking at sonar, I don't think you should skimp. However, they are coming way down in price.
I think the ones that give you both the arches and the little fish are the way to go.
Arches are a little more reliable.
Sorry you had bad luck with Humminbird, I had bad experienses with Bottom Line.
Like I said, I have had FANTASTIC luck with mine. I do feel most people mount them too deep on their pontoons and that will effect a true reading. Mine is mounted to be in about an inch of water. In fact, I can pull my pontoon out of the water and it will not drag. It tells me where the fish are hanging, and if I am doing everything right (right line/fly/presentation) then I get the fish. 8)

Eagle Cuda for basics - low price, good quality and manual control for everything. I use one for just this purpose.
But you might want to take a peak at the bottom line sonars cause the have the side finders. I got one few years back and I think I will be buying a new one soon. You point it where you suspect the fish are and the sonar will show you fish and the distance.

Thanks for the response. To elaborate ont the cone angle part of my question, I understand what is meant by the degree numbers, most are around 20 but some are dual, 20/60, while some manufactures like Eagle say up to 60. Does that mean it's ajustable, like variable speed?

I have a Humminbird PirhanaMAX20 mounted on my kayak about $100. I am still learning to use it and understand all the feedback. I can turn on the little fishies or leave them off. It is a dual beam sonar but only when you have the fishies turned on. I use it mostly for finding breaklines. It seems to have a lot of manual control...I am still learning to use the zoom and sensitivity to enhance the detail...It was pretty easy this summer finding the thermocline and seeing how it moved through out the season.