whats a good sounder under $500

[spider]

Hi Guys and Girls

I am after a reasonable depth sounder that has temp and a good quality resolution, I intend on using it offshore near the sydney heads and "the peak", there are so many to choose but i have been advised to stay away from eagle and lowrance for some reason.
any recommendations appreciated
George

[yockman]

Couldn't go wrong with one of these for the money, were about $850 a couple of years ago.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32630&item=2491844711&rd=1

Sounder technology is moving fast, so yesterday's product, even if it was good, soon gets cheap.
Cheers,
Yockman

[whiteman]

Can't fault my new Lowrance X135. The X125 is close to $500. Both are 480x480 pixels. Whatever you look at, multiply x and y pixel count to see how dense the display will be. For example, mine is 230,400 pixels. Some similar priced models from other manufacturers are 320 x 280 which is a total of 89,600 pixels which is less than 40% of the resolution!

[spider]

thanks for your input but even BI@S advised me to stay away from lawrence/eagle and they sell there product, they dont honour warranty and when they take something back on warranty it takes up to 4 months to get it returned or exchanged.

[whiteman]

Completely different to what I've been told at BIAS and the boat dealer I bought from. Both said if there's a problem in the first 2 years they replace it with a new one in quick time!

[RobK]

Have a look at the Furuno LS 4100 which you can pick up for the mid $400 I got one at the boat show for $430 including transducer with speed and temp. It has a genuine 300w dual frequency and a lot of features such as bottom lock and bottom zoom which are menu selectable. It works well in the field and is a snap to use. Furuno have a good rep for reliablity also.

Rob

[SCOTTYGC]

have a look at the emjay.net.au they have the Furuno LS 4100 for $438 at the moment, I spoke to the guy there yesterday found him very helpfull
scotty

[bignick]

G'Day George, I too would recommend a closer look at the Furuno LS-4100. The price is right ($400-$500) and the have all the power you'll need, they go forever, they have all the featuress you'll need and they are as easy as pie to operate (you can actually follow the instructions). And, if anything does happen to go wrong with them, Furuno has a dealer network Australia-wide that can fix/service your unit in-house. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
BIGNICK.

[whiteman]

Why go for 76,800 pixels (240x320 Furuno) when you can get 230,400 (480x480 Lowrance) for so little extra? Duel frequency with a poor screen resolution isn't going to do you much good fishing in 200'+ of water.

[aido]

furunos usually have a very effective zoom feature so
320 vertical pixels is plenty of resolution in deep water.

spider, you might want to check this review...
http://taylormarine.com.au/main.cfm?page=fishingnewsdetail&id=44

[whiteman]

The review might have something to do with the fact that they sell Furuno! These sort of reviews are simply editorials and to be ignored by serious buyers.

[banshee]

Ive owned Humminbird,Lowrance and Furuno,without doubt the Furuno is miles ahead as far as quality goes,add to this,if you have problems with a furuno out of warranty it can be repaired unlike a sealed unit which is a bin job.I personaly can't complain about Lowrance warranty,the number of sounder and GPS units I have had replaced free of charge over the last eight years is well into double figures,I no longer run one of their sounders but I have progressed from a hand held GPS to a dash mount free of charge because my original unit was not in production any more,the longest I have waited for a replacement unit was six weeks,mostly I have had a new unit in a fortnight.