What Sounder

[philip_thomson]

im looking at getting a new sounder for my boat. my price limit is about $500 -$600.
not really after colour, black and white should be sufficent.
after some suggestions for good quality units and your thoughts on them.

cheers phil

[NeilD]

Check out the Lowrance X125. I bought one a while back and have been realy impressed by the definition. The only draw back is that it seems difficult to read under certain lighting conditions.
Maybe hang off a while as some new stuff is about to hit our shores and if it is not an option for you it may reduce the price of existing products.

Neil

[aussiebasser]

Hi Phil
That $ should cover you for a Humminbird Matrix 37. You can then upgrade it later on to GPS and Weathersense if you need it. The Matrix is the ducks guts of sounders at the moment. I'm runing an older Matrix 35 alongside a Lowrance X135, and I'm using the lowrance less and less. You get great back-up service from BLA in the unlikely event of a problem.

[bay_firey]

Have to back you up on the service from BLA.
Sent my Matrix55 in with an intermitant fault, wouldn't recognise the GPS receiver at times, they said "Unable to find or duplicate fault" repairs carried out "Replaced GPS receiver in case of intermittant fault".
Can't get much better than that

[michael_k]

i beleive high definition low power in dams and estuary, high definition high power offshore.
i.e - lots of pixels low rms in dams and estuary
lots of pixels high rms offshore

spend as much as you can afford(you get what you pay for)

[aquarius]

Save up another $400 AND YOU WILL THEN BE ABLE TO BUY THE NEW LOWRANCE COLOUR 480 BY 480 PIXELS COMMING OUT VERY SOON.
Cheers Brent

[Sportfish_5]

Yep - I am up for the 107C DF when it arrives :P :P :P :P

[Bowser]

Guys, I already have the LMS332 which is the combo GPS Sounder with 480X480 colour screen. Definition is sensational. Go with the Lowrance.

[Sportfish_5]

Has anyone tried to bring in Lowrance gear from the states recently ?? West marine advise that they cannot ship Lowrance outside USA or Canada >:(

Cheers

Greg

[finga64]

Gidday Phil, Just picked up my new "Humminbird 2005 DEEP" for $399 from Leisure marine. That's 240X240 pixel, 200 and 50 Hz frequencies. Easy to use and plenty of power.
Guess what I'm doing on tomorrow??
;D Scott

[Bowser]

Lowrance restrict any vendor from sending electronics to Australia to protect there market here. I bought the Lowrance LMS 332 in from the States. You just have to search around for a vendor who is preparded to send the stuff. The trade off with Lowrance is that you get US serial numbers and they won't get serviced here. With Humminbird from the States you don't get metric but they will service here.

[philip_thomson]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Last night i recieved a bit of money ;D so i am going to increase my limit for a sounder probably $1000+.

at this stage i will probably look at going for a Raymarine Ds500x. the screen size is good, the colours are great and it seems quite easy to use.

cheers phil

[Bosunsmate]

DONT BUY HUMMINBIRD PIRANHA SERIES......................

Bought a humminbird piranha 1xm some time back now and it is the most useless piece of crap I have ever owned...... Not even heavy enough to be an anchor :(

[Sportfish_5]

Phill - make sure you take a good look at the pixel sizes when comparing units. The A series raymarine are OK @ 320 x 240 but there are some new Lowrance Sounders coming with 480V x 480H resolution at a good price - thats what you want ;)

Cheers

Greg

[James_V17L]

[quote author=Horse link=board=Tackle;num=1112439978;start=0#1 date=04/03/05 at 08:25:13]Check out the Lowrance X125. I bought one a while back and have been realy impressed by the definition.

Ditto..
The best sounder for around $500 that I could find...