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View Full Version : Looking to Buy a Depth Sounder??



mjc85
10-11-2004, 04:46 AM
Preferably something to just use around the river to find nice holes but also maybe in the shallow parts of the bay to find the yakka schools.

Budget of somewhere around $200 ?

What would you recommend ?

Mitch

Jeremy
10-11-2004, 05:02 AM
I'd recommend that you find a way to stretch your budget. Whatever you buy you are likely to be stuck with it for a few years, and you'll always wish you bought the next model up. Cheapest I think you'll find new will be around $300, lots of people recommend the Lowrance X51 as a basic unit which is around $350.

Jeremy

mjc85
10-11-2004, 05:24 AM
Ok i'll check it out, thanks mate ;) any other recommendations people ? it is going to be my christmas present, so i got a whole month to research :)

mini696
10-11-2004, 05:45 AM
First off - I am NOT associated with this seller on Ebay.

I have done a bit of research for a new sounder myself. I've been to all the different manufacturers sites (Humminbird, Lowrance, Furuno, Garmin etc), compared the specs, went and saw them in the flesh at my local shop, and came up with my choice.

If I was to buy one tomorrow, I would get either the Humminbird Matrix 17, or the Matrix 27. There are some of these on Ebay for 2/3 the RRP. And with different packages (with GPS, or without etc). Do a search for "Matrix 17" or "Matrix 27" (remember the space).

The 27 may be way out of your range. But the 17 (at $367 plus postage around $25), may be more attainable. Even though its still double your price, from my research that is what I would get.

Have a look on the Humminbird site and judge for yourself.

Mickk

mjc85
10-11-2004, 05:49 AM
http://search.ebay.com.au/fish-finder_W0QQsoloctogZ9

yeh i was just about to post this here. There are some. But you only get a 10 day return to seller warranty if it is faulty. Does anyone know what the deal is when you buy it from a retailer ? how long warranty do you get ? If its longer i would probably prefer to pay retail price for the extra warranty. ;D

when you buy a sounder do you get the transducer ? and mounting brackets and so on ? also does the battery come with them or do you have to buy it serparately ?

Thanks
Mitch

whiteman
10-11-2004, 10:32 AM
$200? Go to Bunnings and buy a long stick. It would be about as effective. You don't get a whole lot for under $400.

Jeremy
10-11-2004, 10:37 AM
When you buy a sounder it will come with the transducer, mounting hardware, and all the cables you need. You will need to supply the battery and wire it up. Allow somewhere between 1 hour and 8 hours depending on how easy it is to access your mounting position and how DIY smart you are.

The marine battery will cost you between $60-$100 depending on what you go for. At least then you can get some nav lights, bilge pump, radio, .....

Jeremy

spaniard
10-11-2004, 10:47 AM
If your looking at Ebay make sure the product is from here and is certified, the electronics that come into the country have to have this.
As everyone has said you need around the $400 mark

Furuno have bought out some cheaper units----
The Ls4100 and the 6100
The 4100 goes for around $350 + $120 for your depth tansducer and $210 for the depth,temp,speed triducer

Happy shopping it will probably give you a headache with the choices out there.
Look at availabillity of parts and service.

mjc85
10-11-2004, 11:22 AM
I think i'll just buy this

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32630&item=4500642873&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

mjc85
10-11-2004, 11:40 AM
or what about this one even ?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=32630&item=4500643351&rd=1

Which would be better out of the above two ? i don't know the first thing about sounders but both of these are at least $200 less than retail.

dfox
10-11-2004, 01:05 PM
A lot of these small units make outrageous claims of power output, i dont know how they measure it but il bet they dont perform as good as they make out!!

macca
10-11-2004, 06:17 PM
Geez

If I was buying a sounder for around 200 I would wait a little bit longer until I had some more money.

For around the 350 mark you can get a Lowrance x51. It came standard with my hornet. I was always going to upgrade it but it works so well in finding #schools of fish and structure I haven't parted with it yet.

I think the screen resolution is around 240 x 160 pixels.

Also buy it from a dealer if anything goes wrong you always have a warranty, cheap is not always best as you will find with auctions.

I recommend it, I think its great value for money at the low end of the market.

Also I once had a hummingbird, poor performance thats why alot of people call them lyingbird. Cripes I'll cop it for saying that. ;D :o ::)

Macca #

mjc85
11-11-2004, 04:49 AM
Ok thanks macca, but humminbird have a worldwide warranty policy so no matter where you buy it, what country you still have a warranty ;D so i think i will go for a Matrix 27 from USA, they are so cheap but they are in fahrenheit and feet :( thats the only downside

mako_5.2
11-11-2004, 09:29 PM
Worth checking where you have to send it if it breaks. I don't think the local dealers want to touch privately imported units.

mjc85
12-11-2004, 04:52 AM
Send it to humminbird Australia

bungie
12-11-2004, 01:58 PM
Zeeke has a USA version of the Matrix ...... he might fill you in on the slight differences

s.tury
12-11-2004, 03:18 PM
i hope garmin are o.k just got a garmin fishfinder 120 from the missus for b/day havent checked it out yet . are garmin ok

aussiebasser
12-11-2004, 05:50 PM
Send it to humminbird Australia

I don't think you'll find a place called Humminbird Australia. They are imported by BLA, but I don't think the cover the warranty on private imports.

mjc85
13-11-2004, 05:10 AM
??? Hmm well i need to find one soon, its my birthday coming up and i need to tell the old cheese what to buy me :P

Depth sounders have got to be easily one of the hardest things to buy, damn even harder for a person whos knows nothing about SP's that is shopping for them.

I know if i go around to the shops and look the salesman are gonna lay their BS on me trying to get a sale.

So by looking at the specs of a depth sounder, what makes something stand out from the others ?

Is it resolution ?
Power ?

What should i be looking for ?

Cheers
Mitch

whiteman
13-11-2004, 07:00 AM
Resolution on both x and y axis. Screen size - min 5". Power comes into it when you are consistently fishing over 100' deapth.

There are a lot of cheap sounders out there for less than $400 and none I could find that gave any sort of serious performance. Forget colour at that price as you need to spend upwards of $900 on colour so you get a reasonable pixel count (see the Garmin FF250CD for a good example of entry level colour). Salespeople who don't fish will happily recommend you buy something cheap and probably colourful as it is the latest technology. But it probably won't show bait schools and fine detail which is what you are trying to find.

Mono sounders work really well when they have a good pixel count and good size screen. My budget was $1,000 but I chose the Lowrance X135 (mono) for just over $600. The X125 with similar specs is just over $500. The Eagle brand (made by Lowrance) is slightly cheaper. There are a few other brands with good mono units in this price range (Hummingbird FF565 is another).

But it sounds like you are price driven and $400 is the magic limit. Go ahead and buy something for this price and you won't know what you're missing so you'll probably be happy to see a few fish symbols float across the screen. Then you'll get on someone's boat who has spent the few extra $s and you'll want to replace it!

Good luck.

mjc85
13-11-2004, 07:09 AM
Are you a depth sounder salesman by any change ? #:P

So your saying i won't find anything worth buying for under say $500 ?

I would like something that will locate bait schools, and show me the finer details if possible, and in metric too. So no one can recommend a sounder around or below $400 (limit stretching).

What is a decent resolution ? or a standard i should be setting ?

whiteman
13-11-2004, 08:54 AM
Nah, just a well informed consumer. Somes simple rules of buying technology when price is an issue (and when isn't it?) is to buy tried and true stuff that is one or two levels from cutting edge. For example, a 3.4GHz Intel processor is $500 while a 2.8GHz Intel is $250. Double the price yet only 20% extra performance. And in 3 years time both will be clunkers compared to what is available then.

So in sounders where resolution is king you can get good mono units with 480x480 (230,000 pixels) for just on $500. See the Lowrance X125 or the Eagle 480 as examples. Both use very well tried software and user features and are probably on the end of their development life. Spend $100 less on 320x320 units which is 102,000 pixels and you are 55% worse off in terms of resolution! Colour screens are considered new technology and even paying $1,300 for a Furuno colour only gets you a 240 x 320 unit (77,000 pixels). When you compare these units side by side at a place like BIAS, you can really see the difference in resolution and this equates to your ability to clearly see fish and structure.

End of lesson!

notts_so
13-11-2004, 10:18 AM
LMAO (End of lesson) whiteman well informed consumer indeed

mjc85
13-11-2004, 10:43 AM
Also this fish finder is going in a Quintrex Explorer 350, so i would need one that i can easily remove the main unit from the boat.

RobSee
13-11-2004, 10:47 AM
Whiteman... as a well informed consumer, do you think there is value in going for the seafinder 480df for a few bucks more?

macca
13-11-2004, 03:59 PM
MJC

I recommended you a sounder under 400 bucks like I said I think the x51 would be good value for money and would be more than enough for fishing dams or estuaries in a 350 explorer.

I will be buying a x125 or x135 when I can afford it, it has a great pixel count and I think they are good value for around the 550 mark.

Like I said make sure you buy it locally.

Macca

Doomy
14-11-2004, 05:45 AM
Just to muddy the waters a bit.

Alot of the guys on here are offshore fisherman and high output, high res and big screens makes a huge difference finding fish in deep water.

But your in a tinnie using it in the creeks and shallow bays so output isnt such a big issue.

I bought a Lowrance M52i GPS/Sounder combo for under $500 and it has less power than the x51 but same everything else and it works fine for me.

NeilD
15-11-2004, 04:04 AM
I bought an X125 for our tender and could not believe how good the resolution is. They are under $500.00 and if vyou ring around and put a bit of pressure on you should swing one for a bit less. From what others have said these units will pick up prawns etc which remain undetected on sets with less resolution.

Neil

whiteman
16-11-2004, 07:04 AM
I had a close look at the SeaFinder 480DF because of its dual frequency. It is virtually the same technology as the Lowrance 125/135's but I think it has an orange on black screen. I preferred white on black so I went for the X135.

As for Doomy's comment, most of my fishing is in 5-10m so the power of the unit is much more than I need but the clarity is awesome. I figure it costs a lot of money per trip just to get the boat out so a few extra $s to increase the chances of coming back with a fish is money very well spent. You'll probably save it on fuel in the first few trips.

I can't wait until colour comes down to a reasonable price in the next couple of years!

Fitzy
17-11-2004, 05:20 PM
Something nobody has really touched on in this string is the frequencies used. For shallow water you want the highest frequency possible. This in combination with a high res display will give the best information back to you.
Either one on their own is a waste really. eg lower frequency transducer with high res screen is a waste. Same deal with high freq & low res screen.

Think Lowrance & Eagle high frequency is 192Mhz
Humminbird have 200 & 455 on the quad beam Xducers
Dunno on garmin or navman

I've run the same units side by side; one with high & the other low frequency Xducers. The on screen display when using the high freq transducer is far far better. However if you're going to venture into deep water, high freq Xducers can peter out, that's why many outside anglers run low frequency.

Theres also some transducers that are single beam & there's multi beam transducers that can give optimal information back on your display. Some are capable of telling you which side of the boat the fish are on or even if they're directly under. Single beam units only tell you that the fish are somewhere in the beam, nothing more specific.

Even if you're budget driven, ask some valid questions about how this or that unit can be upgraded. Some are now capable of simply adding a GPS antennae or weather sense unit later on to ungrade your units performance. Will allow you to spread out the cost of your package to suit that tight budget.

Cheers,

Fitzy..

mjc85
09-12-2004, 05:18 PM
Hey all, ended up buying the X125 for $470. Havn't hooked it up yet but will do this weekend.

Nicko
11-12-2004, 10:12 AM
Yeah, im keen to fit a new fish finder in my tinnie. I havent got the money now but when i do i'll get one for around $300 - any ideas.

mini696
11-12-2004, 10:53 AM
The general jist from the previous posts would suggest $400 is a more realistic budget if you can stretch that far. Most basic setups don't start till $350.

ganders
11-12-2004, 11:02 AM
mjc85, looking to buy a x125 myself, where did you get yours for $470, thats the best price i've seen so far.

Nicko
12-12-2004, 06:16 PM
ok, im excited