Best fish finder

[Alan]

I am trying to self educate myself on fish finders, I know enough about them to sound very dumb. I am looking to use a fish finder in lakes, big rivers, bays and maybe off shore. I know I want gps, tracker and ? Like I said know enough be sound dumb, lol. Right now I am not worried about cost just features and quality. What do you recommend? Thank you! Alan

 

[C_Run]

I have a couple of different fish finders that came with some used kayaks I have. None are especially fancy. The one thing I would recommend is to definitely get a color screen and not gray scale. The gray scale can be very difficult to read in bright sunlight. I'm sure others will chime in on the best choices.

 

[jamisonace]

All I can say is I prefer my Humminbird over the Lowrance I used to have. Get navigation....mine had maps built in. I've trolled the bay in thick fog only using the navigation.

 

[Irishrover]

If you are contemplating offshore fishing, it is best to have a display unit with multi functions including AIS. Garmin, Lowrance, Simrad, Raymarine, all provide this possibility. It good to have a GPS/chart function. That will give you way point and tracking ability. Next would be a good sonar function. Great for knowing your depth and locating fish. Most now also come with a navigation function. If you are close to Rogers Marine Electric it would be well worth your while to stop in and talk to those folks. They know marine electronics and they won't try to sell you what you don't need. They can provide a skipper with a lot of information and with the NEMA 2000 connections you can even monitor your engine rpms/temps/and trim.

If you are not going offshore, you can simplify your system a lot. Good luck and let us know what you come up with.

 

[NKlamerus]

What's your budget?

Do you want networking with your outboard? (Will also depend on the age of outboard)

Each have their strengths from what I've seen and read, Hummingbird has the best side imaging, Lowrance has mapping, and Garmin has the best traditional sonar.

I would definitely argue Garmin has the best user interface, settings and navigation are extremely easy to follow, I would definitely lean that way for a first unit.

I'm on all their FB users groups, there was some great sales from BPS/Cabela's with Garmin units for black Friday.

They had the Echomap UHD 93USV for 700$

That's 9" touch screen AND actual buttons, sideview, downview, sonar, and mapping. With the option to add livescope one day