GPS/Sonar units

[beerbohm]

As some of you know I will be getting my new boat here pretty quick and I am planning on getting a GPS/Sonar for it. I don't mind spending money for quality. What are some of the fetures I should be looking at? Any and all help would be great.

[kzoo]

I'm thinking of upgrading my sonar units too. The Lowrances have some good reviews, I'm thinking of getting 522.

If you really want to adventurous, Hummingbird has a Side Imaging unit that sees quite a bid of detail, that's out of my price range, but it would be cool.

[The Quadfather]

I just got a new f.f. this weekend, I got the Hummingbird 595C. I have installed it, but haven't got out on the water yet, so I realize that I can't give the most accurrate review having not floated the boat yet, but I will say that even the manual reads way better than my Ealge/Lowrance Fishmark 320. The Hummingbird just has so many options with the GPS that I think will be incredible. I can't imagine being able to set a Waypoint for every honey hole that I come to, or where did I just leave those crab pots? It appears that it will be very sensitive to reading bottom structures also, it gives definition between readings on whether the bottom is muddy or more solid.
I know..... give a review when I get it in the water, the book might read good on it's own. You can check them out at
http://store.humminbird.com/ccombo-ccombo500.html

As far as feature that you might want, def. get temp/speed, and a large enough screen to satisfy you, and of course maybe the gps.

[2000subaru]

What's your price range?

I have a Hummingbird 383C and it does so many things. The GPS, the dual beam sonar, waypoints, color screen, speed/temp, voltage monitor...ETC. I just wish it was mounted at the bow for me instead of my little b/w sonar.

[zen leecher aka Bill W]

What depths are you going to fish and what species of fish?

The side imaging Hummingbird is good if you only fish certain depths (freshwater) but it doesn't go deep enough for saltwater use.

Depending on how/what you fish you need to consider pixel count and the size of the screen. That determines how easy fish are to see and signals are to separate.

[Gisteppo]

Another important piece is what are you going to do with it?

Tournament or aggressive bass fishing? Get a side looking sonar imager.

Trout/bass/pan/anything you can find? Dont go the extra expense, just get a good quality sonar/GPS combo.

Saltwater and crabbing? Get one of the larger displays to make the chartplotter easier to read and more accurate when out in seas.

E

[cavdad45]

Lowrance.