[Heno]

Hey occy,
I use the Lowrance X50 DS and so far have had no problems. I find the menu easy to use although most small FF are similar in functions these days.
It's been for a swim once and taken plenty of spray with no ill effects. I cant comment further as i'm still learning to drive the thing.

 

[Squidder]

Hey Paul,
My old man has one of the Lowrance X50s on his stinkboat - he is notoriously bad with technology but manages to work this unit, which tells me that it's pretty easy to do. :wink: Similar to Heno's, it has swum once and gets wet with spray every trip, and works perfectly.

 

[Fishing Man]

hey Paul,

Im also in the market for a new yak sounder,
I had been paying attention the the Garmin 140 and navman 4330
the only thing with the 4330 is its only single beam.

out of the list you mentioned the lowrance seems to be the best value.
another thing worth considering is the Garmin140 through Ebay. theres a number of sellers letting them go Brand new for between 150-200

good luck with it, let us know what you get so I can make my decision

 

[Jeffo]

Occy,

One of guys posted this site for me when I was looking.

http://www.fishfinder-store.com/

Its US based but has a good explanation & also a rating system for each unit

Cheers

Jeffo

 

[Jesse_Ape]

My 2 cents..

I have a navman 4430 and i think they are sweet. They have a temp reading which is always nice. ... Damn it's 18 degrees today I am going to freeze in the water or it's 26 degrees I am going to get stuck into some pelagic action. Plus a voltage reading

I did have a lawrance on dad's tinnie but it broke and when burko after much punishment. But we have a navman 4331 on the tinne atm and it's still going strong.

Cheers

 

[milansek]

Hi Paul I have sad it before go color the eagle fisheasy 320c is a good starter. Color separates fish and structure or bottom with ease also defines bottom composition and hardness .onece you use color you will not go back. good luck milan,

 

[Mallard Duck]

I'm thinking about getting a sounder from the US as you seem to get much better bang for your buck (also a good excuse to buy some other stuff too!! Arbogast Bass Lures for AU$8 )

I am going to be getting the Hummingbird 565 from the US (fingers crossed). Bass pro has them for US$199 plus $45 US for Air Mail (7-10 business days). Even with the exchange rate this comes out at about what you would be paying for the 515 (AU$318.50 @ current exchange rate add an extra few points on this depending on your credit cards exchange rate). The warranty on the hummingbird is 12 months international (needs to be returned to country of origin) however at $217 cheaper than the same thing bought here you can afford to have a problem and still be in front. The Aussie Hummingbird imported BLA (and approved dealers) extend the hummingbird warranty with their own by an two years but realistically i don't know how many problems after 12 months would actually be warranty verses wear and salt water corrosion (plus how much better will sounders be in 3 years and what will they be worth, plus what would the 565 be worth after three years of salt etc). You can also buy a neoprene cover for them for US$14.95 or BLA has the cover for around AU$11. As for waterproof i believe that this is a bit misleading. IX7 is the rating that you get with GPS and that will withstand depths up to 1 metre for up to 30 mintues. I don't think the any sounder is that good (I doubt it like going swimming i.e capsize) but am sure it would be fine with salt spray/water drops etc.

Specs on the 565 are:

Depth Capability: 244m
Display Window Size: 127mm Diagonal
Display Matrix: 640V x 320H
Display Type: 12 Level Grayscale High Contrast FSTN LCD
Power Output: 250 Watts (RMS) 2000 Watts (Peak to Peak)
Operating Frequency: 200kHz & 83kHz
Sonar Coverage 20° & 60° @ -10db
Target Separation: 63mm
Transducer: Inside Hull or Transom Mount
Power Input Range: 10-20 VDC
Mounting: Tilt & Swivel Quick Connect Mount System
Unit Size: Installed: 178 H x 185 W x 102 D;
Head: 150 H x 185 W x 45 D

Just a thought.

Cheers

Chris

 

[Guest]

Occy

I was going to put up a similar post tonight, now I've found yours

I was heading down the track of the Garmin FF140 for 249 until you posted the info on the Lowrance.

Lucky you did as I would have bought this Garmin.

As you have pointed out the Lowrance X50DS is good value for the bucks.

When choosing a fishfinder I always try to get as many pixels for my money. I only ever use the raw data for sounding, I never rely on those fish symbols.

I have set a limit of 300 for my ff on my new yak so my choices are llimited.

Lowrance X50DS. 240x160 pixels= 38400 pixels RRP $269.

Eagle Cuda 242. 240x160 pixels= 38400 pixels RRP $229

Garmin 140. 128x240 pixels=30720 pixels RRP $249

Humminbird FF525. 240x240 pixels=57600 pixels RRP $319

Have you considered

Eagle Fishmark 320. 320 x 320 pixels=102400 pixels RRP $349.00
Output 188 watt rms.

I know it's a little bit dearer but for the extra you get a better picture and most of the other fishfinders with that resolution are over 400.

The eagle Cuda 242 seems to be value for money as well especially when you wait for Amart Sports to put it in their Sales Catalogue and you walk into Anaconda and claim the extra 10 percent with their price gaurantee :lol:

Geez, I don't know what I'm going to buy now.

I was originally going to get a Garmin FF140 as a guy just started at my work and his last job was with Garmin so I can get a good deal thru him

That Eagle Fishmark 320 seems to be good value as well so I might have to extend my limit

Let me know how you go

Cheers

 

[Safa]

Hi

Seems like we all have the same problems when choosing sounders(budget),I have been reseaching for about a week now and am still no the wiser.Been to Whitworths,Amart,Bcf,Anaconda,etc......
They all have there preference (the one they stock) but im leaning towards the eagle 320 or 320c the only concern is the power output ,I would appreciate some advise from anyone who has this unit. Want to go offshore but not more than 3 km's out .
The units have good pixels ,transducers but seem to be poor on depth and power which in turn are related.I dont think i would be deep enough to worry about those short fall areas,

HELP!
Thanks

 

[milansek]

Safa I have a 320c fished in 60 meters off water and it worked fine .For the price its a good unit .

 

[DogFish]

I'm thinking about getting a sounder from the US as you seem to get much better bang for your buck (also a good excuse to buy some other stuff too!!

Keep in mind that if you purchase direct from the States you will be supplied with a domestic model that only displays imperial measurements, and good luck with any warranty issues...

DogFish

 

[Peril]

I'm thinking about getting a sounder from the US as you seem to get much better bang for your buck (also a good excuse to buy some other stuff too!!

Keep in mind that if you purchase direct from the States you will be supplied with a domestic model that only displays imperial measurements, and good luck with any warranty issues...

DogFish

Not my experience. Yes I got the domestic model, but it supports metric as well as imperial measures. Right on the warranty though.

 

[Safa]

Thanks guys will keep that in mind,for the price diff...im sure leaning towards the States.
Will keep you updated and the next mind boggling thing is how/where to attached head unit as I brought my f/glass ski in from S.Africa, as it has a large centre hatch and plavcement of the head unit mmmmm where to place it!

Cheers
Safa

 

[Flump]

Just to add my 2 cents for what its worth, I got the FF140 and it's my first FF. I've found it very easy to use and it's definately waterproof! Heres some of my comments on it:

- One thing I find annoying is that it forgets the settings if you turn it off, you have to re-scroll through the menus to get away from the default AUTO settings.
- Has good resolution for the 35 metre water depth I've been in, just goes a bit loopy in water shallower than 3 metres due to my wooden hull which I can live with.
- I generally use the narrow 14 degree beam and turn the gain to about 90% as it gives much less screen clutter, the 45 degree beam picks up everything (and I mean everything) and makes reading a bit tricky.

Other than these few minor things I've found the unit great and very user friendly and intuiative after 15 minutes using it. Saying all this I think that all of the FF's you've listed will be almost identical in performance, but just remember, the more pixels you have the clearer things should be.

HTH......Nick

 

[Fishing Man]

is the FF140 pretty clear or is it blurry with the ammount of pixels

 

[Flump]

It's pretty clear and obvious when you troll over a school or larger fish. I'll get some photo's while I'm out this arvo and post them up tonight so you can see. I've got nothing better to compare it with but it seems pretty good to me for $249 .

 

[Flump]

As promised here's the photo's. The FF is set to 90% gain (sensitivity) and 10 metres depth for the first two but the 7.2 metre depth is for 20 metres. Fish ID is off and all photo's are using the narrow beam. I think that the photo's show the FF140 as pretty good in th pixel department and clearly shows fish, bottom structure etc.

 

[Phoenix]

Nice pics Flump.

 

[simond11]

Hi Occy
I have just bought the Lowrance X50DS from the USA, but was lucky enough I could pick it up from Los Angeles, so did not have to incur postage to OZ.
I have just finished fitting it to the Prowler and will test it out on fri at Akuna with Dave. I had a Garmin FF before and although great units, I found the connections to be quite large, and therefore had to make bigger holes in the kayak for the plugs to go through. The connections to the Lowrance are smaller (about 1") in diameter. The x50DS also has metric, a voltage display and temperature. I have installed my transducer on the rudder, so I can get a water temperature reading.
I will PM you with some more info.
Cheers

Simon
Prowler 15

 

[JB]

check this thread out as well.

http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3290&start=0

regards