Inexpensive Depthfinder

richdoe · Post by **richdoe** » Tue May 17, 2016 8:22 am

My old depthfinder is going goofy and I need to find a new one. I'm not a tournament fisherman and all I fish is the Delta, so I don't need an expensive one. All I'm concerned about is the depth to find those ledges and so forth. Any advice as to the best depthfinder for the buck? This will be for the front of the boat.

Bass hack · Post by **Bass hack** » Tue May 17, 2016 1:53 pm

"Not expensive" can mean a lot of things to different people. What budget are you trying to stay within?

Robb R · Post by **Robb R** » Tue May 17, 2016 3:07 pm

I was in a similar situation several months ago . I ended up buying a Helix 7 Di GPS . BPS had them on sale for $429.99 and I had some old gifts cards to use . Easy to install on the trolling motor upfront . Now I can't believe how much I like it and want to get another unit for the dash .
The image quality is crazy good and the features are amazing for different settings .
There are some really good video's you can look at on youtube .
tight lines ,
Robb

Whoopbass · Post by **Whoopbass** » Tue May 17, 2016 4:51 pm

The best for the buck is probably a Garmin Striker. From what i've seen DI and SI don't work that well on the delta. Maybe some stud can interpret that grassy mess but i'm willing to bet most of us can't. Since all you need is depth and contour which is pretty much all I use I would find a used graph in the $100 range.

Hipster · Post by **Hipster** » Wed May 18, 2016 7:16 am

check out the bargain bin at online cabbalas, I got a smoking deal some years ago when the GPS was the new rage.

richdoe · Post by **richdoe** » Wed May 18, 2016 7:30 am

I'd buy a more expensive model if I thought I'd use the extra bells & whistles, but I don't think I ever would. All I need to do is reliably read the depth.

My old Garmin 300c worked great until I dropped the trolling motor on the cable and sliced nearly through. Repaired it, but now it only works intermittently--keep having to reboot it. A new cable is half the price of a new unit, so I thought I might as well upgrade to newer technology.

I guess what I'm asking is, of the Big Three, which would you buy: Garmin Striker, Humminbird Pirhana, or the Lowrance Hook?

Bass hack wrote:"Not expensive" can mean a lot of things to different people. What budget are you trying to stay within?

Whoopbass · Post by **Whoopbass** » Wed May 18, 2016 3:08 pm

All of those are in the $250-$300 range. All have about the same features and will function about the same. I don't think it matters which one you choose.

briansII · Post by **briansII** » Thu May 19, 2016 11:14 am

richdoe wrote: I guess what I'm asking is, of the Big Three, which would you buy: Garmin Striker, Humminbird Pirhana, or the Lowrance Hook?

Personally, I would drop the Hummingbird Piranha out of the options. It's a 3.5" screen, and the sonar is not going to have good definition. If you look at the Hummingbird Helix 5, it comes in sonar only option, and is $199. The Lowrance and Garmin are a $100 more, but both have down imaging.

briansII

Deli · Post by **Deli** » Thu May 19, 2016 11:19 am

give me a call I have a couple used ones that may be what your looking for.

Deli
925-784-0847

richdoe · Post by **richdoe** » Fri May 20, 2016 2:59 pm

Thanks Brian. Just checked it out online and I think the Helix 5 is exactly what I need.

[/quote]

Personally, I would drop the Hummingbird Piranha out of the options. It's a 3.5" screen, and the sonar is not going to have good definition. If you look at the Hummingbird Helix 5, it comes in sonar only option, and is $199. The Lowrance and Garmin are a $100 more, but both have down imaging.

briansII[/quote]