Best fish finder?

I just picked up a lowrance hook-4 for $199 at west marine.  The unit has CHIRP sonar and downscan. No GPS for the $199 unit, gotta pay $299 for that one. I like the unit so far, good power (3200 peak to peak I think) good resolution and decent screen size. Plus it has roughly the same size transducer as my old elite 4 had making the install easy. Oh yea, and the split screen feature is pretty awesome

I looked at garmin units under $200, and the ray marine dragonfly that goes for $250. These units had GPS. The garmin had better resolution, was the cheapest, but was lower power and had a small screen. The raymarine was just a bit too expensive and had a really big transducer, but also a huge screen, good power and resolution. Ultimately you should pick the unit that matches your fishing needs. I went with the lowrance because the extra power helps when trying to find Kokanee schools in deep water. If I fished the coast regularly, I would've purchased the higher end lowrance for the GPS capabilities. I also pay close attention to the frequency ranges that the sonar uses...80 kHz is for shallower water because it casts a wider beam, 200 is for the deeper water. Most units used to come with some variation of these two frequency ranges. That seems to have changed as the units I looked at had a great range of frequencies employed. The CHIRP basically uses all frequencies in between and the downscan uses a very high frequency for fine detail ( at least I think that's how it goes) Hope some of this helps you narrow down your choice.

Thank you, this was very helpful.

I got my Hook 4 w/ GPS and the advanced Navionics chip for <$300.  Personally, I won't go to the Ocean w/o GPS, and that's where I fish the most.  I also use the same approach in the Delta, as the 1 time I went there, the Tule Fog came in so thick our visibility was down to 20' (length of my cousin's bass boat).  Basically, as soon as we slipped away from the dock, I had no idea of where we were heading or from where we'd come; thank goodness for Cuz's GPS on the iPad.

I like having GPS integrated directly into the FF unit or vice versa because that's only one set of wires to run and my Revo's very limited mounting space is less cluttered.  Less clutter is fewer things to catch my mended fly line.

I got my Hook 4 w/ GPS and the advanced Navionics chip for <$300.  Personally, I won't go to the Ocean w/o GPS, and that's where I fish the most.  I also use the same approach in the Delta, as the 1 time I went there, the Tule Fog came in so thick our visibility was down to 20' (length of my cousin's bass boat).  Basically, as soon as we slipped away from the dock, I had no idea of where we were heading or from where we'd come; thank goodness for Cuz's GPS on the iPad.

I like having GPS integrated directly into the FF unit or vice versa because that's only one set of wires to run and my Revo's very limited mounting space is less cluttered.  Less clutter is fewer things to catch my mended fly line.

Right now I only fish in lakes. I am on the fence if I need GPS or not. Initially I wanted a unit with GPS, but now I am thinking it might not be necessary. I might go to the delta eventually, but not soon, I don't even really have the tackle I need for that.

How would this be? Is it worth getting one with CHIRP?

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Lowrance-Elite-5-HDI-Fishfinder/Chartplotter-With-Suncover&i=922116&icID=HPP2

I am trying to find the same thing.  I came across this fish finder with chirp and gps on sale at west marine:

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/garmin--echomap-44dv-chartplotter-sonar-combo-with-downv-scanning-sonar--17397761?recordNum=1

Very positive reviews on multiple websites, but it comes with a transom transducer.  The catch for me is that I will have to do a in-hull mount on my revo11... any update on what you decided on?

How would this be? Is it worth getting one with CHIRP?

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Lowrance-Elite-5-HDI-Fishfinder/Chartplotter-With-Suncover&i=922116&icID=HPP2

That's a great deal, matter of fact I ordered mine over the weekend.  The HDI works just fine for my needs and I'm already familiar with the unit from having an Elite 4 HDI (which I had zero problems with).  For $250, color/gps/HDI, free shipping & no-tax I'd say go for it.  Oh, also comes with a $50 Visa gift card rebate, so for under $200 it's a smoking deal.

I purchased a Lowrance Elite 4 HDI from West Marine on clearance for $149 this spring.  At first, the unit was a little glitchy but the operation was smoother once I upgraded the firmware. I am reasonably happy with the unit and (especially) the price.


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