Fish Finder Advice

[Feathers and Fins]

If you are really wanting to target Walleye and Striper then you want a unit with structure scan and sidescan. Sidescan being more used for the Stripers to pinpoint the roaming schools, You will have to learn how to use the unit to its maximum potential or you might as well just by a off the track at walmart unit for 50 bucks....

When people start talking about units over 500.00 I really think the get the feeling its a magic box that tells them what the fish is and its size in a sexy voice. If the buyer is not willing to spend hours understanding how to use the unit and then hours on the lake fine tuning it and learning it then they paid a hell of a lot of money for nothing.

The Bigger the better Argument when it comes to screens is NOT true IMO. I run a HDS7 on the console and HDS5 on the bow all Ethernet connection and have no problem reading and interpreting both units. I have been in boats with HDS12 and really don't find the bigger screen any more valuable ( maybe when I get older I might for seeing ) but currently the 7 is fine.

Another issue I see with people with 12's is more times than not they have multiple views up which negates any advantage a 12'' screen would give them. It is actually a disadvantage to all units regardless of maker. Also I hear is people talking about the structure scan not reading good and it mostly comes from people running to fast or to slow I have found its best reading speed to be between 1.5 and 3.5 mph for detail Slower than 1.5 you will want to use sonar mode same with faster than 8mph.

No mater the unit you get do your due diligence and read as much as you can about it and use Youtube to even further your knowledge. Plan on spending a few weeks on the water dedicated to fine tuning it to what is best for it and you and for the love of God make sure you have your unit tuned to the Transducer that has to be the most common mistake I have seen FOLLOWED BY people mounting the transducer wrong or not making sure its at level.

[YAKFM]

Currently in the bargain cave at the Rogers Cabelas

Lowrance HDS-5 with DSI for $299. List price on the box is $649.

Lowrance HDS-8 Gen 2/Structure Scan for $1599. List price on the box is $2199.

[J-Doc]

HDS8 Ttouch is less than the HDS8 in the cave and the touch doesn't require the structure module. I'd go that route personally.

[Green236]

When my ship comes in, I'll have the HDS 7 Touch. I like my HDS 5 but wish I'd gone with the larger screen. Pinpoint technology will come out soon for the Motorguide xi5. Pinpoint will link the MG to Lowrance HDS graphs....just sit back and troll around the islands at 14' if you want to. The xi5 seems to be a nice upgrade from iPilot.