Fish finder recommendation?

[Carl1969]

Found myself a nice little starter boat & would like have a fish finder. Never used one, never seen one used. Haven't even fished from a boat since 1980. Recommendations for a solid fish finder in the sub $500 range? I'll be mostly either on Truman, or the Sac & Osage & have a hankering to explore every river that'll safely float a 15' aluminum outboard. Any of 'em good enough to help me dodge trees & rocks while puttering about, channeling my inner Huck Finn & hoping to put supper in the boat?

[jdmidwest]

By the time a fish finder finds a tree or rock, the boat is on top.  Most sonars look down.

I have put Lowrance Hook Reveal units on my last few boats.  Built in lake maps, can buy a chip for some of them for more detail.

Both have traditional and downscan sonar and work well enough for me.  Lowrance has refurbished units from time to time and save more money.

[Dutch]

You are not going to find a unit that will do that.  Your best bet will be to find a unit with a gps that will accept a map card that has the river channels in the lakes marked.  You will get more bang for your buck if you can find someone who is trading up and buy his good used unit.  Two of the large fishing/boating sites have for sale forums, Bass Resource and Bass Boat Central.  

[Carl1969]

Thanks guys. I don't know what I don't know.

I was eye-balling the Lowrance Hook Reveal 7x with triple shot & thought it sounded good. Can the "GPS Only" models accept a map card? The GPS plotter certainly seems useful. Map card vs. GPS plotter & paper map? I get the convenience of pre loaded maps, but are they any more accurate or up to date than current paper maps?

 

[Dutch]

2 hours ago, Carl1969 said:

Thanks guys. I don't know what I don't know.

I was eye-balling the Lowrance Hook Reveal 7x with triple shot & thought it sounded good. Can the "GPS Only" models accept a map card? The GPS plotter certainly seems useful. Map card vs. GPS plotter & paper map? I get the convenience of pre loaded maps, but are they any more accurate or up to date than current paper maps?

 

Where are you?  You really need to go to a store that carries them and talk to a qualified sales person.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

9 hours ago, Dutch said:

You are not going to find a unit that will do that.  Your best bet will be to find a unit with a gps that will accept a map card that has the river channels in the lakes marked.

Are there map cards for those smaller rivers?   The rivers I'm on in the ozarks change after every flood.  Dramatically sometimes too.  Gravel gets moved around and a new island can pop up right after the high water.

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Are there map cards for those smaller rivers?   The rivers I'm on in the ozarks change after every flood.  Dramatically sometimes too.  Gravel gets moved around and a new island can pop up right after the high water.

               Not really any out there I know of. My Mapping cards go up rivers some to lake boundaries. From then on just shows river channel until river peters out. Even in our boats Pete won't get that far unless floods. Then we will be cleaning out jet grates. 🤪

[jdmidwest]

GPS only means no map sd slot usually.  I think the X part of the model states that in description.

I use my finders on rivers to track my course and use the route I go up to make my way back sometimes.  Usually rivers are just a thin blue line at best.  Some have a wider boundry on the Lowrance Navionics chip.  I have the splitshot puck on my river boats, smaller and less apt to tear off.  Triple shot gives you sidescan, but is about 6" long.

Take this link and you can see about what you will get on a base map like Lowrance Inland Maps.

https://webapp.navionics.com/#boating@6&key=kzmfFfrugP

Or download the apps and look at the free maps on your phone.

https://www.lowrance.com/lowrance-app/

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, BilletHead said:

               Not really any out there I know of. My Mapping cards go up rivers some to lake boundaries. From then on just shows river channel until river peters out. Even in our boats Pete won't get that far unless floods. Then we will be cleaning out jet grates. 🤪

Or pushing😂

[jdmidwest]

54 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Or pushing😂

Or waiting for a big rain....