Need input on Sonar Units

O.K. I am ready to order my sonar. I would like your input on brands, types of transducer beams etc. Most of the lakes I fish are shallow, 6 to 25 feet. But occasionally I will fish a few lakes that can run as deep as 150 to 200. I have been looking at the Eagle 480, Humminbird 565 and 575. Has anyone had experience with the quad beam like the 575 has? Do you think it would be any help to me in the shallow lakes? Tell me about what you use.I am really anxious to order so please help me before I screw up and order the wrong thing.LOL

I had the eagle 480....and would get it again. Not sure about the other units though. I got mine through cabelas and ordered the puck transdcuer for the trolling motor in front of my boat.

What I would look at is how many watts of power your unit uses. Most of the smaller unit are at 2400 watts. I fyou are using a unit just for sonar, not maping, I would look at a used LCX-15MT. They are rated at 8000 watts and are the best monochrome sonar unit I have found. Lowrance does not work on them or warranty them anymore, but you can get good $1200 sonar/gps in the LCX-15 for around $350 in great condition. You also get a big screen. I have one and love it.

I have the Humminbird 565 and I'm very happy with the unit. I fish in Lakes from 3 - 30 feet of water. A very good unit for the price. About $200 for the 565 with temperature

Thanks for the input guys. Jim, can you use the transom transducer and the puck on the trolling motor (switch between them)? Do you just prefer the puck to be on the troller?

phased said:

Thanks for the input guys. Jim, can you use the transom transducer and the puck on the trolling motor (switch between them)? Do you just prefer the puck to be on the troller?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean? Installed at the same time?

yeah, just wondering if maybe you had some way of using two transducers and switching between them. I had never heard of that being done before. BTW I decided on the Eagle 480. Ordered it from Cabela's.

I don't see why not, But I don't see a purpose?

There is only one connection to the back of the unit for one transducer. Did you order the regular transducer or the puck? Either will work under the trolling motor.

My friend has the hummingbird side image unit he has a glass boat and it has 2 transducers that he can witch between with a switch he fishes a lot of shallow water and was worried about ripping the side image transducer off the boat while running ($200 for the transducer and it must be mounted outside or drilled through the bottom of the boat) so he uses his old transducer mounted in the bilge for running and the new side imaging mounted up higher on the transom (out of water while n plane) while using the trolling motor


Wayne

Jim, I just ordered the regular transducer. For a while I will be using it with one of the removable (clamp on) mounts. I fish with a bud in his boat so I want to swap it from his boat to mine. That is until I can talk him into buying his own unit. As you can tell this will be my first sonar. I would love to have one of the side image units redbug but they are out of my wallet range right now.Thanks guys!

I too found the Quad Beam (wider beam) of the 575 interesting while I was looking at them online a few weeks ago. But haven't found enough input on them to make a decision. I'd have to think a wider beam would be better? Buy a 575, then you can be the test pilot :mrgreen:

ST

SlimeTime that was my thought on the wider beam but...since I am not one to be a guinea pig I chickened out and went with Jim's experience and bought the Eagle 480. I will keep the quad beam in mind and might give it a try for my next sonar.

lol, I understand. Well, maybe when I'm able to get to that point I'll buy one [-o<

ST

I have the Humminbird 525 unit which works great for what I use it for (depth under the boat). It has the 20 degree cone, which does not provide a lot of area coverage if using it for fish-finding. Can't recall at the moment which unit it is (Humminbird) but they have one with dual beams (20 & 60 degree).

That's the one WW
https://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0043162018989a.shtml

Looks like the reviews on it are pretty positive.

ST

yep, that's a nice one! 8)