Less than $200 GPS/Fish Finder Combos...any good?

[Frogman Ladue]

Less than $200 GPS/Fish Finder Combos...any good?

Hey guys,

I've noticed that every big box store has the cheapy GPS/Fish Finder combos on sale for spring. Does anyone have any experience with these? Does either half do what it's supposed to?

 

[200racing]

i have a cheap eagle gps/ff combo. i am very happy with it. it is simple and easy to use. gps gets me home and and marks way points. the fish finder is decent certainly no down imaging,but i can find stuff on the bottom.
i got it Christmas of '10 and it still going strong.

 

[Frogman Ladue]

Per chance, is that the Eagle Cuda xxx?

I'm looking for something sensitive enough to find old creekbeds on the bottom of resivores, and plot the creek beds. In your opinion is this unit something sensative enough to find (fore-say) a 6-8' ditch in the bottom of a 25' lake...and run it confidently?

How's the GPS? Does it actually show the name of the body of water? Water debths?

 

[200racing]

#-o yep its the cuda 350 forgot it was in my sig

i dont think it shows lake names. you can split screen to see map and depth. i have never tried to do what you asked but i think it can do it, i use it to learn the contours of points and to not run aground.

i looked to see whats comparable on he market and everything is more advanced than it now. even the cheap units accept navionics chips.

 

[moloch16]

You can do what I did - get a good fish finder and then a cheapo hand-help GPS.

 

[Frogman Ladue]

#-o yep its the cuda 350 forgot it was in my sig

i dont think it shows lake names. you can split screen to see map and depth. i have never tried to do what you asked but i think it can do it, i use it to learn the contours of points and to not run aground.

i looked to see whats comparable on he market and everything is more advanced than it now. even the cheap units accept navionics chips.

I was looking at that exact one. Cabela's had them last summer for $169. And I didn't have the cash.

Does it actually show a body of water...or is it just 2 dimensional, black and white, waypoints?

You can do what I did - get a good fish finder and then a cheapo hand-help GPS.

I'm not looking to spend that much. Next season is a different boat, so I figure buy something cheap that works for what I want it to do....while still being cheap enought I don't have any remorse for selling with the current boat. Or, just hold off and wait until next season.

 

[shawnfish]

Per chance, is that the Eagle Cuda xxx?

I'm looking for something sensitive enough to find old creekbeds on the bottom of resivores, and plot the creek beds. In your opinion is this unit something sensative enough to find (fore-say) a 6-8' ditch in the bottom of a 25' lake...and run it confidently?

How's the GPS? Does it actually show the name of the body of water? Water debths?

do you mean a 6-8 feet deep or wide ditch in 25ft water?

 

[Frogman Ladue]

Yes.

6-8' deep, 6-8' wide, possibly wider. The majority of the lakes I fish in are man-made resivors. Many of them started as creeks that were dammed and turned into lakes. Picture a creek running through a lazy valley or across a sloping plain. Then Army Corps of Engineers builds a monster dam and floods that valley or plain with 30 feet of water. I want to find the original creek bed. In most cases, it's the only real structure on the bottom of some of these lakes.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

At trolling speeds, just about any 2D sonar should find that size of creekbed. You can cross it at multiple points and put down waypoints, and then follow the track. This is a good approach if you want to fish it without hovering right over it. I'd position myself right over and try to stay right over the ditch, watching the depth closely, making sure I wasn't "climbing the wall". Slowly work up the creekbed, but then again, don't know what you are fishing for. No matter what sonar/gps you get, plan on spending the time to learn it, and understand what it can and can not display.

In my experience/area, a flooded res usually have a lot of structure, trees and tree stumps, foundations, rock fences, roads, bridges, machinery, etc. Where a natural lake will tend to be "bowl" like.

 

[Wallijig]

I had Cuda 350 on my last boat and really liked it. It did not show contour depths on lakes I fish, but I used it for tracking areas I have been and follow them plus marking underwater structure. It does not accept any chips either, but for the money I fell it was great.
I did notice thought GPS was little different from one trip to next. Times I would track or mark would be 8'-12' off. Where my Garmin hand held seemed to be within 3'-5'.

 

[Frogman Ladue]

Looks like the Cuda 350 is soldout across the market.

I'm kinda liking the Lorance Mark-4...anyone use that one?

 

[wihil]

Looks like the Cuda 350 is soldout across the market.

I'm kinda liking the Lorance Mark-4...anyone use that one?

I played around with one in Cabelas for the better part of an hour. Hands down it's the best bang for the buck out there IMO. If you're used to Lowrance menu structure, it's easy to navigate (for me anyway), and the screen isn't an LCD. It's an LED - the same as the color units, just in black and white, so it's super bright in the day light and doesn't wash out.

The only thing I didn't like about it - and I mean the only thing - was the size of the screen. If you try and do the GPS and the 2D sonar at the same time, it's just too small to read well, so you'll be flipping the pages if you try to run them both. If they made it in the 5" screen for $300 they'd destroy the market IMO. As it is, it'll do a lot of damage with so many kayak anglers out there.

I'll probably pick up the Mark 4 here soon, and I'm still holding out that they'll move the Mark 5 DSI's to the new screen for later this year/next year. Then I'll grab one of those to pair with it. DSI needs a 5" screen for me.

ETA - If you want the downscan in the Mark4, Cabela's is the only one that offers the Mark 4 DSI with GPS, it's an exclusive per the Lowrance rep I talked with.

 

[shallowminedid]

i have an eagle fishelite 480 or something like that it was like 500, i got the el cheapo eagle cuda 350 something from cabelas last spring the the cheapo named more lakes than my more expenive one and the gps was more accurate with no receiver. mines got a lil puck u mount. when i trout fish the local lake it looks like i never moved it from its stroage spot a few blocks away. although the cheapie dont do well at all at anykind of a decent speed. like 5 mph plus forget about trusting what ur seeing. the fishelite sees all the nooks n crannies at 30 mph

 

[Frogman Ladue]

The only time my boat goes over 5mph is when it's on the trailer.



Cablela's descriptions are so limited they're confusing.

Is there any difference between the Mark4 DIS and the Elite4 DIS other than a color screen and $50?

 

[wihil]

The only time my boat goes over 5mph is when it's on the trailer.



Cablela's descriptions are so limited they're confusing.

Is there any difference between the Mark4 DIS and the Elite4 DIS other than a color screen and $50?

Nope - you nailed it. Color screen and 50$.

 

[user 7806]

I've sort of been looking at the Garmin Echo 200 for the front of the boat. I have an Eage FishEasy on the back. I like the one in the back as it tells me how deep the water is but not a good location for fishing when using the trolling motor. The Garmin comes with a mount to the trolling motor as well as the transom. All the reviews I have found on it have been good. Found them at Amaazon for $135 with Free Super Saver shipping.