Mapping fishfinders

[RIKen822]

It looks like my 20 year old Hummingbird fish finder has died. It reads around 420 ft even though I'm in about 10-50 feet of water. Head unit and transducer pass built-in diagnostics.

I'm considering buying a $300 mapping fish finder. I've really only used my old finder as a depth sensor. Since I'd prefer to not haul the boat to install a new transom transducer, any thoughts as to if the mapping capabilities are good enough to give my a rough idea of my depth? If so, I figure that I can mount the transducer in the fall.

Thoughts?

Any suggestions on how to resurrect from the depth my old unit?

Thanks

[phatdaddy]

Are u talking about a GPS with contours on the map or one that actually draws the depth contours?

I have a garmin that is actually pretty accurate with the maps already on there, have not noticed to big of a difference. When trolling in the bay I usually run at 20 ft depth and just follow the contour lines. Pretty close to bottom machine

[RIKen822]

I was thinking the mapping fishfinder/mapping units that come preloaded with maps. I was looking at a unit that cost about $300. I thought it came preloaded with contour maps

[SkunkBoat]

IMHO
Even assuming you don't fish,

Generally the low end sale items don't have the best maps and even the best maps are no substitute for sonar.
If you only go to the same places then sure, follow your trail and you won't run aground ...unless the sand moved.

If you fish but not often, you can stick with a low end unit without the sidescan.

IMO, get something decent and don't throw away good money on something marginal. Pull the boat and install a new transducer.

Don't buy a sale unit that does not include a transducer because buying a separate xducer later will be stupid expensive.

[spareparts]

you get exactly what you pay for, they(electronics manufactures) make sure of that. You want nice charts? Its going to cost. Side view? Its going to cost. Big screen? Its going to cost. Back when I worked at the yacht dealer(2005), we had a customer that spent $15000 on electronics for his 45 ft motor yacht. I thought that was outrageous. It included two 12 inch screens, radar, depth, gps, weather fax, sat radio, and three closed circuit cameras. I looked at a Freeman 47 the other day, one display, not including the other display, any software, and plug ins or peripherals, was $15000. I've got a 5 inch Lowrance Hook combo unit that works pretty good for me on my 17 Sea Hunt. I think I paid $400? for it. The gps is accurate enough to follow tracks, but its only back up for paying attention to where I'm going. I never use my gps as primary navigation(remember that acknowledgement you have to click on before using the gps screen) inshore or around other boats. I only use gps as a primary when trying to locate bottom structure offshore when theres no other point of reference. If you use the base map of any unit, you will not get that much information, they sell upgrades for a reason. I've found that even with the best upgrades, theres stuff on there that gets left out or forgotten. If you have the old school laminated charts, theres a lot of stuff on them that may not appear in even the best upgraded charts. Once you find those places, save them in your gps. I caught a nice Cobia over structure that no one else was fishing because it wasn't on the included electronic charts. It was pretty obvious where the electronic charts showed structure, it was a traffic jam. We would have been alone if not for one other guy was paying attention to his sounder when he came by us heading to the crowd. I put more emphasis in the sounder than the gps for fishing. There's a lot to be learned looking at the sounder. The unit I have now doesn't have side scan, but it will definitely be on my next unit. One thing that must be stressed, get a unit that you can operate easily. I've been on boats where we had to carry teh manual around with us to be able to input waypoints and save stuff. You want something that you can operate without thinking too much. I'm on so many different oats, I can usually pick my way thru the system onboard to get it operational, but it still takes some time, and teh time to learn isn't when you're offshore. Garmin excels in this way. My Lowrance is pretty easy. Ive gor friends that run Humming Bird Helix, Garmin, Lowrance, etc... Find something that you are comfortable with. And if you are heading offshore, remember a compass. We use a grease pencil and write our heading out, or any changes on the windshield, that way, if the gps fails, we can figure our way back home. Keep those old laminated maps around as well

[phatdaddy]

You could go ahead and get the unit your looking at and bed the transducer in the bilge with silicone. It will shoot through the fiberglass good enough to tell u depth.

Then transom mount at a later date