Depth Finder Suggestions

I would like to get a 5″ screen for the front of my boat and plan on mounting it on my bow mount trolling motor.
16″ Alumacraft
bow mount trolling motor
fish shallow water….less that 20′
Mostly hard bottom but do vacation in Minn once a year so get some shallow weedy conditions some.
no need for GPS, I have that on my rear unit.
Any suggestions a nice small unit for my bow mount trolling motor ?

Thanks
Mike

What brand/model is your rear unit? What’s your budget? It might make sense to have them connected together since it usually doesn’t cost that much more and you gain a lot of functionality.

At least with Lowrance you can connect two units and get mapping on both.

Lowrance
$350.00 ish
I have a older Lowrance 332c in the back that I like a lot and it serves as my mapping needs fine.
Black n White is fine but color would be nice.
Thanks

I don’t think you’d be able to connect them but I’d highly recommend finding a Lowrance HDS 5 or 7 gen 2. You get a ton of bang for your buck and should be able to find a used 5 for $350.

I own a 7 & 8 gen 2 and still love them.

Thanks for the replies

Would a Elite 5x chirp be a good choice ?

The helix 5 or 7 chirp would be excellent. I had 2 helix 5s when they first came out on my last boat… I would recommend a 7. They are much clearer screens.

I would take the elite over helix anyday of the week.

5″ screen on a bow mount I’m assuming the screen isn’t in your face, so SI may be tough to distinguish, just for weeds DI is a must have imo, separates very nicely and is easy to read from a bow mount location.

Mike Burke wrote:

Thanks for the replies

Would a Elite 5x chirp be a good choice ?

I had an Elite 5 Chirp for a few months until I returned it. I put mine on the dash, so I expected it to map while I was driving. The screen couldn’t even keep up with the boat when on plane. You said you were going to to use it as you troll, so this may not be an issue for you but I really thought that unit was sub part.

Well to be honest with ya…I have a Elite 5X CHIRP. I have had it for a couple years. It doesn’t have GPS so no mapping on it. I have the transducer mounted on my trolling motor.
I have had mixed feelings with it. Sometimes it works fine but other times it losses bottom reading and takes Forever to boot back up. Some times it looses settings and I have to go to settings again and make adjustments.

That’s why I was asking for suggestions for another unit. But I have had the unit for long to return it and I don’t suppose I would have very good luck selling on here.

Any other thoughts or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks again

biggill wrote:

I don’t think you’d be able to connect them but I’d highly recommend finding a Lowrance HDS 5 or 7 gen 2. You get a ton of bang for your buck and should be able to find a used 5 for $350.

I own a 7 & 8 gen 2 and still love them.

I’d agree. GREAT units! you can also easily covert them to hard water as well. Or, easily use them as a portable locator.