Fish Finders

I now have a older,Hummingbird Fish finder, Portable,Dual Beam X-Ducer mounted on the stern of my small 15″ fishing boat on a 1″dowel, easy to remove if I want. I,ve seen ad’s for “Flashers”, I dont need GPS or a lot of un-needed stuff, just something that I can understand and use for fishing? Any suggestions,$200-$400 price range??Hope for any info that will assist me in getting a good unit. Hastings Guy

My suggestion would be to go with a Vexilar FL 18 or Fl 8 as it is very simple unit to use and truly does mark fish. Usually you can buy the unit for around 350 to 400 or possible a used one will do.

lowrance x67c is a basic unit. it’s 320 x 240 resolution isn’t too bad. I think the color screens are easily read and worth the money. Price is reasonable too. talk to jolly ann I’m sure they have them….no shipping cost either.

Does it have to be a flasher or will an LCD work? We just got these new Lowrance X96 in and they are $200, delivered.

strongly consider a marcum! they are IMO the best flasher ever made! you can get a nice used Lx-3 for the same price as a fl-8 and they are way better IMO! i bought my Lx-3 from scott steil, here on the site and i am amazed with it. Everything about it is great. The zoom feature, the interference rejection, and the best feature i have seen yet is its extreme quietness. If you buy a marcum and fish next to a vex, you will see what i am talking about. My friend has an fl-8 which i have used, but it is noisier than a washing machine! they all mark fish but marcum has a serious edge. Go for the atractive, affordable, conveniant marcum!!!

If it is going to be used a lot on a boat I would recommend the FL 18 because of the 6ft bottom lock. The bottom lock is nice in rough water.

yes fl-18’s and all vexilars are great units, and the 6 foot bottom lock can be a great tool, but marcums alow you to pinpoint any 10 or 5 foot range in the watercolumn, which can be helpful on suspended fish!!!

If you are looking for something for the boat, and maybe a little icing in the winter………..Dump the flasher theory and go with a graph.

I’ve been using a graph for ice fishing for many years. It is a portable unit I bought when I use to do fly-ins in Canada.

My little portable graph works great for ice fishing. I can zoom right in. No worries either for me about the unit freezing up either. For if it is that cold outside, then I’m not going to be sitting outside…….

Problem with flashers, during the summer time, is that the water is “very alive” in the summer. Meaning there is alot of plankton floating in the water system. All of this plankton interferes with your flasher’s ability to give you “good” readings on the bottom and target separation.

Go with a graph and you’ll be happy. They are half the price of a good flasher and will serve you better. That $200 unit that Wade is offering is all a person needs and will give you more than you could ever expect for finding fish and reading bottom structures!!!!!