depth finder question

I’m looking to upgrade my electronics.Right now I run a Garmin 160, it’s ok but I’m looking for something better.I have my eye on a Eagle 480 but I’ve also looked at the Lowrance X-125 and it costs more.They both have the same pixel count and alot of the same features.I know the X-125 has more watts of power,The two questions I have are this.What do you gain by more power and If you had to choose between pixels versus power which one is more important?

Thanks JJ

Generally speaking, I would take pixels over power. There are many more factors that go into a good sonar unit though. Everything has to work together. Overall, the best 5 inch grayscale unit out there is the Lowrance x135. It’s more money than the x125 but will offer a better overall performance as well.

I have used the X-125 a few times and find them very hard to read in the sunlight. With the orange backlight they were not the easiest to read at night either. I have a eagle 320 and that one reads easy anytime. Not sure about the 135, but it has to be better than the 125. I would consider buying a discontinued 104 or some other color unit. They are awesome!

I bought a Eagle 500c (fish elite color) from Jolly Ann, I love it!! It is basically a 480, just a different model # cuz of the color I believe. The color makes it easier to read in the sunlight IMO. I thought it was the most cost effective GPS/Sonar, and its great quality for a guy like me who fishes only select weekends and for fun. Remember that if you buy from Jolly Ann, No shipping fees or Sales tax to buyers outside of Iowa!!!! If you don’t want a mapping unit, or not in budget, I would still go with color.

just my 2 cents

Check out the Navman series. I have the 4500 Fish. It has a color screen and is easily the most accurate depth finder I’ve ever had. You can get a matching gps unit that also is a color mapper. Last year they even had a few units on sale. I’m a fan.

If you are not into the color thing [they cost more] then you would like the Eagle 480. The 480 has more pixels than the 320s but I sure like my 320s. I have 4 of them [2 on my lund and 1 on the jon boat and an extra one I picked up cheap from a friend in case any of them would go bad] and really like them. It depends on what a person wants to spend on a locator these days. I replaced all but one on my lund when I bought them plus bought 2 gps stand alone units at once so color was out of the question and so were other higher price units. In fact, for my locator that I use for running my kicker I have a Lowrance X65 with speed and temp. Its not fancy compared to the newer units, probably called out dated today, but does an excellent job for me back there for running a kicker motor. Oh, someday I will replace it but I will have to get a black and white one as a color one would cause me to want to replace all of them with color. I fished with my youngest son Nate a week ago out of his lund pro v tiller and everything was color. Yes it was nice maybe I better explain the laughter. I was prefishing with him for the FLW Walleye tourney and we were catching sheephead. We were fishing with live bait and he said to take over the front trolling motor and said to get us dialed in while he was rigging up the crankbait rods we were going to maybe switch over too. Well since all we had been catching was sheephead where we were fishing I dialed us in to big sheephead. It was bam bam, first one rod then another rod and so forth. All had big sheephead on them. I just laughed and said well you didn’t say what to dial us in to. Color is great if you can afford it but the 480 is a nice unit. Let us know what you get.
Thanks, Bill

I agree, color is the way to go, personally I’d go for nothing less the a color gps unit, the GPS ability, and color screen are the best two things to happen to a fish finders. I’d save my money, if I didn’t have enough to step up to atleast a Lowrance 332 (my choice anyways).

Power is best for deepwater applications. 100 feet or more.

I’m a firm believer in color because of target seperation and color takes the guess work out of target ID. Some of the units mentioned are fine units. However if your looking for more of a serious unit that is easy to use, check out the vexilar edge. http://www.vexilar.com/products/edge.html

I’ve gone through the research a few times on fish finders. One thing I was told about power is that if you are fishing shallow, a lot of power can be a disadvantage. Too much power can spook shallow fish. I don’t know how true that is, but that’s what I was told. The thing is though for normal midwest fishing situations any unit you get is going to have enough power.

I’ve had the Eagle 320. It is a good unit. I think the 480 would be much better with 25% more pixel count.

Recently, I’ve gone with the X102C color sonor unit and the 3500C GPS unit. I wanted to separate my sonar and gps for a bigger picture of each. I think the color unit allows you to read the bottom content and fish signals easier.

Good luck with what ever you get.

I just picked up an Eagle FishStrike 2000c… The color is awesome and with the 7″ screeen you can see GPS and Sonar. I have a 480 on the front of my boat and have to say it is awesome too. I’d no matter what get the best resolution you can get, whether it be color or not.