I am comparing the eagle fishmark 480, Humminbird 565, and
the Garmin 240. They all have their positives and negatives and for $200 are pretty good deals. I will be using one of them to locate walleyes in holes of local rivers that are generally pretty shallow. I know one person who has a hard time marking fish with the hummer. Does anyone have advice or can point me in the right direction on either of these models?
I don’t have any experience with the other models but the Garmin 240 has worked well for me given the cost of the unit.
I’ve had a couple Garmin 240’s. Good unit for the money, I’ve not had any problems with either. Also have no experience with the other two. If you are fishing shallow water primarily, make sure you get the wide angle transducer if you are counting on it to mark fish.
John
I’ve had a couple 240’s and an Eagle 320. The 320 was a better unit than the 240 and with the increase in vertical pixels on the 480 I would think the 480 would be a step again better.
I agree with Mr Holst. Eagle’s 480 is the way to go. 
It’s amazing to me how much fishfinder you can get these days for $200. The fact that you’ve got choices at that price range is equally surprising. I remember when 320 vertical pixel units were the cream of the crop and 480 units were just out of range for most guys due to expense.
i have been using the fishmark 480 this year. when my ultra III on my small boat goes out i will replace it with the 480. real good unit for the money. i use it on lake mille lacs, so i can’t say how it will be in a shallow water/ river applacation. the intellimap 480 is also a nice unit for the money……..tom f
I’ve got some friends that use and swear by the Garmin 240. I’ve seen it in use, and it is very easy to use. The Eagle Fishmark 480 is essentially the same as the more expensive LMS-480 (both are made by Lowrance) without a few of the options and it doesn’t have as much power. Almost bought the Eagle Fishmark, but opted for the LMS-480. I’ve never heard anything good about a Humminbird. When I was checking out sonars at a local Gander Mountain, the guys working there all but talked me out of buying a Humminbird (they said most of the returns were Humminbird). I don’t think you can go wrong with the either the Garmin or the Fishmark 480.
I’ve got both the Fishmark 320 & 480. They are both excellent units and work well in deep or shallow water situations. The 480 has just a little better resolution as you would expect with the number of pixels, but you wouldn’t be able to tell much difference without viewing them both at the same time. Hard to beat them for the money.
A buddy has a Garmin 240 and it is also a very good unit. Resolution is maybe not quite as good as a 320 or 480, but plenty good enough for any fishing situation we’ve been in. With most of todays units you can easily read fish, structure, and bottom composition. Target seperation may be slightly better with more pixels and more power, but even that has gotten better with todays units. I’ve never owned a Hummingbird, but from everything I’ve heard, they have more maintenance problems. I’ve never had any with Eagles and I’ve had several. The only reason I’ve ever gotten rid of any is for the better features. I’ve sold all my older units and have at least gotten a little money out of them after replacing.
Gramps
Make sure you check out the Eagle units real close. I rigged a few boats with Eagle 320’s and they had some problems with transmitters. The problem may have been corrected but worth checking into.
Transmitters? Do you mean transducers, Don? I hadn’t heard of that issue but there was (is?) a pretty well documented issue with some of the 480’s that caused the unit to freeze up occassionally. I understand there was a fix offered up recently for that so I would assume new units would not have this issue.
James, was that problem with the Fishmark 480’s or the LMS 480’s. I’ve got the Fishmark and haven’t had any problems at all. Just curious.
James, the way it was explained to me was the units were having problems transmitting the sound wave back into electric impulses. Hopefully they have corrected the problem.
Gramps
I got my 480’s crossed! It was indeed the Lowrance unit with the problem eventually being traced to a short in the gps wiring that was caused by inadequate installation instructions in the manual.
Here’s the original post should anyone be experiencing this issue with their LMS-480. Troubles with LMS-480 This thread has quite a body of knowledge on the 480 and could be very useful to anyone that owns this particular unit.
Quote:
James, was that problem with the Fishmark 480’s or the LMS 480’s. I’ve got the Fishmark and haven’t had any problems at all. Just curious.
I am running 2 of the Eagle 320s and really like them. I had one of them fog up on me but after having it out in the sunlight for a full day afterwards it cleared up. The one that fogged up was the one that was up front for the front trolling motor facing upward in the rain with water on it but it did dry out in the sunlight. This year you can get the Eagle 480, same unit with better view, for the same money.
Thanks, Bill
Hi guys…i’m new to the forum and figured i’d give my input on the LMS-480 comparison to the Fishmark 480. There is a huge difference in the two of them. The peak to peak power on the Lowrance X135 (lms-480) is 4000 watts while the Fishmark 480 is 1500 watts. I had called Basspro and they recommended bottomline and a garmin. I wasn’t pleased with the woman I spoke with and called Cabelas. Cabelas put me on the line with thier product specialist. He told me that the Lowrance unit is very hard to beat. The power that unit produces will make the difference. If you think about it…if your in a river there obviously is trash and other things…like the mud mixed in the water…that will soak up the signal and eat the power up. End result..less signal penetrating the water with the transducer picking up much weaker signals from deeper water. The way I look at it…harder to detect fish near the bottom….bottom structure…etc. That’s why I went with the Lowrance unit. If the highest price you wanted to pay was the Garmin price….i’ve heard nothing but good about their fish finders.
See you guys in the forum
Joe
Decatur, AL
Welcome aboard Bama, and thanks for the info!
Just like Ranger, Evinrude, etc…..Garmin PAYS you to use their equiptment. I haven’t had any problems at all with my 240 and I think that’s right around 200$. just my .02
The new Garmin 250 is a step up from the Garmin 240. A nice unit for slightly over $200. One more option to ponder.
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