The sonar on my Lawrence 520 goes in and out (again) so I decided it’s time for a new unit. OMG, I am awestruck over the complexity of choices out there. DI, SI, networkable, CHIRP, SwitchFire. NavT, BlueChart, # 5 7 9 10 or 12. 135 units on the Cabelas website alone. $2,700 for some units! Sheesh. Another example of the world passing me by.
So what does one do? Go to school to learn about all the choices or find a trusted knowledgeable friend to recommend a unit?
The manufacturer websites have some videos, but search YouTube for the model(s) you are considering. There are quite a few decent tutorials there on how the features work and when that person uses them.
A few major decision points will also help you narrow down the choices:
– is side imaging important to you?
– do you want to connect multiple units together?
– do you want to integrate with your trolling motor? Are you willing to replace them both?
I just bought a new unit a couple of weeks ago. It seemed like a lot of the units had features that I didn’t feel like I would use and was unwilling to pay for. Clear and crisp imaging was important to me so I wanted CHIRP. I also am the type of guy that sets up his screen view and doesn’t want anyone else touching it. What is your budget? In my case, there would have been a few features that I thought would be nice but just unwilling to pay that kind of money for a fish finder.
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