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Well I've been looking into finally taking the dive and getting a fishfinder. This will be my first unit ever. None of my friends have one either. I mainly do alot of Lure Bass Fishing, so i cover alot of water in ponds and small lakes. I'm speculating that its not going to be too hard to learn though. I'm pretty good with electronics. Anyway, I'm looking for the the best portable FF that i can get under $200,preferably under $150, but will spend the extra $50 if worth it. This is the boat I'm putting it on [url "http://www.pedalboat.com/oz/4/com/fish/sp8/sportsman.html"]http://www.pedalboat.com/oz/4/com/fish/sp8/sportsman.html [/url]and thats pretty much why I want a portable Unit, And if i go fishing with a buddy I can have a FF in his boat as well. I usually only fish ponds or small lakes. I dont have a trailor, I lift the boat in and out of truck. I've been looking at getting the Humminbird Fishin buddy 140c (color display). they get really good reviews. Or should i go with a wired version? i was thinking of getting the humminbird 343c. porable http://store.humminbird.com/humminbird-p...000-1.html
anyone have any experience with these or have any suggestions or comments. Thanks in advance. Good Fishin'
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Unless you really want color I would go with the Humminbird 565. Almost the same power but larger screen. My brother has one and it works great. I have the 575 but they never caught on and I don't think they sell them anymore. They are the same as the 565 but had side view.
Check out the Archives page at the top of the forum.
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I have a tube and have been looking for one of these as well. the one I like so far is the humminbird 130 fishin buddy. Is that one any good? I like that it's all one unit and I can take the whole thing off at once.
Jason
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i was looking at the 130 as well. went to local gander mountain and was talkin to 2 guys that fish tournaments and one fishes in the BFL. they said its worth the extra $50 to go with the color version 140c. Said its easier to see, whether its day or night, and said its easier to make out what kind of structure your around. says its easier to see the fish if there in a brushpile or weeds etc. i dunno how true this is, but i'll say in persion lookin at the gray and black compared the the color, the color was much brighter. Of course that was in the store but they said its also a big difference outside too. so now im leaning toward the 140c or the 343c portable...
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okay that's good to know. the thing I noticed is that the color one has a smaller screen. And the 130 has all the same features except a bigger screen and not color. Our Gander mountain has all of them but none of them are out to look at.
Jason
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yea they werent out of box at my gander mountain either, i said the same thing. he set there for a minute, and said the FF is like his eyes in the water, he said he finesse fishes alot and can read the structure much better on the color screen. and make out the fish in cover with the color, with the grey and black he says its harder for him to see those things if he can even see them at all. if u go to gander mountain again, just look at all the FFs that are on display. can compare to which is easier for your eyes to read. even looked at the lowest end color that was there and it still was easier to see then the best grey scale FF. so is it worth to pay an extra $50 for something ur prolly going to own for 5+ years? i dunno, i'm leaning toward yes. i dont buy fish finders all the time, lol. I dunno thats why i've posted this =)
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I have the Hummingbird black and white. An old version but, I tell you, it has put me on soooo many fish I won't get rid of it in the near future.
A color would be awesome, I admit, but I am also in the old you get what you pay for thing also, so when it comes to color, I am thinking I have to pay more.
Wouldn't you want to be looking at pixel, and cone shape, plus maybe side view? I mean the most for the buck.
Now On fishing buddy's, I had one of the earlier models, but it was the $250 model so the top of the line. It was terrible. About the only thing it was good for was depth and iffy on that. It was nice that it was all in one unit.
I am aware that they have come a really long way and now the cone is one of the best. Still not sold on them all they way.
The thing is they are still up there in price to where you can get a boat mount with more features for less. And batteries...the small rechargeable like the ones for home security systems and you are good to go.
As far as mounting...the Archives are full of ideas
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Humminbird did not make the first and 2nd models of the fishing buddy, Bottom Line was the old company of the fishin buddy. Humminbird bought them out, and this is there release of the fishing buddy. The humminbirds are waaaaaayyy 100% better then the old bottom line fishin buddies. I do have to agree that they are a little on the expensive side for what they do. your basically paying 60% for the design in my opinion on all the models. but if you go to cabela's and read the reviews, around 26 of them. it seems to score real well with people who have bought them. http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templa...ISO-8859-1 there ya go... i never hear nething bad about the FF its the bracket that some may complain about...but use common sense, this isn't made for gas engines going over 20mph...
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Thanks for the link. I don't know...does the fact it is such a SMALL scream create any problems? I mean someone that has used both, the boat mount sonar and the Fishing Buddy.
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NP...I dont think the screen size matter much..not all FF boat mounts are bigger...i was actually looking at the 343c portable and it too has a 3.5 inch color screen http://store.humminbird.com/humminbird-p...000-1.html
i'm sure a bigger screen would be better, but your looking @ $600-650 for a 5" color screen....does anyone here have the new humminbird fishin buddies or know anyone that does?
i'm mainly looking at the fishin buddy for mobility reasons. IMO its alot more versatile then boat mounts. u can take it anywhere, and the side finder is also a plus IMO. no boat mounts have side view.
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Colour display drains batteries faster.
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I have the 120. I'm happy with it for the most part. I love that it's self-contained and easy to operate. The only thing I don't like about it is that I can't get it into a mode where I'm able to see fish as arches. It's either fish ID mode, or not being able to make out fish at all. And I have yet to locate baitfish on it. I was hoping for something a little closer to what I see on my friend's bass boat. Maybe it's lacking in power?
That said, it is really helping me learn more about my home lake, and giving me other options fishing other lakes. I've got shallow cover pretty much wired, but I'm only now learning how to fish deeper structure that you can't see from above water. The Fishin' Buddy is helping. It has been especially helpful through the colder months.
I didn't see a reason to go with color at the time I bought mine. Maybe that was a mistake.
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My choice was the Eagle 320C. I was purposly avoiding a wide screen. I felt the wide screen was not needed. I did not buy mine at Gander Mtn. but a salseman there told me color actually uses LESS battery power. My Eagle 320C will run all day and still leave enough power in a little 7A 12v battery to fillet a batch of 50 nice gills.
I was impressed with the idea that Eagle is confident enough in their products that they can be run through the paces through an online emulator on the computer.
I now have a second 320C so I'll have one on my second tube for guests. Illinoisgiller
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how about the 343c portable color? http://store.humminbird.com/humminbird-p...000-1.html
or the 565 gray and black portable? http://store.humminbird.com/humminbird-p...100-1.html
the 565 has a bigger screen but is black n gray...the 343c is color but smaller screen. does the smaller screen really effect what you can see below? which has the best specs. this will be my 1st ever FF, but i want it to be a good one so i dont have to upgrade soon, i'd like it to last awhile. i want the one that shows the best detail, with baitfish etc.
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The 343c Portable features a brilliant color 320V x 240H 3.5" display and advanced DualBeam PLUS sonar with 2400 Watts PTP power output,
The 565 Portable features an ultra high resolution 12 level grayscale 640V x 320H 5" display and Dual Beam sonar with 2000 Watts PTP power output.
The pixel/clarity is almost double on the black and white. Much clearer picture by a long shot. The Peak to Peak is higher on the color, but that is a depth thing and not sure on lakes if that is a big plus
Just me, but for $100. less and better picture definition, I would go the Black and White in a heart beat. The bigger scream is always a plus.
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[quote flygoddess]The 343c Portable features a brilliant color 320V x 240H 3.5" display and advanced DualBeam PLUS sonar with 2400 Watts PTP power output,
The 565 Portable features an ultra high resolution 12 level grayscale 640V x 320H 5" display and Dual Beam sonar with 2000 Watts PTP power output.
The pixel/clarity is almost double on the black and white. Much clearer picture by a long shot. The Peak to Peak is higher on the color, but that is a depth thing and not sure on lakes if that is a big plus
Just me, but for $100. less and better picture definition, I would go the Black and White in a heart beat. The bigger scream is always a plus.[/quote]
BUT 12 level grayscale is only 12 shades of grey. so basically the black n grey only has 12 different colors in all. the color has 256 colors. so, is the pixel resolution worth only having 12 colors (of one color) compared to 256 different colors? screen size is still a factor as well.
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I admit, color screen is cool, but what does the different 256 colors show you and how does it really play in fishing?
I have the black/gray/white screen. It is gray for soft bottom, black for hard bottom and FISH.
Not up on this, but I don't see where red/purple/orange/yellow....etc really out performs.
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My brother has fished with the 565 for a couple of years now. I have the 575 same thing only with side beam for a year now. I have never fished with color before but my neighbor has one. He told me to save my money and go black and white. Color never told him anything his black and white didn't. For what it's worth.
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This is what i read in an expert article about black n white (monochrome) versus color
Color or Monochrome? - This one is easy. COLOR! Why? Momchrome screens show you the intensity of your sonar return in 4 to 16 different shades of gray. Color screens show you the intensity of your return in 64 to 256 different colors. It makes it so much easier to interpret what the fishfinder is telling you. It will help you determine what kind of bottom you have ( hard, soft, gravel, rocks, etc ), what kind of structure you are looking at, and weeds. But best of all it will help you find fish. For example, baitfish and small fish might have a light green or blue color, but when the color changes to red, you've got fish! The brighter the red, the bigger the fish! You might be over a big school of baitfish, but are fish feeding on it? It would be virtually impossible to tell on a monchrome fishfinder, but in color if the school of bait is blue/green, move on because there are no fish feeding on the bait. If you see a school of bait that is blue/green and you see flecks of red in it, then you know fish are actively feeding on it. Same idea applies to spotting fish on or near the bottom or in weeds. Color is the single biggest advancement in fishfinders in a long time.
hope this sheds some light on the subject a little more...wanna read the whole review go here http://reviews.ebay.com/Fishfinder-Buyin...0000017128
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