Lowrance or Humminbird fish finders ?

[Aquacat]

If you had a chance to buy a new lowrance or humminbird fish finder which company would you choose? How much would you be willing to spend? Which model would you have chosen? I need your thoughts on this one.

[misterwhiskers]

i have 2 humminbirds and they work great for structure and depth as far as finding fish they ALL seem about the same to me.I have the 400 dual beam thingy and the pro angler also a dual beam.I don't think i ever caught a fish while there was a fish symbol displayed on the screen of either.
a Buddy of mine has a garmin and that seems to be pretty good.Little better of a readout on the screen than the humminbirds and a bit more options to play with.
Don't know much about lowrance,so i can't say. As far as price i like to spend as little as possible,but for something like a fishfinder I feel its best to spend a lil more and get the product that offers the best quality you can afford or are willing to spend.


Not sure but don't think theres a BIG difference between lowrance and humminbird,so i'd get the one that offers more for the money your willing to spend.I could be wrong,but if theres a difference i don't think its gonna be that big of one.

[Aquacat]

misterwhisker, thank you our input. I'm looking at the humminbird matrix 17 and the lowrance X52. What is the most important thing in finding a fish finder.

[Phil Washburn]

i sure like the eagle finders. i had a humminbird and all of my eagles (5 of them) outperformed it

[Aquacat]

phil, I have not thought about eagle. Which model do you have and what would be comparable to todays eagle units? Is eagle better than humminbird?

[jim]

I will admit to being predjudiced but Lowrance in my experience is head and shoulders above Hummingbird particularly in resolution and power.Their website is awesome and if they do a software upgrade you can download it for free along with free maps etc.Most of the serious fishermen I know and most of the guides I fish with all go with Lowrance.I can have any model or make out there regardless of cost and Lowrance is what I use.BUT a Lowrance or any other model wont do much for you unless you take the time to learn how to use it.Again their website has tutorials and free emulators that you can try out for any model.Eagle is their somewhat less costly brand and are excellent also as are Garmins,Bottom line and a few others.I have caught many fish that I saw on my finder by setting up on them which is what most guides do.It takes time to learn one thoroughly and most people dont take the time.My next step is the 111 Cd .I like the color and the screen is so much bigger which really helps when you are navigating off of maps at night.

[Phil Washburn]

Barry, i have an optima, which is no longer made, and it is great. speed and water temp, along with great resolution and accuracy. i use a strata for years, and for a lower line unit, it is a really good one too.

i believe that eagle is a subsidiary of lowrance. the lower priced eagles are just fine, if you don't want/need speed/temp...one of these days i am going to have one of those fish finder/gps/trolling motor jobs that you can download lake maps to....that is when i win the lottery :D

[Phil Washburn]

kind of like this one :D

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[Catcaller]

Lowrance is superior by far to humminbird...IMO. I have a Garmin 250 and I love it. The more pixels you have the better the resolution is on your screen...and color is easier to see in the daylite. A dual beam is also nice to have....one broad to locate the thermocline, fish, and schools of baitfish....and a narrow one to get good definition of bottom structure.

[Catbird]

I have a Lowrance X45. It came with the boat. The resolution and pixels are a little low so I did a little research for the most bang for my buck. What I ended up with was a Hummingbird Matrix 37. Cost w/shipping $285. It has a quad beam (dual plus 90 degrees left and right). I have only had it out on the river once so I can't report as to it's accurancy yet but I think I am going to like it. In 20' of water running the quad beam, it is supposed to show a 40' path. I haven't had the time to look for structure left or right then make a pass over that way yet to test it. I am leaving to fish in Florida for a week starting tomorrow. I will report back when I get home how it works.

[Aquacat]

guys, thanks for all in information. It looks like a lot of these new finders are going to color. I have seen an increase in sales on color units. Lowerance, Garmin, Raymarine are all the higher end units. Humminbird, Eagle, are your low end units. For the average joe like myself what would you pick with a budget of $200.00 dollors?

[jim]

The best Eagle I could get for the money.

[JAYNC]

I have a lowrance X-52 and it works great, at around 45mph it still reads the bottom and the depth. It has an optional speed sensor which I just put on. It plug directly into the depthfinder, now I have depth, temp, speed, and distance all in one display. It has a lot of options, I am still new to them but so far it works great.

[Phil Washburn]

i'm with jim here, barry - the best eagle you can afford...i have never had color, and i am unable to justify the additional cost in my budget

[Aquacat]

jim,jaync,phil, thanks for all your ideas. I don't think I could go wrong with a lowrance or eagle. Thanks guys :)

[JAYNC]

I'm pretty sure Lowrance owns eagle.

[Aquacat]

jaync, you are correct. Lowrance does owen eagle.

[catfishcentral]

Ive looked at upgrading my unit and I'll probably go with the Eagle over the Lowrance. They are basically the same unit in models up to the 600.00 dollar range expect the Eagle's are about 100 bucks cheaper for pretty much the same unit. The eagle 480 without GPS is 199.00 dollars and gives you great resolution at 480 x 480 pixel display.

[catfishcentral]

Ive talked to the Lowerance reps before,they build them right here in Tulsa, Ok. There are built in the exact same factory. The really only difference is in screen color and according to the rep the screens on the eagle are just slightly smaller but I can't tell any difference.

[Aquacat]

I was just looking up the eagle 480. That is a great price for that many pixels. thanks catfishcentral. I get to go to lowrance sometime this winter for some training.

[Aquacat]

Does the amber colored screen bother anyone on the eagle 480 fish mark? I was at Bass Pro Shop yesterday and was looking it over on demo mode. Does it light up good at light?

[TopSgtLawrence]

I have 3 hummingbirds. they all do ok. I need to learn how to use mine better. I get up-set because i do not know all horns and whistles. :cursing: :o :cursing:

[bearcat]

I would go with the eagle or lowrance. I have a older unit. It is a lowrance 320 with gps. I love it. It will flat out find fish. and structure. It also has temp.

Sunday while fishing for crappie we found several christmas trees lying on the bottom. It is amazing.

Also we caught fish where the unit said there was. We went over a area I seen the structure and the fish. I backed up and we droped lines and caught fish.

Local boat dealers both said that hummingbirds werent as good as lowrance/eagle.

Bottom line get the eagle 480 you wont be disappointed.

[Nobody Special]

Lowrence/Eagle are essentally the same except for a couple of bells and whistles. I asked the people at Lowrence about the difference between an Eagle and a Lowrence that were about $40.00 difference in price but looked pretty much the same. The best I can recall, they said the Lowrence had memory on the settings where the Eagle didn't and that everything else was exactly the same.

[vlparrish]

I've had 2 each (eagles and Hummingbirds). I liked one of each model. I wish I had kept the first hummingbird that I had, but I let it go with the boat. It was a platinum ID and I loved it. The one that I have now is an eagle and I like it very well also. I hated the other 2 units that I had. The one that I have now has several zoom features including a split screen 50/50 that is a feature that I really like and use often.This feature really helps me read the bottom from looking at both views at the same time and also is good at showing fish holding tight to structure on the bottom. Just my two cents worth. Vern

[turtle1173]

Aquacat, I have the Eagle Fishmark 320 and, although I don't care for the unit much (Not enough power to show much), the amber lighting has been fine at night.

[barry]

A good primer for fish finders that I found is in the "West Marine catalog". They tell you what to look for and how to compare different features of the different units.

[THE FISH WHISPER'ER]

i got my boat equiped with lowrance but also have aportable eagle i thik the lowrance is more detaild butt the eagle is more user freindly wichever one you get do the temp gage it is verry usfull