Questions: Eagle Cuda 242 fish finder

[FordTruckGuySTX]

I just traded a buddy a power trim switch for his boat which i had about nothing in and i got this Eagle Cuda 242. Its only a few months old and I assume its probably a fairly crappy innaccurate unit but I know next to nothing about fish finders and figured it'd be a cheapo to put on my catboat. Is this thing worth the trouble of boating on? Or any input on 'em?

[pamlee101]

hi ford truck guy... the cuda 242 is fairly well down the line in fish finders, but it should work pretty well once you learn to read the graphics. the eagles are made by lowrance which is a very good company. we have 2 eagles now. it will show you where dropoffs are and help you find where the fish should be more than actually show you fish. any old stick floating past may show as a fish.

don't know if this helps you any or not, but good luck and have fun.

Lee & pam

[Pirate Jerry]

when fishing lakes or rivers you are familar with I think finders in the $100-$200 range work fine. If it will show stumps and brushpiles and bottom contour (hard, soft or weeds) plus mark schools of bait what more do you need? When used with a detailed map of the water you are fishing they perform very well. Of course the more you use it the more you will get out of it so some day if the fish aren't hitting spend some time on the water just playing with the finder. You will be surprised what they can do. Of course the expensive ones have lots more bells and whistles but if all you wanna do is catch fish the cheaper ones will help a lot.
On unknown waters and big lakes the gps function is a definate plus.

[hotrod3h]

This is the fish finder that came on my boat when I got it. I'm trying to learn how to use and adjust it. I think it's pretty basic but when I was down cabela's today the guy that worked seemed to imply it's really not that bad of one.

[FordTruckGuySTX]

thanks for the replies so far, i still aint got to hook it up though, i gotta get a new transducer. anyone know if i can get one for less than the $45 eagle wants?

[hotrod3h]

If you'll wait a bit. We can work something out on mine. I'm upgrading mine from the cuda probably next week. If you wanna wait that long. Just let me know.

[FordTruckGuySTX]

hey no worry i'm in no big hurry right now. i just got a 24" pontoon and i'll be using it for a few weeks.