Which fish finder is best for me?

[ChuckDuck]

Hey everyone I'm Tim, located out of Ballarat.

Just brought a used 4.8metre vessel, currently has a Lowrance Hook2 4x fish finder that seems to have some electrical issues. So looking at replacing that, what is one of the better fish finders to get for around the $600-$1,000 mark?

All info and suggestions appreciated

[purple5ive]

What type of fishing do you generally do?
Do you need a gps card as well?
What about structurescan or sidescan etc.
Do you want it to connect to your trolling motor(if you have one)
Or your outboard if its compatible?
What size screen do you want, personally I prefer the biggest screen I can buy, but installation and real estate on your boat will need to be considered first
All these will determine what sort of unit you want to look at when your ready

If your just after something that reads depth, then just fix the one you have, it's a good little unit for basic stuff.
Cheers

[ChuckDuck]

Hey mate thanks for the reply,

On my last boat was generally just corio bay fishing (only ever got flathead the 20 or so times I took it out) would love to do snapper and gummy fishing mainly with occasional outings for squid.

A gps would be handy.

Structure sounding would be good

Wouldn't be hooking up to my outboard.

I would like a medium sized screen, the hook2 x4 is a tad smaller than I'd like.

I'd like one that has a vertical mount stand instead of going as a indash sort of one

[purple5ive]

Look for something in the 7 inch size then, like the lowrance hook reveal, they are on sale atm at bcf.
It doesn't have a touch screen like the bit more expensive models do, but it's still a decent unit.
If you want touchscreen in the lowrance then look at the elite ti2 units, or the elite FS units. Bit more pricier though.
The elite ti2 units were being cleared at bcf last month, so worth a shot going to the few local stores and seeing if they have any stock left, they are a great unit for the price.
There are ofcourse other brands you could look at, but I haven't used any of those so I won't comment on them, someone here with knowledge about those might be able to help.

If there is a boat show this year in Melbourne then I would wait till then, usually you get some good deals on run out models

[Mattblack]

I've been told that Garmin have the most accurate GPS out of all brands.
Something like this https://www.bcf.com.au/p/garmin-striker ... rt=6&sz=60 will do the job without breaking the bank.

[bowl]

7inch Or bigger with maps

[blacklab99]

All good examples mentioned above..
If your prepared to spend up to a K, I would suggest spending a tad more and go for something like a G09.
I believe to go the biggest screen you can afford, the difference is 10 fold.
The G09 is pretty much old tech now, but still packs a punch for what it has to offer with a standard 3-1 tranny, sounds perfect for what type of fishing your doing.
I'm running 2, the G09 and a Evo 3, in all honesty, the G09 is all you need in depths up to 70-80 meters, perfect with the structure and side scan in the shallow stuff, and swapping out for a larger tranny will also do the job out deeper.
Especially with older eyes, you'll never regret going up in size...
HTH

Col

[Don Fisher]

Hey everyone I'm Tim, located out of Ballarat.

Just brought a used 4.8metre vessel, currently has a Lowrance Hook2 4x fish finder that seems to have some electrical issues. So looking at replacing that, what is one of the better fish finders to get for around the $600-$1,000 mark?

All info and suggestions appreciated

I got a hook reveal 5. Does the job for the bay. Don’t need to get too fancy I reckon

[cobby]

Garmin Striker vivid 9sv $900. Get on the active captain community maps, no doubt there's most of Victoria on there by now that you can upload onto the sounder via wifi and have a 9 inch screen, down and sidescan, chirp 2d sonar, mapping for the areas you go, or ability to create your own mapping if needed and all for under $1k.