Lowrance X96 Sonar Unit/Fish Finder

[Kfedka]

It's currently on sale at cabelas for $130. I have a 12' boat and I rarely fish deeper then 50' but will hit Roosevelt on occation. Would this be a good budget fish finder? How is the 20° transom transducer, will that be good for fishing under 50'. This would be my first fish finder, any help will be appreciated.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... 0-cat21404

[Kfedka]

Can anyone give some advice?

[AaronE]

Honestly, I would look at the Eagle 350C - it's color, has the wide-angle transducer, and usually lists for $199. I have one, have it on my float tube, and the color screen is MUCH easier to read if you've never had a fish finder before.

Read the reviews on that model - I guarantee you'll want one

[Kfedka]

Which one of these is better to get.


Link

This one comes with battery.
Link

[Kfedka]

Any tips which is better, or do they both come with batters and one is just more "portable" then the other. I hoping to make a purchase this week so I can have it more memorial weekend.

[Maury]

The portable one w/ battery and case looks like a sweet deal for a small boat. Be sure to tie off that 'ducer. The suction cup can come loose and your cable ends up in the prop in a hurry.

[Kfedka]

Any tips on where to install the transducer? Doing a little reading, I thought that mounting it on my electric trolling motor would work best. Here is a Cabelas link; http://www.cabelas.com/p-0000962012684a.shtml

My electric motor is on the rear of the boat, next to my outboard motor. Whenever I run my outboard motor I bring up the electric motor so I can drive faster.

I use a Trojan Deep Cycle SCS150 battery. It says 100 AMP hour capacity, 4.5 hrs run time at 15 amps and 650 marine cranking amps. Is it okay to connect fish finder to this also to run same time as electric motor which is a Minn Kota 46lb thrust(usually run at speed 1 or 2).

[Dave]

I recommend the Lowrance fish finder. I have the X85 in my salt boat (pictured in my avatar) and it works great. I have the cheaper Eagle Cuda fish finder in my lake boat (12' Smoker Craft Alaskan) which also works well. As for transducer mounts, I bought the Cabelas Portable Transducer Mount (see pic below) and I love it. That way I didn’t have to drill any holes. In addition, I'm not sure how accurate the transducer will be if mounted to the trolling motor.