It's been a long time since I've bought any new equipment and my fishing has changed a lot over the years. Now I basicly fish for Crappie. Most of my fishing is over brush piles and standing timber. But I do (especially this time of year) follow deep creek beds and sunken timber. My older Hummingbirds depth finders just aren't doing the job I wish they would.

Since I've decided to sell my boats and retool with a single boat for crappie fishing I would like to outfit it with with better equipment. And would like to have real input from actual fishermen/users.

I really like the SI, But I can't afford it.

For about 600 bucks you can get an eagle 502c. It's got a color screen and gps. I just got one and really like it. I have an eagle 320 up front.

I'm in the process of updating my electronics (which are less than one year old). I have for sale a Humminbird 997 SI2c with built-in maps and a Lowrance 510. I'll take $2000.00 for the lot.

I have the Lowrance 510 and love it.

Where was that deal a month ago??? Dang!

How much are you wanting to spend?
Are you planning on a unit for both the console and TM?

I have been looking at the Lowrance lms-522. I really want a SI unit but don't know if I can spend that much.

Brian do you like your 502c. I was considering that or the Lowrance 522i or the 525

I love it, it's the same thing as the 522. Mine has built in gps antenna which works good for me. That way I can use it on the front also.

If you not considering Humminbird's SI units then (I assume) you're looking at standard 2d with GPS? (but I would think twice about passing up the SI units from Humminbird, think about that real hard. They are very, very good).

But: For Standard 2d with GPS

Yep, go with color if u can $$$$ it ( the color units are much easier to see in direct sun light).

The best one is the one you research and end up with on your boat. I think they are all good.

For your potential (I'm guessing) price range.

Look at Eagle Fishelite series http://www.eaglenav.com/en/Products/Fishfinder-Chartplotters/

And the Lowrance LMS series http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine/Full-Size-SonarGPS-Chartplotter-Combos

Or the Humminbird 500 series or even the 300's http://store.humminbird.com/ccombo-ccombo500.html

It comes down to, Display Resolution (like 480 x 480) the higher the better, Screen size (for your price about 5" is probably it).

Then decide internal or external GPS receiver, I like external just so I can share (network) with other units on the boat and to be able to trade up units as time goes by and keep the old GPS receiver.

Also consider internal (pre loaded) Lake maps or purchase you own separate (on SD card). I like separate purchased card again so you can trade up (and trade in) and keep current.

As you have more specific questions, ask away.

Thanks for the info. I found a 502c Eagle with a Southern lakes map card for $400. Its basically brand new. Is that a deal not worth passing up?

Thats $249 less than I paid for mine without maps. Sounds pretty good to me. It has a transducer for sure right?

It has the transducer and the external GPS antena.

If you don't want it, please give me the info so I can pursue - thanks.

As much as I would like to have a SI unit I will probably have to invest most of my money from the sell of my two boats into an upgraded outboard and a trolling motor for the boat I plan to buy. So I'm guessing that I may spend less than a thousand and probably more like five to six hundred. The GPS would be wonderful but not an absolute because I'm retired and I fish the same waters all the time, but a gps would be nice to mark structure below the surface.

I was thinking about a Lowrance color unit. One of the guides here on the TFF was really informative last winter about how good his Lowrance C was and how he could ID catfish from other fish and how structure really showed up and the structure thing is really interesting to me.

Thankyou Mark Parker for the input, this will give me a starting point for research and if you don't mind a may call on you with some questions. From what I've seen here at TFF the hummingbird SI are dream machines but it looks like the price is out of my reach.... Thankyou