I am looking for a new front depth finder. I have a 'bird but it has seen better days.
I like the Garmin 240 or the new Eagle 320 (alot of pixels for the $).

Does anyone have any experience with these units?

Thanks!

Keith

I have a garmin 240 which I have been happy with. It does its job of finding the fish. I have a trolling motor transducer when I run it on the flatbottom during fall fishing & duck season and spring sand bassin on the river and I have a transom mount for my monarch for hybrids and bigger waters. I would suggest getting the best transducer that covers the wider range because it seems to do quite a bit better if you choose the garmin. I think there was a big discussion on the Garmin Vs the Eagle a while back.

Bridgeport,
There has been alot of discussion on this issue earlier in the year. I personally prefer the Fishmark and even sold my Garmin 240. I run two Fishmark 320's. Below are the links to the discussions.

Some have talked about TM interference with Lowrance/Eagle fishfinders so I have included the fix for this. This usually occurs with pulse modulated TM (motor speed is adjusted by varying the pulse width to the motor. Usually the case if you adjust the speed of your motor with a twist grip). The Pulse Modulated TM emits an radio frequency(RF) that is picked up by the fishfinder. By grounding the TM shaft, you shield the motor so the RF emission is contained inside the motor housing. Below is a link to Motorguides tech sheet for the this problem. This fix does work and will work for any fishfinder that experiences interference.


Discussion on Garmin vs. Fishmark http://www.texasfishingforum.com/.ubb/Forum4/HTML/002352.html
http://www.texasfishingforum.com/.ubb/Forum4/HTML/002105.html
http://www.texasfishingforum.com/.ubb/Forum4/HTML/002902.html

Fix for trolling motor interference: http://www.texasfishingforum.com/.ubb/Forum4/HTML/002140.html

I like the 320 pixels on the Eagle. I have not had any interference with the trolling motor transducer.

I also like Lowrance's upgrade policy. I sent in an old x-50 for repair once. the repair price was $97.00. For $150.00 they replaced it with an X-85 instead. What a deal.

Can't go wrong with Lowrance/Eagle in my opinion.

Ernest

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GOOD FISHING.


ERNEST
"I LIVE FOR THE THUMP"

I have 2 garmin 240's and have always been a Garmin person. their customer service in my opinion is outstanding. units up till now have been the best unit for the $$..
Now with that said if and when i ever need a new one I would look alot closer at that eagle 320. 320 pixels for less $4 than the 240 makes sense to me. Not sure I would ever give up my 240's but sure would be worth a look

Last thursday I replaced my garmin 240 with a eagle 320, I'm going to move the garmin to my trolling motor. To me the garmin seems like its built better, and I definitly like the way the garmin transducer cord plugs in to the unit better. I used the new 320 all weekend and I feel like it draws a better picture, and it cost about $90 less than the garmin.

Where is the best deal on the 320?

Walmart website $188.00 plus tax, S&H
I haven't found any at Walmart Stores

Academy stores $189.00 plus tax

Reeds sports $199.00 no tax and free shipping http://www.reedssports.com/Cgi-Bin/Webc....-37103290681.f6

[This message has been edited by weekendwarrior (edited 06-30-2003).]

Out door World had the 320 on sale last week. I think the sale gos into July

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Fish On Gota Run !!
Greg
Bug-A-Bass Guide Service
http://www.bugabass.com

I put the eagle 320 on my boat. I am really happy with it

I just got back from Galyans..FRISCO! They have the 320 for 189.00 but the eagle fishmark 240 is alot more expensive..can someone tell me why?

WOW! Alot of great info on this! I am going to read it again to take it all in. At least there may be some 320's around after the TFF run on them!

Thanks!

KEith

Keith, I bought a fishmark 320 eagle earlier this year with temp and speed indicator moved my old eagle to the front.
I think the 320 pixel graph is great and
I think after you try the eagle you will not
buy another bird, I just like em better, but
I am sure you would be satisfied with the
Eagle. This is my second one after many years with Hummingbirds, and I have been
well satisfied, However I still can't catch
any fish.

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Let's Keep those Hybrids coming into Lake Bridgeport

Dennis------Slabshad

What I had was a Lowrance X-85 and an Eagle Classic. Neither one worked worth a [censored]. I bought a Garmin 160 off of this board and have it on the console and the X-85 up front. Both work great now and I have swapped out the X-85 with the Classic and it works fine too. I gues my problem was that the 2 were interferring with each other. My boat is only 17.5'. Maybe I should have just bought a longer boat . I had the same set-up on a 20' boat and had no problem. I was going to buy a Garmin 240 to put up front but now that the X-85 works fine I reckon I will not, unless a Garmin worth the money shows up

J,
You will need the Magnum 80 boat to keep the fishfinders from interfering. The problem is the fishfinders from the same manuf. run at the same frequencies.

The units send out sound waves (ping) and measure the time of the reflected return ping. If both finders are sending out sound waves, how is the unit supposed to know which sound waves belongs to which unit. This is why you start getting clutter when you get close to someone else's boat that is using a fishfinder. You are picking up there sound waves and it looks like clutter because your unit receives its pings as well as theirs. This is similar to have a radio picking up two stations at the same time.

The same manuf. use the same frequency so it makes it worse. You may get away with running a Garmin and Lowrance product together because one is 200 mhz and the other is 192 mhz. But that is not a guarantee. I can run both my Fishmark 320's together, but after awhile the front finder will start losing detail. Turn off the other unit and the detail comes back. It is best to only run one fishfinder at a time on your boat. That is, unless you are John Varner in your Magnum 80 Mando Super Striper boat.

[This message has been edited by DGHolmes (edited 07-01-2003).]