Are cheap fish finders effective?

Are cheap fish finders effective?

The brochure claims make me wary (too good to be true).

But then again, maybe modern electronics DO make them workable?

Has anyone tried them?

Any particular brands to favour or aviod?

I would safely say that less expensive fish finders are just as good as the more expensive ones. They simply do not have as many options or screen size, or number of pixels. Ask any fisherman if he can tell what the dots on his screen really are? Is it a small 2 inch fish that stays within the sonar's detection zone or is it a large fish that quickly passed through the sonar's detection cone. Or is it a branch that is perpendicular to the boat's direction of travel. Most experts recommend that the fish finder be used in the manual operation mode if the user really wants to get the best performance from his fish finder. So there goes all those automatic functions that the more expensive fish finders are riddled with.

Hi Dan,

I don't know if I totaly agree with what you wrote. It depends on where you are fishing and what you are fishing for. If you are on a small lake, pond, or river then anything is fine to locate fish. If you are fishing something like Lake Ontario, then it does make a big difference. My personal favorite is a paper graph. I know, they are expensive and a pain to change rolls but they show everything. They are sensitive enough to show a thermocline in the water where it will mark the denser colder water. A better quality fish finder will also help yo differentiate between hard and soft bottom, and the size of fish. My CRT video will show individual weeds growing up from the bottom. I can also see the downrigger cable, my downrigger balls and the lures behind the downrigger balls. You can see the size differences too. I don't think you can do to that with a Bottomline Buddy or whatever it is called. I can tell the difference between bait fish and bigger fish on mine. I can also make a pretty good educated guess as to what fish they are depending on their depth. I will say that any fish finder better than no fish finder though. At least you know how deep the water is.

My paper graph is Lowrance. My CRT is an Interphase. I have never used a LCD because both of mine still work fine. I don't know much about them but I bet you can find a good quality LCD that show as much detail. The only thing I am wary about on LCD's are the ones that automatically put a symbol of a fish on anything suspended. Then a branch could become a fish.

Hi I have a Lowrance X70a LCD and can tell you that it is every bit as sensitive as a paper graph. It was a fairly expensive unit (~$500.00 two years ago) but in my opinion, it was worth every penny. This is one area where you definitely get what you pay for.

I don't think there are any that automatically show the markings as fish symbols, I think that is an optional setting on the lcd units.

I agree 100% After using a cheap lcd that kept breaking down i bought a Sci tex amber monitor unit for saltwater inshore/offshore use.. The difference is like night and day. Structure is readily apparent, wrecks and rocks show as such and not as part of the bottom. And the sensitivity allows me to determine if the bottom is mud or sand. Fish near the structure show as being off it, not part of it. The Lowrance x70a was a close runner up when i shopped.....the pixel count is excellent on that unit detail is alot sharper than on cheaper units and almost rivals some paper graph recorders i have seen. When the bigger boat comes, then i'll splurge on a color monitor.

You get what you pay for, I have a Bottom line Tl100 mounted to my Trolling motor, and an Eagle UltraIII on the stern. While trolling over a point the Bottom line showed the point but no fish, my partner asked me why we didn't stay on the point? Seems the Eagle picked up a bunch of fish close to the bottom. So we went back and there were crappie there they were right off of the bottom like the graph said. Also they help if you are looking for a soft or cluttered bottom. Rick