What sonar to get?

dirtytough · Jul 2, 2017

Hi. I need some advice on what sonar to get. A little background. I used to fish a lot back home in Washington when I was younger. Kinda quit for awhile to put more time into other hobbies. My boy is getting older and I want to get back into fishing again. I figure a good way to shorten the ND learning curve is figure out the depths the fish are biting at and fish those depths. I have a 12' Livingston to use here in ND. I know its a little small but it's all I have. So whats a decent priced sonar that will be helpful but won't break the bank?

I was browsing Cabela's and the Humminbird Helix 5 CHIRP DI Sonar/GPS Combo G2 with data overlay seems like it would do everything I need and more. I wasn't looking to spend this much really though. Is this way more then I need? Any other suggestions?

Regards, Branden

eyexer · Jul 3, 2017

you can buy some Garmin units really cheap right now at Cabela's online.

Vollmer · Jul 3, 2017

I believe you can get the Helix 5 without the DI for a little less $$$. With a 5" screen you will likely only have room for sonar/gps anyway.

Lungdeflator · Jul 3, 2017

I haven't ran any of the newer ones, but every time I look or run across them, they seem to have pretty good prices. If it was me, I wouldn't go smaller than a 5" screen if you plan on using DI or anything like that. And GPS would be a must for me too, everything on one screen without worrying about dropping a phone or GPS unit in the water, especially in a smaller boat where things get bumped around and space is limited.
A plus with the Helix and Elite units, and those similar, is that you can buy an ice pack and use the same unit for ice fishing too.

raider · Jul 4, 2017

my .02 - if you're gonna fish many lakes in nd in a 12 footer, you're gonna be relatively close to the ramp and shore and danger... although nice, i would skip the gps combos and stick with sonar only, then spend the money you save on the best auto deploying life jackets you can find...

nd waters and 12' boats are a dangerous mix... make sure you keep yourself and your boy safe...

good luck...

Allen · Jul 5, 2017

Yeah, not sure what a GPS on a 12 foot boat would be good for on any body of water. GPS is certainly a great tool when running the river or running long distances on a new body of water, but for the distances I have gone when using a 16 ft boat with a 3.9 Merc (oh so many years ago), I surely didn't need a GPS.

Captain Ahab · Jul 5, 2017

If you are on a shoestring, get a sonar only unit and pay 5-10 bucks for the navionics app on your phone/tablet.

LBrandt · Jul 5, 2017

Brother-in law did what Captain said and it works fine for him.

What sonar to get?

dirtytough

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eyexer

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Vollmer

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Lungdeflator

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raider

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Allen

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Captain Ahab

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LBrandt

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