my depth finder crapped out this pass weekend so im gonna have to buy a new one, the one i had was a hummingbird was only 2 years old so i think i might go with another brand, any suggestions would be appreciated, also would anybody recomend a color one over black and white dont know what the benifits are of color exept maybe see it better in the daylight and be able to tell what the bottom compostion is better thanks

Have you considered calling Hummingbird? They have a standard charge for completely refurbishing and upgrading. You may be under warrenty if you cry hard enough. Have done business with with HB for 35 + years. They will stand behind their products. Smiles, G

Burton...It really boils down to what features you want and how much you want to spend. I have never had a problem with grey scale finders. I currently have an Eagle Cuda 250i. It has GPS along with the sonar. I wanted the GPS feature, because I bounce around to different lakes, Jordan, Kerr, and Gaston....and some of the rivers. It was about $250 and works great. My suggestion is do some research on the web and shop around. Good luck. Hope this helps some.

on this end it looks like you're talking to yourself, so pardon the interruption, mine was $17 and less than 2 weeks to have it good as new from H-bird. Mine was full of water vapor and chattered like a squirrel, I thought it was a goner. Speaking of goners, if you're answering your own questions you might want to try pushing the "power" button before you send it back or replace it.

dont think im talking to myself dont reckon im that crazy yet dont know who that was or why my name came up but thanks for yalls info

I am a firm believer in Lowrance products. With that said, I am having problems with my lowrance unit. To be honest, most all depth finders will occasionally have problems. For your unit, I would do as suggested and contact humminbird and see if they will replace/fix the unit. That will be much cheaper than buying a new one.

If you decide to buy a new unit, consider the color eagle units. They are much cheaper than a lowrance and the only major difference is in power. True more power is better in seperating targets but that effect is greatly reduced in shallow waters (<30 ft). Plus the color is easier to see in daylight than monochrome.

LOWRANCE or Eagle for my money good long lasting,just don't get the GPS and fishfinder together.
2 different people "burton" different ips addys. Or maybe you have lost it

I held off on getting a color unit for a while but now that I have one, I wouldn't want to go back. Like most people I use my SONAR for determining depth, locating structure, cover and marking fish. Distinguishing structure from cover, seeing fish in brush/trees and fish lying on the bottom is where color really shines. With a color unit adjusted right you can really sort it all out because different elements show up in different colors. Its a lot easier to distinguish yellow from orange or red than it is to pick between varying shades of gray. In my case these 50+ year-old eyes need all the help they can get.

Just for comparison sake, go to either the Eagle or Lowrance web site and download a color simulator. Run it on your desk top in color for a while then switch it to gray scale, I think you'll see what I'm talking about.

JRS...Why not have the GPS and sonar together? I'm curious if you had problems with this before. I have mine together and have not encountered any issues.

TX a few reasons,one is problems Rick who lives here in Franklinton has had nothing but it works once then back to the factory for repairs, maybe he is just unlucky. Also if it goes down you loose both units and if they send you a replacement not yours back then you have lost all your markings/waypoints and such.

i like my garmin 240. though they dont make them anymore. its not color but it works for me. i think color is overrated except in saltwater. then you have another thing coming. i would recomend the garmin 140. but upgrade if you have the funds to do so

I bought the Lowrance X-15 from cabelas and couldn't be happier. It has GPS capability but no color screen. I hink they have the X-17 on sale and the customer service has been good to me over the years.

The difference between grayscale and color in depth finders is just as pronounced as the experience between B/W and color tv. Their just is no comparison whatsoever. But the color is expensive. In 3 years or so the cost will be way down and grayscale will become obsolete. But the new inovations will be awsome and very expensive intially. Side view sonar is incredible. The criticism of it will come from those who have not seen it in action. But no, I do not believe it is an affordable option at this time. Will be in a couple of years though. Chris

JRS...Sorry to hear about your friend with all the problems. I haven't had any problems with mine having the 2 combined. I grew up with Eagle and HB depth finders. I would like to see them add a small removeable drive like the ScanDisks in cameras just for when they have to send you a new one. Good info. Thanks!!!

Most GPS units do contain a SD card slot.(or other disk) All GPS cordinates ,tracks and trails, and screen captures, can be put on card and transfered to computer or other depthfinders. It is the same card slot that is used for digital maps or Navionics. Is also used to update the depthfinder software on line and installed on your depthfinder/chartplotter/GPS. Chris

Unfortunately mine doesn't has that cool factor feature.

I just realized they have a low voltage warning beep on them, my battery was about to croak after 4 years and the H-bird warned me when it got down to 9V.