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open water electronics-- need advice


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i can't take it anymore, although i enjoy ice fishing, i love open water fishing and it's that time of year it's all i start thinking about.. anyone have any input on a new fish locater... i plan on pickin one up before the ice breaks as the two on my boat are a bit dated... i mostly fish inland lakes for eyes and such... i have heard really good things about the lowrance 520or 522... i already have a handheld lowrance with navionics chip (love this unit) but definately need to upgrade a locater... i think a color screen will make it easier to read bottom structure?? and hope to be able to decipher between baitfish and larger fish.. any input is appreciated....

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

How much do you want to spend? As far as color I've yet to make that jump. IMO, I'd rather rely on my signal interpretation then any software out there at this time.

I've been a Lowrance and Eagle fan for a long time BUT, I'd stay away from any dual beam units of theres for now. Seems they're plagued with ducers going out. I base that on my own experiences and others that I know.

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thx guys..

i see the lowrance 522c is about $650 wich would be acceptable but top end of my price range... any input on color screens making it easier to read or is this just novelty... how about more accurate fish sizes on the graph??? i have an older fish eagle II and an older lowrance that don't seem to differ much when showing fish sizes... maybe all the fish are the same lol

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I took the plunge last fall and purchased a Lowrance 510c after many, many years of using the old X70A model. To be honest, I had nothing but trouble with the 510c I purchased. I returned it twice and, the last time Lowrance gave me a new one. I'm hoping this new one has better shallow water performance. The one I returned read the tops of the weeds as the lake bottom in ten fow or less. Then, after a software upgrade, it would lose the bottom all together at times and the digital depth display would just blink an incorrect depth. It was frustrating to say the least. I mention this because it seems many of the newer models have, or did have, software issues that affected readings in shallow water. Hopefully, they've got the problem fixed and you won't have any trouble with whichever unit you purchase.

Hats off to Lowrance for shipping me out a brand new unit. I do like the color display and a few of the other new features. I'm looking forward to trying it out this spring.

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Lowrance 510, 520 or 522C would be my top picks depending on what you are looking for. The 520 and the 522C are the exact same units, except the 520 has an external antenae, as opposed to the 522C with the internal GPS antenae.

The 510 is a great unit if you are looking for just a graph. It is the same graphing unit as the 520 and 522(without the GPS obviously)

I really like these units and they seem to be a preference among anglers from my experience in selling them as well. Lowrance is really a top-notch company for taking care of the customers as well(at least the experience that I have had with them)

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Personally I would get the color its like night and day. But 1 things for if your not sure what to get and know a price range. Go see russ at marine general. He wont lead you astray He knows his stuff.

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Color all the way. Makes reading them bottom hugging eyes easier to see. Takes a while to figure out but you will get the hang of it. Im going to take my X15 and sell it and go to a bigger screen and color.

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I have the Lowrance 515C and color is the new horizon. Especially since they worked out the sun washout. Now the color is sharp no matter what the light conditions.

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