Hi, We just purchased a 2012 20 SLI. Great boat and having a blast. The boat did not come with a depth gauge. After pricing gauges in the 400 to 500 dollar range I thought about just adding a Garmin fishfinder. I'm looking at one in the $100 to 150 range. I'm not sure, do all models come with depth readings as well as water temp readings? Does this seem to be the mose economical way to go?.....any other suggestions?
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Is Garmin Fishfinder the answer
- Thread starter Mattie K
- Start date
I would check the features to ensure the depth finder has alarms, most important a shallow alarm. Water temp usually requires another transom mounted sensor, it really depends on the model and features. some have speed, depth and water done in one unit others require one sensor for each. If all you need is a depth alarm and your not really using it for fishing then a simple fishfinder is a cheap solution. They do make pretty cheap depth gauges only that are only a few inches around. You don't have to spend 400-500. My boat did not come with a depth sounder either. I decided to spend a little extra and get a depth sounder with GPS and chart plotting. While I only boat mainly on one large lake, my wife is not quite as familar with the lake and I wanted her to have a chart plotter for return course if she ever needed it. A good sounder/plotter at a min is going to run 600 or more. I also fish so I like the imaging and other state of the art features so it's worth it to me to get a good unit.
Hi, We just purchased a 2012 20 SLI. Great boat and having a blast. The boat did not come with a depth gauge. After pricing gauges in the 400 to 500 dollar range I thought about just adding a Garmin fishfinder. I'm looking at one in the $100 to 150 range. I'm not sure, do all models come with depth readings as well as water temp readings? Does this seem to be the mose economical way to go?.....any other suggestions?
Boomers dad
Well-Known Member
Hi Mattie and welcome to the forum. Most Garmin fish finders have both depth and temp sensors with one transducer but you can check features before you purchase. I have a Garmin unit in my boat and have found that it is not accurate at speeds over 20 mph. Also it does a poor job as a fishfinder. If fishing is important then I would go with a Hummingbird or Lowrance otherwise the Garmin would be okay. You should be able to purchase anyone of the three for under 100.00.
I just thought that I would close the loop on this post. I went ahead and purchased a Garmin Echo 100. It cost $79 to purchase and $140 to install and it works like a champ. Depth is right on and the temp is accurate. I don't care about the fish finder capability, so this suited my problem perfectly. It's starting to cool down in California, down to the 70's today, so our season may be ending soon. Everybody have a good winter and we'll see you in the spring.
MillerTime
Member
Is there a good place to install my Hummingbird depth/temp/fish finder? I currently have it mounted on the back of the right side toon on the cover plate for the live well pump. It works good at low speeds, but doesn't at speeds, say over 15 mph.