some depth finders;; have the access of sim cards;; so you can make maps of your area lakes;; down load tons of useful information. so many new types of fish finders on the market;; and their abilities;; no doubt so many of the bbg group has depth finders;; lets give a general discussion;; on the pro and cons;; of what we have!! 

Scruffy I know I will learn a lot. I have 2 humminbird side finders and to be truthful you need to use them or loose what little knowledge you have.

my main one is a lowrance  mark 5 x hds unit;; does  not have a sim card capability;; only way I can down load info. onto mine;; is to connect it to another hds unit;; and down load information to my unit .  other than that;; its one heck of a great unit;; gives outstanding  pictures; of anything underwater..  greatly pleased with this unit;;(  you can see it on my pix pages also)  gives water depth;; water temp.  shows thermoclines;;  in short;; just about any thing you need!!

Carl I'll start by saying the depth/fish finder has come a long way. I like others turn it on and start to fish. I can tell the electronic of today can do so much more if you fine tune them. Personally I'm lacking in that department since I can count on my 1 hand how many time I've used my electronics in 3 years. You know what the old saying is use it or loose it, I've lost it but do know how to turn it on such a shame to have such an expensive piece of equipment and not using its full potential.

An angler in a few water definitely require a trusty, well designed, fully loaded bells and whistles fishfinder, beside his trusty pal, the boat/kayak. I have plenty of those around me with various types of fishfinders. They utilize them to the max capacity. I'll have them give you the pros and cons from the techno-geek side, if info on the internet don't provide you with everything.

I also have a lowrance mark5x dsi  mounted to use on my trolling motor;; its in a grey scale;; gives excellent pix of any type of brush;; ledges;; you name it;; does a down scan;; split screen;; has all of the high features;; but does not have a sim card capability for mapping ;; biggest down side to a grey scale is--- sunlight!!  if sunlight is on the screen;; screen is impossible to see.  otherwise;; one heck of a unit. 

I have an older Humminbird 997c SI Combo and a 798ci SI Combo. Both do so much but personally I'm the one lacking. Lacking in the knowledge to know all it can do and set it up to do so. The units were not cheap and would really love to use more of the potential the machines have to offer.

yes Dicky;; I;m really the same way in using mine!!  I turn mine on;; its preset at the factory;; does so good;; I don't mess with other settings

Hopefully if this thing get rolling you can mess around with it and use some of the other options.

I have a Humminbird 718, with quad sonar. Can't live without the quad transducer. Although it's grey, the functionality is still top of the lower series. Got it when it was still great and mighty, before Lowrance came out with the Elite and HDS series for similar prices within a year or two that did a great job with lots of bells and whistles.

I use every little function it provides or every type of condition, on every type of vessel I own (float tubes, pontoon, kayaks, and of course, landbased carts over the piers). Don't just stick with just manufacturer settings. You need to explorer all of their potentials to the max.

Thanks Leo for sharing. I was amazed at all the things these finders can do. I was told the unit I have is top notch that I was the problem. My problem being I don't get out to use and learn its functions it so what I learned from the last time out is well forgotten by the time I get to use it again..

Leo that is a great unit ... i remember looking at it a few years ago... right before side imaging came out. i was looking at the description does yours say GPS capable?

Thanks for the invite Dick ,not sure I'll be able to contribute much however. Hope to be using my tri-color flasher on the ice this year again but I'' wait till Winter comes and enjoy Fall fishing  .It's a blast to see the fish come up off bottom towards your jig .Wakes ya up out there!

thanks for the add

Looks like a nice outfit John. I have the Vexilar FL12. I bought the unit before I retired so I would have all my toys for my fishing needs. Haven't had a chance to use it yet but I keep the battery charged and ready to go. WELCOME JOHN..

Ken, yes, it as a GPS capable unit. However, you need to shell out another $100 to get the GPS receiver, which I use my phone to do, rather than the GPS unit. I linked it between the unit's ethernet and microUSB port to mock a DOS-like recorder method. Just as good. After a while, I fish without synching the GPS and depth info on the fishfinder. I stick with GPS only, and mark the structures using my phone to record the info on Lite Engine Google Maps to share with others.

Great idea for this group dick !!!!!!! Glad to be in it ........

Wow Leo your already teaching me stuff. Had no idea you could patch your phone into the unit very interesting. Both my units have GPS one external and the other internal.

last week;; Leo; sent me a u-tube type thing;; on how my unit works;; how to utilize; my unit;; a LOT better than reading instructions!!  shows a { hands on} how to!!!   THANKS LEO!! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ7A3NusXq8

Basics on the humminbird

No problem Carl. It's better to visually see things done rather than fumbling around with instruction complexity.