Which Sounder should I buy?
Ford v's Holden, Daiwa v's Shimano, Mercury v's Yamaha are just some of the rivals amongst brands that have been battling it out for years. However, to me it seems that the playing field in many industries and products have levelled out in the past 5-10 years. I don’t think it's any different when it comes to sounders for your boat.
Amongst all the boats I've fished out of in recent years I have come across many brands of sounders and interestingly, each fisho says theirs is the best. I have Simrad gear on my Skeeter that came with the boat but I run Humminbird on my other 2 boats.
Why Humminbird? Like many people I go for what's familiar to me and what has worked well for me for many years. I have never had a drama with any of my Humminbird sounders and they get quite the bashing over time. Does that make them the best? I really don’t know, so all I can do is give advice from my own experiences.
The one stand out for me with my Humminbird that I think is better than all the other brands is the side imaging. Down scan and side imaging is what I use 99% of the time. I have quietly compared it to other brands and other side imaging on my travels and I must say I really do feel that my Humminbird gives the best picture. Now whether the other units have not been set up correctly or maybe their transducer is a bit dodgy I don’t know, but its something I’ve definitely noticed over the years.
In my opinion with the technology becoming pretty even across the board any of the big brands will do the job for you. You will work out how best to set it up in different situations and I have no doubt you will find fish. So how do you choose?
Well I say Humminbird is excellent value for money, built strong and produces what I think is the best side imaging in the game but perhaps ask a mate or go to a dealer that has all the brands, not just the guys doing the hard sell on a particular brand because that's all they have.
Read reviews online and google various brands and you will be surprised at what you find. Let's face it you probably spend more time staring at your sounder than you do the water so don’t settle - do your homework and find the sounder that you find simple to use, can understand what you're actually seeing, and fits your budget. Good luck. Bergie
(Image by R J Clifford)