Shiner

I'm a boater on a budget and am looking at a Eagle FishElite 640C. It seems to be decently priced and looks a lot like the Lowrance LMS 520C. Someone told me Lowrance makes the Eagle Electronics. Anyone have good or bad experiences with Eagle?

X-Shark

Now you say your on a budget. How many GPS's do you want to buy?



I personally hate the cartoon look of Lowarance, but this unit your looking at is for Freshwater. It's only 187Watts. Think 600watts min.



I wouldn't put that on a Bay boat.



Oh wait. Go ahead and get it. Less competition for finding wrecks.

hjorgan

Dayum.. x-shark.... harsh... who peed in your gas tank??

If you wait till you can afford the best "electronics" or "GPS" or "Downrigger" or "4-stroke" hell.... forget it.

Been fishing 7 years with the cheapest freshwater Eagle bottom machine ($89 at walmart), a hand-held Garmin GPS, and a great attitude. I can mark wrecks, find bait, and get within 10 ft of my spots with a total investment of less than $600.

Have caught the shit out of fish. Enouigh to make us happy.

I'm about to trade up on the electronics because I see the value inbetter vision, but just get out there.

If you need "photo proof" go to the outdoorsusa.com photo albums or search the forum.

Shiner

X-Shark,

Thanks for the information. I found that they have one that I guess is for marine use. SeaCharter 642C. Thanks for saving me the aggravation of buying the wrong thing.

Deeplines

SHINER - I've had my Eagle GPS from the time I owned my boat. Puts me on the spot every time. I bought mine through this company and have been VERY pleased with their service. You actually get someone from thier store when you call and not somebody from who knows where.

Anyway check out the prices they offer and see if it is cheaper then what you have.

http://www.threeriversmarine.net/page/page/2518864.htm

I love my GPS for the price I paid for it. It was being discontinued and had a rebate so only cost me $189. Again accurant, had all the bouys in it and wrecks that I didn't even know about.

CONS - EAGLE doesn't have NIMA (Lowarnce does). Mine is not capable of hooking up to the computer and downloading all the wrecks from P'cola and O.B. :banghead YOU HAVE TO PUT THEM IN MANUALLY ON MINE. I didn't read if the one you are buying can do that.

Something you may want to look into. I sit down with some beer and over 2 days me and EmeraldCozy put them all in. Now would I pay $800 more to have that capability NO.... But I sure wish I had NIMA. Thats just something they don't offer I guess.

X-Shark

And your doing this Offshore? Look at the size of the boat he has. I bet he's wanting to go offshore.



Upgrading electronics is expensive. It costs a bunch of money new and has no resale value with a boat and drops to 25% of what you paid for GOOD stuff after a few years selling it out right.







It's NMEA. There are 2 different standards. NMEA 0183 & NMEA 2000.



You can't interface your GPS with your VHF if you don't have this and if the output is NMEA 2000 [Lowarance] It will not communicate with a VHF that is NMEA 0183.



There are special pieces that have been on the market a short time now that will convert to do the communication. MORE $!



This is a safety item having the DSC on your VHF being able to send your position.









So with that said, buying better stuff you will not want to upgrade but maybe every 10years or when it takes a crap on you.



Navigating with a hand held is a pain in the eyes and even more of a pain if you don't have a bracket to hold it. I've done it



But hjorgan I'm all about finding wrecks that you don't have numbers for.



It will not be long when all we have is State waters to fish in if you want Red Snapper and we all know how the public wrecks get hammered.

Danno

I had the Eagle you mentioned on my 17' Key West, I was on a budget too. It is made by Lowrance and is their value priced line. It did everything advertised and I was pleased with it. When I traded up on boats I kept with the Lowrance line and went to the LCM 525.

Mainly because of the networking feature andthe operation menus were so much alikeI did not want to have to relearn how to use another unit. Other than lightning taking out my LCM 3000 antenna, I have had no problems with either unit.

In researching all brands, dollar for dollar there is not that much difference between any of them. All a matter of pers perference.

wrightackle

I have a garmin 180 gps that is gathering dust in the attic. It was flushmounted on my boat so the mounting bracket has disappeared. I don't know how hard it would be to obtain a bracket. I have the antenna and power cord. If you are interested just pm me.