ecarl357

I had this same problem over the weekend during a tournament........when the fish were biting too. The trolling motor worked fine one minute then nothing. After about an hour of going through eveything (fuses, breakers, and switches) for some strange reason I decided to take the trolling motor plug apart. There is was. For some reason the hot wire got a little too hot and melted the plastic plug. We hard wired it and everything was good again. Might be a place to check if you come up blank everywhere else.

I just wanted to say thanks for the input. I am going to buy a 997 with all the maps loaded into it tomorrow night. Are there any do's or dont's, as far as the installation goes? Just basically looking for some useful tips since the first time I will be using it will be in a tournament. Thanks Again

I appreciate all of your help. Is it true that the side imaging only works at low speeds.....or should I say works properly at low speeds? Don't get me wrong, I am not looking to scan the shore at 70mph, but does it work well at trolling speeds? I have always liked the Lowrance units, but since I fish the banks and structure 99% of the time, it really seems as though the Humminbird is the way to go. I would think you could find all kinds of structure you never even knew was there. I guess I just wanted to make sure they work as well as advertised. I see all of these pictures with unbelievable detail and wonder if it really is that good, or if it is just a big marketing campaign. Has anyone tried to mount it to the trolling motor? This seems as though it would be a good spot, unless the transducer needs to be stationary. How does the map detail campare to the lowrance hard drive units. I am going to look at all the models again this weekend, but I will probably only become more confused. I guess in a perfect world I would buy both units and call it good, but I can't see spending that much money on fishfinders......actually having a hard time spending it on one. With that being said, I want to make sure my purchase is a good one. Thanks Again, Eric

To start off, I just wanted to say hello to everyone. This is my first post, so I hope I am putting this in the right place. I am sure this has bbeen discussed before, but I could not find anything close to what I was wanting information on. I have a G3 HP200 Bass boat. The boat has the fishfinders that come factory, but I am looking to upgrade. I like high tech gadgets, so I have been looking at some of the higher end fish finders on the market. Here is where I have confused my self to no end. I would like to purchase a GPS finder. I have looked at some of the Lowrance units with the hard drives. I really like the size of the 111 and the 113. I am looking at some of the Humminbird side imaging, but I have heard they do not work as good as they are advertised. I did not consider Garmin until I looked at thier site yesterday. They have a GPSMAP 545, when coupled with the G2 Vision card seem to be pretty remarkable. The only drawback to the Garmins is they seem to have a small screen. I do most of my fishing in Missouri and Illinois with an occasional trip out of that area. I bass fish only, and would like to start fishing some tournaments. The other thing that I can not seem to find much information on is whether any of these models can be used in a vehicle for the road trips to a lake. I guess I am looking for any personal experiences, or anyone who has dealt with any of the models above. I am sure you all know how pricey these can get and I don't want to find out I wasted a bunch of money. Any information you could provide, would be greatly appreciated. If there is any info I can provide that would help, just let me know. Thanks In Advance, Eric