The keeper of the checkbook has authorized  a few bucks to spend on a fishfinder.  While $200 wont get me the best on the market, what would you all recommend?  I have almost zero experience with them.

Thanks!

garmin 240 or 250.  both are in your price range and are solid depthfinders.

Eagle FishMark 480....it will be the best $200 fishfinder you've ever bought.

Eagle is made by Lowrance by the way.

I agree with fivebassslimit, eagle is the way to go!

Thanks for the replies guys! I grew up a northern Maine trout stream fisherman. Having lived in the south (VA) for 10 or 12 years now, I have gotten the bug to start bass fishing. This site has been great for all the info!

I have a friend who is fed up with lowrance's customer service. I have also seen a lot of people posting complaints about their customer service on the net. I would be very careful. I have had Garmin 240's & up graded to the 250C. I have used their customer service & it was excellent. I am very satisified with their product  & service. Good luck on your choice.

Hey butenway, what part of VA do you live?  Good name by the way!  LOL!

Eagle/Lowrance is the way to go. BTW, I've owned their products for almost 20 yrs and have only had to use customer service twice and both times I didn't have any problems. The point I'm trying to make is with their products you probably won't need to worry about the customer service dept.

I did not have a problem either, I called to make sure I was interfacing my depthfinder to my chartplotter correctly. I am sure all brands will have some units that will have problems, but most likely most of their calls are on the operation of the unit. It's like I said I have a friend who is fed up & I have read a lot of post's that are complaining about Lowrance's customer service & I was passing that on. I could not tell you if a Garmin is a better unit than a Lowrance because I have never owned a lowrance. What I did say was I was happy with my units & good luck with your choice.