Ok guys, need opinions and advice here! About to drop a lot of money for me on a new GPS/Sonar unit. Im thinking hard on the Hummingbird with and without side imaging.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas...25889

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas...=true

Also thinking about a few Lowrances

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas...=true

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas...=true

What do you think of these choices. Im wanting to keep it under $1000 for the unit. ALso would you buy one off of ebay? You can find them about 100 bucks cheaper there on average, does Lowrance and Hummingbird still honor the warranty?

Ill also be needing a depth finder for the fron of the boat. What do you guys put up there? I dont know what I need for up there so Im open to suggestions.

On to trolling motors. WHat do I need and post a link please. Im thinking of this one

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas...=true

But Im really open on this becasue I dont know much at all about todays trolling motor technology. Thanks in advance to all who will help me!

Danny

Trolling motor- Minn Kota Maxxum hands down!

GPS- Lowrance H2o, great unit and easy to use.

Depth finder- Go with an Eagle. the 480 is an awsome unit. Unless your fishing in water over 100' deep you really don't need anything more expensive. This has great graphics. Check some earlier posts about this. Lowrance is too expensive for basiclly the same product.

I would stay away from a combo unit gps/depth. if the unit craps out you lost both.

sonar/gps- lowrance lms-480 (x-135 with gps) or the new lms 522c save the room and get a sonar/gps unit

http://www.lowrance.com/ProductComparison/product_comparison.asp

trolling motors get the motor guide tour series. to me minn kota has to many problems right now

http://sites.mercurymarine.com/portal/page?_pageid=125,56134&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

OK, first off your going to get a thousand different answers. But here is mine.

Humminbird is a good choice. I would go with the 787c2i

I have the 787c with the external GPS antenna and I love it

TM I would go with a motor guide tour series, get one that already has the built in transducer. It is a lot neater.

Buying one off of ebay. I don't know. I buy a lot of fishing stuff off ebay, but big dollar electronics, well when I am spending that much money I go with BPS or Cabela's. I fact the Gander Mountain by me had the 787c (last years model, with the external antenna), for around $500

Now, what fishfinder to put up front. I am a little different than most I put the better one up front, because that is the one I use most often.

I have a matrix 87c up front on a Motorguide Tour 109# TM, when I bought the 787c I put that on the dash. I got the Matrix 87c a year before I got the 787c, they are almost exactly the same unit. just a year apart. Changed the name, that's all.

I am going to order their new Interlink system. It lets both GPS unit share info, so when you mark a spot on one its marked on the other too. It works with most of the new Humminbird GPS systems.

The Humminbird is an execellent choice. For the same price point as anything from Lowrance or Eagle you will either get higher screen resolution, transducer power and coverage or both. If you have the cash get the Humminbird 797c2 with side imaging. It is light years ahead of anything from Lowrance. You will be amazed how much water you can cover with that unit to find fish. The only problem with it is that it works too well and you tend to spend more time looking at the screen than fishing. About the trolling motor go with Minn Kota. Several of the warranty repair guys I talk to fix about 7 more Motorguides to Minn Kota. I have seen how each is built and Minn Kota simply build them better. For bass fishing get a Maxxum or Maxxum Pro with the new US2 sonar built in.

Several of the warranty repair guys I talk to fix about 7 more Motorguides to Minn Kota.  I have seen how each is built and Minn Kota simply build them better.

i will post a pic of how many minnkota motors get sent off and repaird each week vs. motorguide, were i work is a drop off point for minnkota and motorguide to get repaired, we probably have one motor guide to atlest 7 minnkotas each week, i will post the pic tomorrow or the day after.

northgabassfisher, I agree with you, a Motorguide digital tour is the way to go. In my mind its the best one I have used.

I have the 36volt 109# digital tour. Have had it for3 years and not a problem.

Motorguide has had a bad rep. and they deserve it. I had two older ones and hated them. That is why I went to minkota, But this new Motorguide digitalTour series is a different animal from the entire rest of Motorguide line up.

I would pick a Minkota over any other series of Motorguide motors; however I would pick the Motorguide tour series over  any minkota/

And the unbreakable shaft of a minkota to a stainless steel one of a motoguide. I have run my motorguide into stumps and rocks and never bent the shaft. the break-away mount work just the way it was supposd to.  The only TM shaft I have ever bent was one on an older Minkota powerdrive