i'm trying to decide which of these to get.  lowrance x96, x125, or eagle fishmark 480.  i gave up on trying to find a small one for the bow that would fit in the factory hole.  

can anyone give me advice or suggestions on where & how to mount one of these on the bow.

I would like to see pics of where yours is mounted.  how well do you like it mounted there?  does it ever get in the way?  

it really pains me to have to drill holes in the deck of my boat but i guess thats the only way huh.

I use Humminbird, but I got a RAM mount. Its great. only had to drill 3 small holes and you can turn the unit in any direction you need. I would get a RAM mount. I mounted it infront of the TM petal and it doesn't get in the way at all.

Have you considering opening the original hole to fit a new depth finder; most come with a template?

What ever you do mount it on a ram mount. It will help protect it from vibration and hard bow hits.

I just picked up some RAM mounts for a handheld GPS unit.  I highly recommend them and they are modular, so you can mix and match parts (as long as the ball size is the same).  gpscity.com has the best website that I could find and they make it pretty easy to figure out what you need.  If you need help, message me.  They also have a quick release mount that would let you remove the unit, but I don't know if I'd want that for the bow, since it's likely to get pounded pretty bad up there.  

--J

Just thought I'd add a clarification to my previous reply...

I've attached a picture of what I used to mount my handheld GPS. For the fishfinders, they have some with swing arms as well. For the mount that I have, you can easily remove the unit by loosening the adjusting screw.

Here's a link to the marine catalog: http://www.ram-mount.com/pdf/marine_catalog.pdf

-J

are those ram mounts sturdy?  thanks for that link basser you answered my next question.

They are stronger than you think. There pretty much indestructable. I have 3 of them on my boat and they take a beating. Let's put it this way I have never broke one in the 5 years I've been using them.