West Islander

I am looking for a new combo unit in the sub $800 range. Lowrance has an elite 7 that has down scan and standard broad band sonar. I boat in Buzzards Bay (MA) and am rarely in water over 150'. Am I getting caught up with the novelty of down scan? Is it pointless in saltwater and I am better off saving some money and just going with a standard broad band sonar and chartplotter combo?

abbor

DownScan works fine in 100-150' saltwater if the sea is not too choppy. Elite-7 has built-in BraodBand sounder so you won't loose anything when it comes to fishfinder performance by going Elite-7.

tpp517

Check out the new Raymarine Dragonfly. Going to retail for around $700 with charts, but I have already seen it for less, do a search.

http://raymarine.com/view/?id=6854

abbor

The Dragonfly screen is only 5", too small to be used for three functions, ordinary sonar, downscanning and charts. Elite-7 has a 7" rectangular screen which can be divided in three scalable vertical windows.