Bottom Line depth finders, opinions?

[ragfly]

I am looking at buying the Tournament NCC5300 unit. I like the side finder idea. It seems to have alot of power as well. I haven't heard much for pros and cons so any info would be grealy appreciated!

[quick decision]

I have never used a bottom line. There is a few things you should be looking at and comparing to other compinies. Tradsducer Frequency. Lower frequencies will display a wide area on the bottom while higher frequencies will give you more resolution or detail. For salt water you would want a lower frequency than fresh water. Tranducer beam width or cone angle. The smaller the beam you can pick up small groups of fish in deep water. If you dont fish deep water, then this may not be as important. Output power. Too much power in shallow water is not good. Power ranges will be between 100-1000. How will you mount the unit? transum, through hull? if you pick the right machine for your style of fishing you will be the most happy.

[Raven]

until it finally quit werkin.... it was cool though having the sidefinding technology...you could cruise a lake and spot fish laterally instead of in the downward cone angle only and know which direction to throw your next cast...and many times i hooked up.
of course this was sweet water. The rational is that a tranducers cone angle is much like a flashlight beam shinning into a stand of trees ( ie cover, seaweed ,rocks ,structure) and the target may not offer a full presentation which can vary the signal response.

[denis]

I have the Tournament Leader SF,been useing it for 8years love it

use the side scan most of the time,had a couple of problems with it but Bottom Line took care of them,they stand behine there product.

One bad thing I can"t fix is I cannot use my radio and fish finder at the same time.

[179]

You can get the new Garmin 320C shipped to your door for $450.00 on ebay right now, it would be awful tough to beat that deal.

[FTRAV]

If I was in the market , and had a spare $ 2200. laying around I would go with the lowrance 104, in the mean time I'll have to stay with my 350a which is still a good unit , but to mr that 104 is a honey ! hey what do I know