GARMIN 010-00459-00 Portable Fishfinder 90

Had to replace a Garmin Fishfinder 85 that failed after one year and only 3 months of service on the water. The Garmin 90 plugged into the boat's existing Fishfinder 85 sensors and worked immediately. Does an adequate job. I don't see a lot of differences from the Garmin 85.

Purchased this fishfinder on Amazon with $30 off when opened Amazon credit card. Installation was pretty easy, everything I needed was in a box. Took the boat out the next day on Wye River in MD, worked pretty well for me: showed water temperature at 80 degrees, finally warm! the depth gauge was pretty accurate too. I measured the depth with a pole and compared with Garmin and the accuracy was within 0.5 inches! I bought this unit because I had a budget under $100, but was looking for one that warns when the water is shallow and it also has a dual beam (you can set a narrow beam for more depth and accuracy or wider beam for greater coverage). The screen is big and clear, even in the sun thanks to a special anti-reflective coating, pretty easy to navigate through the menu, no need to load anything as this is NOT a marine GPS unit. Fish finding feature was neat (was assuring to see big and little fish on the screen). I think the manual stated the images on the screen had up to 5 seconds delay. Still not bad if you do not go too fast. I was crabbing that day, so cannot really tell if it helps you catch fish, but the images were definately clear on the screen. I did not get a portable hardware, but unless you switch between boats you do not really need it. I simply take the unit off the holder when park the boat, so it does not get wet/hot/stollen. The holder has a swiwel feature, so you can adjust it to whatever angle you like and then secure in that position. It also beeps when there is a school of fish nearby. I saw circles in the water and fish jumping, then Garmin started beeping, so it definately knows where the fish is. In overall, I think if you need a basic unit that warns you of water depth (you can set it to beep when it is less than X feet), shows where the fish is (including the depth where the fish is), and water temperature you will be happy with Garmin 90. It might not have a touch screen or complex menu options, but it definately does the trick for a lot less $. But if you also need a GPS feature, look into more expensive ones.