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2 Elite FS 7's or 1 FS 7:and Eagle eye 9 - need advice
Quick background. My 13 year old son and I just bought a used 2008 Nitro z6 with essentially no electronics on it. We have a new in box Elite FS 7 that hasn't been installed yet. He fishes on his middle school fishing team but this boat will stay at his grandparents and be a weekend thing for us. Option 1 - I can get a used FS 7 for $300 and network to my current uninstalled unit and call it day. Option 2 - put the FS 7 on the console and add an Eagle Eye 9 on the bow for $1000.
Option 1 pros - cost, networking capabilities; cons - smaller screen and not AT light
Option 2 pros - 9 inch screen and AT light; cons cost and no networking
Am I missing anything and what would you choose? Thanks and appreciate any feedback you can provide on my first post!
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If you are going to be fishing tournaments You can start out with the low cost version but you will be upgrading sooner than later. If you think that cost is a con on the eagle eye 9 I don't think you can get anything better for less. My suggestion is Look at the Elite FS they all go on sale with instant rebates this week. There is a rebate on AT2 Use your Elite FS 7 for the console network to the HDS 9 10 12 Or FS 9 10 12 you will have to buy a NEP Box if you go with 2 FS as they only have 1 ethernet port. I would focus on the bet performing units with small screen in the beginning to save money as in the HDS Product. If you buy a HDS for Bow you won't need the NEP box as HDS product has 2 ports ea 1 for another unit and 1 for AT2. Cry once or Cry everytime you jump in the Boat. PM me if you have more questions.
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My advice would be go for the Eagle Eye 9 for the bow. I picked up an Eagle Eye 9 near the end of the season last year, and while it's not on par with the FS or earlier HDS units as far as adjustability, it's a good basic unit, with as you put it, "AT light" If networking is important to you, you could always add an FS7 at the bow at a later date.
I'm currently running an LMS 322C at the bow along with my Eagle Eye 9, and an HDS Gen 2 Touch at the bow. I'll be replacing the LMS unit with an FS7 with an HDI transducer before ice out this year. FS7 for chart and 2D sonar and down imaging, and the Eagle Eye 9 for forward facing or down facing sonar, only. I also have my Eagle Eye 9 transducer on a separate pole mount that I made. Having its' transducer separate from the trolling motor make it so much more useful IMO, because I can aim it anywhere I want and leave it there, without out worrying about losing boat control because I had to turn the trolling motor because of wind or water current direction.
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One thing to consider if you go with just the eagle eye 9 at the bow is if he is planning on advancing into some of the bigger youth tournaments is that they are slowly banning FFS in some of the championships. If that happens and they lock it out for the tournament you wouldn't have a graph on the bow.
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Good point concerning them starting to restrict the use of FFS. I'd assume that because the Eagle Eye 9's transducer is all in one, 2D, down imaging, forward facing and down facing live sonar, that they just might ban that unit altogether. And because none of the transducers from a standard Eagle unit will work on he Eagle Eye 9, you can't even just switch transducers like you could with an HDS or FS unit.
Even with the little amount of time I've spent with the "AT light" on my Eagle Eye 9 unit, I know that it can be a big advantage over someone that doesn't have any form of FFS live sonar. But personally, I don't get the move to banning or restricting its use in tournaments of any level. You still have to catch the fish. And I have watched fish react to my bait and not hit it.
If they're going to ban certain things because they give anglers with them an advantage over those without them, then you might as well just ban tournaments altogether. An angler with a faster boat has an advantage over one with a slower one as far as actual fishing time. A person with shallow water anchors or a trolling motor with spot lock has an advantage with one without. And I know the latter all too well, because when fishing off shore I get smoked by guys with spot lock when it's windy out.
GPS is a huge advantage over those that don't have it..... etc. I get it though. The idea of youth tournaments is to get younger kids involved in the sport, and keep the costs down to make it more competitive for everyone. But you still have to catch the fish. And sometimes they just won't bite.
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