Hello forumites.
Am after some advice/recommendations regarding a new sounder/plotter and transducer combo.

It's to go on a 4.8m tinny (60 horse 2 stroke if that makes a difference) to replace an old tetris style setup.

Will primarily be for inshore sub 40/50metres, occasional foray out to perhaps 100 odd metres, the majority being in around 10-20m.

Have a budget of up to 1000, ideally to include sounder, plotter, map card and transducer. What is there/what is the best choice in this price range?

There is a Lowrance sounder/plotter Hook-7 CHIRP with navionics card and transducer combo for 879 on marine deals, does anyone have experience with this unit, is it pretty good? Is that a good deal?

Thanks for any help

I have one of the predecesors to the Hook.  An elite 7 inch HDI.  On the whole I am impressed with the unit but it can be a little slow to redraw charts when moving at speed.  The downscan & downscan overlays are great as well as the standard 2 D sounder.

Got the lowrance 7 Elite HDI whatever it is, and the lowrance 5 hook on the 12fter. main thing is setup but we don't have issues with the 3m-30m range all we do.

The first question I would be asking is what sort of transducer do you want for the type of fishing you do?

First and foremost you need signal penetration through the water column.  For up to 100m depth I would personally be looking at a minimum 600W transducer and a range of fish-finders that can power it. 

Then consider things like CHIRP and side/down imaging.

My elite 5 if on a  drift or at anchor doesnt show squat when comes to fish.. bottom good , or lines droping up and down fine.. or fish swim and any bait balls etc .. moving. But just moving and above shows fish etc real well.. depending on size of snaps  dots blobs get above about 40/ 45cm then show as arches.

I think has something to do with the size/ model???
 messed with settings speed, background colours.. etc. Its uses as dedicated scanner.. have separate gps units... with split screen.. normal , 2x and the down scanner.

There is a Lowrance sounder/plotter Hook-7 CHIRP with navionics card and transducer combo for 879 on marine deals, does anyone have experience with this unit, is it pretty good? Is that a good deal?

Deal?.. around this time of yr current models get big discount before the new model hit the shelves...
 Been out in a boat with one.. was very impressed.
 Go a unit with navionics ... with the 0.5m detail.. platinum has it not sure if gold does now.. check that out.
 C maps.. dont even bother to go there...
 Navionics you can update map detail.. and this is just for Hauraki gulf damn near every week.. sometime within days a 2 or 3 meg update.
 Garmin used to be 0nce a yr  or something...dont know what it is now..

Would I upgrade to the $879 'deal'  7"yep if had the money spare
 A 5" is too small screen for dedicated gps and sounder... really need sounder split screen most of the time... and be able to watch sounder split screen and detailed gps at the same time..

 As to getting down below 50/ 60m  to 100m  with it.. again I dont know or how well...there are some very good older posts on the subject.

+1 for 7" if you want to use split screen. 

I've had 7" and 5" Lowrance fish finders and found the 5" too small in split screen.

I'm a huge fan of the Garmin range with superb fish finding capability.

If I was buying, I would be going to a 7" lowrance, as up to date was possible, navionics, within in my budget... and a 1K budget the current discounted  this yrs models.
 Garmin , Im a great fan of.. when comes to hunting, vehicle gps/ map units.
 For transferring data, trips, making / updating POI  eg  manually creating the current new fixed speed cameras.. I even have the garmin blue marine maps on the garmin Basecamp  PC program.
 But  boat.. I go lowrance... which Im lead to believe is basically a re packaged upper market Simrad  (???)

Or the fishfinder could be changing to less sensitive settings when at rest (if set to auto).   A fishfinder set to auto will drop power significantly when the return signal is strong.

If correct, a very good possibility....from memory I think I have depth set to auto ??
 I still see a rock on flat ground thu.

Steps wrote: Or the fishfinder could be changing to less sensitive settings when at rest (if set to auto).   A fishfinder set to auto will drop power significantly when the return signal is strong. If correct, a very good possibility....from memory I think I have depth set to auto ??  I still see a rock on flat ground thu.

A rock is very strong return signal - large and reflects sound well.

In a fish the return signal is generated by the swim bladder -  small and somewhat insulated from sound inside the fish. 

If the transducer is outputting at a reduced intensity a fish is less likely to show up than a rock.