Last night, I was debating whether to buy a closeout fishfinder for my 14′ boat at my local Wal-mart store, when my wife took to the computer. I was pretty convinced of what I was going to buy, but I thought, “Well, let her see what’s out there.” She has indeed found me some excellent deals in the past, including a $150 Milwaukee jigsaw for $50, among other things. Well, she found me a fishfinder, all right, and the deal was too good to pass up.
The Lowrance Mark series sonars have rebates on them right now, and the Mark 5X DSI specifically has a $50 rebate. Gander Mountain is on its last day today of a four-day sale online. They are giving $50 off orders over $250. And shipping is free on the Mark 5X DSI. So, in total, the Mark 5X DSI that I just ordered cost $289 minus 50 for the Gander sale and 50 for the mail in rebate = $189 + tax. Not bad for a little trip to the Internet by my excellent wife.
Now, if you get to the party late and you miss the Gander online sale, I would suggest you compare the Mark 5X DSI to anything else at around $250 (the Lowrance rebate lasts for a while yet). It’s not color, but the images I have seen from real life tests of the downscan imaging will make people with much more expensive fishfinders cringe when they think about what they paid to get color and a slightly larger screen (now, granted, they are also getting side imaging, GPS, networkability, etc. for their money, too).
To see some real experience with Down Scan Imaging on this unit, follow this link. Scroll down past their sales information and you will see comparison pictures of the Mark 5X screen and a much, much more expensive HDS-8 unit. It will be fun to try out the DSI feature this summer on my favorite small-boat horsepower-restricted lake as I chase smallmouth bass and crappies around sunken boulders, timber, and brush piles.
The down scan feature aside, if this 4,000 watt peak-to-peak unit functions like my other Lowrance units, I will be very happy. Why buy a crappy resolution color fishfinder when you can get a monochrome one with good power and resolution for the same price?
This is my second Lowrance score in as many years–last year it was an excellent X-135 unit for $199 from Cabelas for my big walleye boat and this year it looks like another very good unit for my small boat. I love it when I can buy good stuff cheap! This deal is even a little bit sweeter, as DSI in this price range is relatively new to the market. Instead of a closeout, this is a current item. I’m off to mount the transducer board on my little boat and wait by the door for the Santa in brown shorts!
