Does anyone have the Eagle Fisheilte 480 or know how good the unit is? I am thinking of buying one soon and have found them at what seems like a decent price of $344. I just hate spending that much money for something not knowing exactly what it is like!

These are the stats on it
480V x 480H pixel resolution 5" Film SuperTwist display
12-parallel-channel external antenna GPS with WAAS
Built-in background map
200 kHz high-speed Skimmer® transom-mount transducer
Depths to 800 ft.
Up to 60° fish-detection coverage

Here is a Humminbird unit I just looked at that is close in price. Anyone know how the two compair?

Stats on it
Unit dimensions, WxHxD:
7.0" x 7.25" x 4.0"
Display size:
5" diagonal
Display resolution:
640 x 320
Display type:
16 level grayscale high contrast FSTN LCD

Other

Operating frequency:
200 kHz, 83 kHz
Depth capability:
800 ft
Temperature:
Included in transducer
Speed:
GPS speed included
Power input:
10-20 VDC
Standard transducer:
DualBeam - XNT 9 20 T
Transducer mounting:
Transom mount standard
Unit mounting:
Tilt & swivel quick disconnect mounting system
GPS receiver:
16 channel external GPS WAAS/EGNOS
Waypoints & routes:
3,000 waypoints; 50 routes
Tracks:
50 tracks with 20,000 points each
Cartography:
Built-in 30 meter resolution UniMap

Ok heres the run down

The 480 is a single freq 1500 watt machine

The 580 is dual freq 2000 watt machine

both are gps and both are grayscale pics ---nothing wrong with that as I have found some times the black and white picture outperforms the color units.

also included in this price catagory would be the Garmin 400 dual freq unit with greater power @4000 watt

So whats my choice

none of the above hehehehe ::

I really like the humminbird products and own two,  one of the main reasons is it is the only fishfinder that will give you both the little fishy symbols and arches on the same screen

My selection for you in that price range is a humminbird 737

http://www.humminbird.com/products.asp?ID=653

it looks a little higher at cabelas and bps price wise but it just over 300 on ebay---jump quick -- one left

bad news you'll have to get you a gps antennae for it
good news I got an extra on the easy payment plan
this is fully expandable to accept the navionics chips and adding your own card to be nearly as good as you will ever need for cat'n
it also has the plus of 90 degree viewing which works really well on bait fish and crappie

in reality its an upgraded version of my Matrix 37 which I love with the expanded ability for the gps mapping chips  :: and screen snapshots.

really thats almost the 797 c2 si unit I got---the only thing missing is the color and side imaging