Garmin Echo 500c Review

After using it all summer long I can say that performance and quality is excellent. Best value on a 5 inch color fishfinder. Doesn’t have down imaging but costs $200 less than Humminbirds.

This fishfinder is OK. My only concern is the mount – doesn’t fit very well and rattles at higher speeds. Had to flush mount it because of the loose base.

This is a great sonar. I can ran at 30 mph and get good readings upto 400′ and that’s in saltwater. Extremely accurate and sensitive sonar. It doesn’t give you pretty pictures but it accurately shows you fish, bottom and structure.

If you’re looking for something that has all kinds of bells and whistles and looks great on paper but doesn’t work on the water – get a Humminbird. If you’re looking for a real sonar that will help you find fish and give you accurate depth readings – get a Garmin Echo.

The unit came with everything needed packaged in the box. Cord length had been a concern since it was not listed in the description and my boat is a 16 footer. In the end I needed to tie up the excess cord in loops so it will fit in even larger craft easily.
The unit is remarkably simple to use. In fact I forgot the manual on my first trip and was still able to set it up and use it without much fuss. The screen was easily visible even in direct sunlight and the information helped make it a successful day fishing. My only gripe is that the mount does not allow it to rotate fully, so I can’t turn it to be visible while fishing from the bow and leave it mounted in the cockpit for use when driving.

I upgraded from the black and white version to the color 500c about two years ago. I am not much on the “fish finder” aspect since the number of fish it reads seems to have little or no effect on the number of bites. I use it mostly as a sonar for showing structure and depth. In two years of use there have only been a handful of moments when it dropped its readings and those were brief, only a minute or so. Overall I have nothing bad to say about it. A solid unit all around.

I bought this unit (500c) back in 2013 from BassPro Shop. Worked as expected up until about a year ago, then the unit would jump in and out of Demo mode. I verified all of my connections, especially the transducer connection. Took the boat out on multiple occasions and it would still bounce in and out of demo mode. Even did it while I was tied upto the dock not moving. Now the unit stays in demo mode the whole time. I’ve tried moving the transducer connection around on the back of the unit (wiggling it), with no luck. I’m thinking the transducer itself is bad. Very disappointed…