Best fish finder for under a $1000

[Crab Pot]

So, I'm in the market for electronics and wanted to pick some of the big brains on this site. I'm not brand bias, though I do like Raymarine, least I did in the past.

Needs:

Sonar/Chirp
Chart Plotter/GPS
Upgradable
Accessory ready

$1000 is the budget but I don't really want to send that much.

Thanks,

Steve

[MACflyer]

I have a Raymarine, probably 3 or 4 years old, and my only complaint is it shuts down every time I start the engine. It is very voltage sensitive. Installed a separate terminal block with separate heavier wire, added a second battery, but still shuts down. Annoying. One of my fishing buddies has a Garmin Echomap, and the clarity is great. Biggest complaint is it's not user friendly for us. Have to go through multiple menus to change anything, and the menu labels aren't very intuitive. Took us nearly 4 months to finally figure out how to bottom Zoom with YouTube help. Other fishing buddy has a Simrad and it's very intuitive to change settings. Very rarely have to refer to manual. Super easy to use and great clarity as well. I hear Lowrance is making some nice machines, but have no experience with them. If I was looking right now, I'd check out Simrad and Lowrance.

[Gobi King]

What depth and species do you fish
Any night trips
How far do you motor out ?

[Crab Pot]

Never fished deeper than 300-400 feet on my past boats. However, I have an electric reel now so that's going to change. 600-700 feet maybe?

Never at night, unless motoring out in the dark morning counts.

Furthest I've been out in my own boat is 26 miles due west of San Francisco, Farallon Islands. 

[boon]

If you want good performance in 700ft (actually marking fish on the bottom) then you need a 1kw transducer and a unit that will actually drive 1kw. Getting this for $1000 is not possible unless you're prepared to go used with something like an Airmar TM258 for the transducer.

A Lowrance Elite FS 7 should probably be in the mix.