fish finder questions

[wingala]

Greetings,
The time has come for me to buy a finder. I'm completely confused as what to get. I fish in 8 - 10ft punts which I have been buying very cheap (due to leaks and damage) patch em up and leave em around sydney harbour foreshores. Coupled with a minn kota 42lb I achieve consistant results. Reading past forums I note that you can get a transducer which reads more or less horizontally which seems to me as the kind of system required for fishing snags etc. My budget is up to $500 and needs to be transportable so to use in the different punts.
Am I dreaming or is there something that will suffice?
The man at my tackle shop said that the garmin ff 120 should do the job.
Please help

[smellyfish]

I know that Humminbird has a sounder that sounds around the edges of the river bank as well as what is below the boat. Go to
http://www.humminbird.com.au/

[Angry]

Hi wingala, This is the only model I know of that has the really wide scan.

http://www.humminbird.com/products.asp?ID=379

But even it is only 90 degrees (45 either side).

And I don't think you'd be any where near the 500 dollar mark, closer to $1000.

[wingala]

Thanks anyway angry.
It seems eagle may have something a little more affordable