More questions about Fishfinders Sonar and transducers

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Heres more to add to my first post since theres more questions im making a new post hope that is all right
Ive now done some research and have talked with West marine which is one of the suppliers here
My boat has 21degree dead rise, side view v single view there suggesting two transducers for side view with in hull transducers and big holes in the bottom of my boat any thoughts on if I can get by with one transducer not only the money but one less hole in my boat is just as appealing as only paying for one.
Im also thinking if I could purchase two 7" Fish finders for about what a 10" or 12" screen display is and get a larger view overall and have the redundancy of a spare.
Touch screen v buttons and knobs touch screen seems to be favorited by me but its more money and some of my less than tech savy buddies may be more accustomed to buttons but Im not sure that buttons are any easier to learn functions on any more.

one of my friends who boats where I will is recommending CB radio and a couple of features that I know nothing about which are AIS and DCS I took up a a lot of his time today and we had to wrap it up before I had a real grasp of what equipment might provide them I assume its part of his raidos functions?

Seems like nothing is in stock so time is less of an issue or more of an issue August and Sept can be good fishing months if I am prepared in time, but its what it is. I dont want to throw a bunch of money at something that I wont utilize and I also do not want to buy something that isnt enough for my needs either.
Thanks

 

[gm280]

I have no idea what you want your fish finders for, or how you plan to use them and for what. But so many times we seem to go way overboard, pun not intended, to get so many options, that we overload our wants. And then after the newness wears off, we find we use a mere fraction of the options on a regular basis.

Not trying to sway your wants either way, just think what you want your fish finders for and how you will actually use them. Could be you would be just as satisfied with less capable units and still cover all your needs and wants. :noidea:

And with most electronics, they will be old news in a year or less. New ideas and cleverly worded terminology will be the draw for their new units. JMHO

 

[82rude]

The day you order your ff its obsolete in the newest and bestest world.Im with gm,buy what you need no more.

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Ok im going to simplify this a little 10" decent fish finder and single transducer is going to run me $1500 I could shave about $400 and go with a much smaller FF. Side view adds $550 to $650 for the second transducer. My vision is going away at this distance and I will pop for a larger screen and wont bat an eye. So the least im going to get by with in a Fishfinder is $700. Is side view worth an extra $600 or not. I have not used one to know. I did a lot of reading on them last night sounds great on paper and the salesguy pushed them in a manner they look like great tools. I will be looking for reefs in Florida and similar here in the northwest when fishing. Maybe that will help you guys answer my questions

 

[ondarvr]

Is side view worth it...well, we still don't know exactly what you plan to fish for, or how you want to fish, so it might be worth it, or it could be a waste of money.

​Most people don't use all the features on FFs because it takes time to understand it and get it set up correctly, then when fishing in a different way or place you end up needing to readjust everything.

​I end up being the guy on the boat that dials in the FF so it gives us information in a useful way, and sometimes it takes a while.

 

[mike_i]

I would not bother with a CB radio. A VHF marine radio is a must have, the coast guard and 99.9% of other boats will be able to communicate with you on a marine radio when your'e calling for help, good luck with the couple of people that may have a CB on their boat. AIS is not that useful but DSC is and make sure you're able to connect your marine radio to your GPS, as the coast guard says, it takes the search out of search and rescue.

 

[dingbat]

Ok im going to simplify this a little 10" decent fish finder and single transducer is going to run me $1500 I could shave about $400 and go with a much smaller FF. Side view adds $550 to $650 for the second transducer. My vision is going away at this distance and I will pop for a larger screen and wont bat an eye. So the least im going to get by with in a Fishfinder is $700. Is side view worth an extra $600 or not. I have not used one to know. I did a lot of reading on them last night sounds great on paper and the salesguy pushed them in a manner they look like great tools. I will be looking for reefs in Florida and similar here in the northwest when fishing. Maybe that will help you guys answer my questions

What machine are they quoting for $1500 + $550 for side scan? Lots of side scan options using a single, transom mount transducer for a lot less.

The Garmin ECHOMAP CHIRP 94SV give you a 9" display, CHIRP sonar, down view and side scan (Transom mount transducer) and a backup chart plotter for $1,200.

After 6 months of use, I've come to the determination that side view adds little value to the open water, mid-water column trolling I do. I could see where Side View could be a valuable tool if you fished structure in shallower water.

Personally, I'm looking to give Panoptix a shoot. "Live View" would give me the ability to see fish coming into a trolling spread in real time.

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

My boat will require twin through hull transducers the low end ones with chirp start about $450 so adding two transducers is $900 to $1000 in transducers aloneness slightly more. If I want to utilize side view functions pretty much all the FF im looking at have side view capabuility. Right now Im thinking the Garmin 1040xs its $900 at one place many places are still asking $1500 to $2000 on it but theres a couple for $900 right now. and either one or two transducers is the real question. My desire for a 10" screen puts the FF costs starting at $800 to $900 min and from there the price goes up quickly. And like my glasses I dont bat an eye any more when it comes to being able to see better so going with a much smaller screen and saving say $300 isn't a concern. From there the FF prices go to the moon I dont need that and if i do I will have enough transducer to deal with what ever I upgrade to. So the $550 question install two through hull transducers now and in the $1000 range is there a better FF with thats at least 10" And i do believe what im looking for is not a CB but a marine radio there pretty cheap. My buddy who fishes the ocean out here a lot tells me he chats with a number of other regulars and the information shared in invaluable let alone of anything goes wrong and i do need to call for help.

 

[dingbat]

You don't need two transducers for your boa or any other boat. A single, transom mount will provide the same functionality at half the cost.

No way I would go with thru hull transducers at this point. The technology is still young and Airmar, the real innovator / player in the transducer market, is just getting started in the game. Can't see spending $1,000 and cutting holes in the bottom of the boat for transducers that will most likely be obsolete in the next 2-3 years.

I would go with the transom mount as I did and see how things go. If side scan turns out to be the greatest things since sliced bread for you, you can upgrade to better quality side scan transducers later down the road. If side scan turns out to be ho-hum as it was for me, you don't have big holes in the boat to your boat to go with the ho-hum performance

You realize the Garmin 1040XS requires the purchase of a GCV black box for side scan. This is the reason why I went with the ECHOMAP CHIRP 94SV over a second GPSMAP unit.

You can go cheap on the VHF radio but don't cheap out on the antenna. Get the best and tallest you can afford. Money well spent

Your seeing 1040SX prices all over the map because it is, or will be shortly, a discontinued product.

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

You are right I recieved some incorrect information on the 1040SX it is not side view. And for a fact I dont know if I need side view.Reading and hearing the sales pitch I may. Ive expanding my horizons by a large margin . I may find side views to be worth every cent and headache but I just dont know. One thing that the tech support at garmin and the one place I have been personally state pretty firminly is my boat will most likely not be very friendly towards transom mount transducers. Twin engines lots of boat 21 degree deadrise. And the people at Garmin telll me the right through hull transducer in clean water will provide really clean fish finder operation so I dont know. I may head back to town and see one more place over the weekend. Or even drive to Seattle there are two or three places with staffing and larger inventory to help me make my mind up. Thanks for the input

 

[dingbat]

One thing that the tech support at garmin and the one place I have been personally state pretty firminly is my boat will most likely not be very friendly towards transom mount transducers. Twin engines lots of boat 21 degree deadrise. And the people at Garmin telll me the right through hull transducer in clean water will provide really clean fish finder operation so I dont know.

My comment on transom mount was targeting the side scan function. For conventional sonar, a (single) thru hull (something like a Airmar B175M) is the way to go. No matter how many motors or how steep your deadrise.

Problems arise when you add side scan. On top of the conventional thru hull, you have the option to install two additional thru hull (side scan) transducers, making three transducers altogether, or installing a single, transom mount side scan transducer as I did.

I went with transom mount side scan and have no problems with it whatsoever

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Hope this works trying to move photos on my ipad which can be challenging.

Thanks for all the input. I battled one issue no one stocked any of the components I was interested in. Time is an issue as Im trying to be sea worthy before the salmon get here. And were buried at work so I do not have much free time. I was ready to purchase the Garmin 94SV as Dingbat suggested found everything in stock this route. It seemed to have everything I wanted.

As it turns out Sat morning I found a very nice like new Lowrance with everything for less than the cost of the 94sv. Whats a 4 hour drive right, Guy bought a bigger boat and it would not work in his cockpit. Good for me bad for him. It wast on his mind when he upgraded his boat. Its perfect for my dash though.

I struggled with the transducer mounting and cable routing. So I am trying something be it good or bad. If it has issues Ill build a block off plate and probably order through hull transducers but what I rigged up seems to have solved location issues and deep v issues. Ill state Im fairly crafty and I have a lathe and a mill so its not like I carved a 1" hole in my boat and siliconed two wires through it even though that is in reality what I did. There seem to be some very negative views on feeding cables though the hull below the water line and I completely understand why. Personally the way I have this made I think the worst to happen is a cable frays and I loose a transducer and it leaks slightly through the cable. At which point its transducer replacement any way if the cables failed in that manner. I could foresee something catching on my transducers and ripping them out all together but my holes will be 1/4" the leak will be manageable and for a fact something like this happens in this area Im going to know about it and most likely its the least of my worries at that given moment because it will have impacted more than just my transducers.

First I made a bracket that matches the pitch of my hull to allow installing different transducers without more holes in the boat its fitted extremely well to the transom. Next I machined an aluminum pass through.

If I have issues with this arrangement ill build a block, cover my hole and go with through hull transducers but I do feel by far this is better than most through hull wire installs that I have seen to date. The install looks better than routing wires up and over my stepped transom routing the cables this way puts then in jeopardy as we throw dive gear in this area when boarding the boat. I am going to have to use a ratchet to remove and install my drain plug but I can live with that.

 

[dingbat]

What is the second transducer for?

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Structure images

 

[dingbat]

Structure images

Interesting...I have side scan, down scan and conventional packaged into a single unit.

What frequency transducer did you go with? I have mid-band (80-160 kHz) on the transom and a High-band (130-210 kHz) thru hull

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

I dont actually know its specs its a 3D structure scan transducer for a Lowrance hds12 if that helps.