Garmin 94sv Chirp with Clearview (not plus)

[johnny striper]

I just purchased this unit and am looking for opinions on which transducer would best fit my needs. Garmin offers several options and I'm a little confused. I fish very shallow water, mostly 4 - 15 ft but sometimes up to 30 ft. I'm guessing a high / wide chirp would be my best bet. This is quite an upgrade for me as I'm used to looking at a 5" monochromatic basic FF screen. Any input would be greatly appreciated...Thanks.

 

[dingbat]

Really depends on how you want to use the unit and your expectations.

The GTx transducers are the real thing. They have a separate transducer for the down view function. The CVx are the transducers Garmin redesigned to get past import limitations enacted during the Lowrance / Garmin patent law suit.

The patent suit was settled in Garmin’s favor but the redesigned transducers are still on the market at lower prices than the GT series

I’m running the GT51M to take advantage of the units 600w output, but the water I fish is much deeper, mainly 30-100ft. Fish in 200-500 ft. at lot as well

Take a look at the GT52-HW. It’s a 350w but has the higher frequency, wide cone needed in shallower water

 

[ajgraz]

I’m interested in these very same questions about the very same Garmin unit.

Did not know that about the CVx transducers, are they inferior in some way?

 

[dingbat]

Did not know that about the CVx transducers, are they inferior in some way?

A purist would argue the CV are inferior, or at least try to make a case....

Here is the issue...the GT transducers uses three separate transducers to generate the two side views and the down/clear View.

The CV transducers uses two wide angle transducers. The center/ down view image is generated using data from the overlapping images.

Its been reported that under certain situations things may get missed in the overlapping image method, but I take it with a grain of salt coming from the Lowrance marketing department.

Personally, the whole down view thing is a joke. CHIRP gives you a full color MRI of the water column. What possible good is a black and white photo in comparison?