ok guys im finally beyond the actual boat repair process and now on to upgrading and getting it perfected for my fishing desires.
im looking at getting a lowrance hds system with sidescan and need advice to help me make my purchases correctly..
i am primarily an inshore/freshwater guy, but will be venturing out offshore once i get more time on the boat (21 ft seapro bay boat) and i want a good system to fit my needs. most of what ive fished so far in my new area (coastal nc) is relatively shallow 30 ft is the deepest ive been in yet running the rivers and icw.
im not on a super tight budget, but money can always be used for other things, so i want to do this right, cost effectively.
obviously with this type of fishing AT THIS TIME, i rarely troll from the helm... when fishing i drive to my spot, scope the area and fish from bow running my trolling motor.... (i would do a bit more scoping out of my areas with the sidescan, but in really skinny water, usually 3-10 ft, and my simple garmin 238 (black white gps and fishfinder, with really low definition) i usually just get to an area that looks good, drop trolling motor and begin working my way around) note i dont have a bow fishfinder yet, just the 238 at the center console. so when fishing from the bow im limited in not knowing whats under me without running back to the helm which gets really annoying, especially in the tighter rivers and creeks with my big boat....
i want a good system for all around use, finding good stucture and bottom info from both the helm originally (also having gps there) then when i drop my trolling motor and start casting from the bow i still need to be able to know my depth and such....
1 -now what im concerned with is how big i want these units (hds 7,8 10 etc). i want a big one for the helm, but then i still want good size on the bow. ive searched around and seen people usually do an 8 or 10 on the helm and a 5 or 7 on the bow... my question is how well do yall think that will work? i will be standing 90 percent of the time, and dont want to be bending over every time i want to see whats getting shown on the graph... in addition i will likely be running the bow unit on solely fishfinding (be it standard or sidescan) as i wont need the gps active while im trolling around, and will likely only use the gps from the bow to mark locations. while on the helm i will likely be running a 50 50 split of gps and fishfinding. so that will give me full screen fishfinding on the smaller bow unit which will offset the smaller screen size....
i need to choose a good compromise between unit size, obviously with stucture scan screen size is very important... i dont want to go oversized on the bow making me have to purchase a smaller helm unit or vise versa.... i just need tips on which sizes to get for each application...
3- since these units will be networked, do i only need to buy maps for one unit? or both? or can i simply copy the map from one sd to a blank sd? (imagine that its likely write protected)
4- looking at the sidescan transducer. is that it looks like it mounts to the bottom of the hull rather than on an arm flush with the hull like other transducers ive used. is that correct? i dont like the idea of having it on the bottom of the boat when i bump stuff in this skinny water on a regular basis.
reccomendations would be very appreciated.
5- how many and what type of transducers will i need for this two unit setup? i want both to have full standard and sidescan functionality. im not sure with the networking how that will work, can i run my bow unit off of a trolling motor mounted transducer still or will the system only run off one transducer when networked. to clarify, i dont want my bow unit showing me whats at the rear transducer is picking up! also, should i spend the money on a second sidescan transducer for the trolling motor or is the coverage of the rear one going to be ok.... so basically do i for a two unit system do i need
2 standard and 1 sidescan
or 2 standard and 2 sidescan transducers
im looking at getting a lowrance hds system with sidescan and need advice to help me make my purchases correctly..
i am primarily an inshore/freshwater guy, but will be venturing out offshore once i get more time on the boat (21 ft seapro bay boat) and i want a good system to fit my needs. most of what ive fished so far in my new area (coastal nc) is relatively shallow 30 ft is the deepest ive been in yet running the rivers and icw.
im not on a super tight budget, but money can always be used for other things, so i want to do this right, cost effectively.
obviously with this type of fishing AT THIS TIME, i rarely troll from the helm... when fishing i drive to my spot, scope the area and fish from bow running my trolling motor.... (i would do a bit more scoping out of my areas with the sidescan, but in really skinny water, usually 3-10 ft, and my simple garmin 238 (black white gps and fishfinder, with really low definition) i usually just get to an area that looks good, drop trolling motor and begin working my way around) note i dont have a bow fishfinder yet, just the 238 at the center console. so when fishing from the bow im limited in not knowing whats under me without running back to the helm which gets really annoying, especially in the tighter rivers and creeks with my big boat....
i want a good system for all around use, finding good stucture and bottom info from both the helm originally (also having gps there) then when i drop my trolling motor and start casting from the bow i still need to be able to know my depth and such....
1 -now what im concerned with is how big i want these units (hds 7,8 10 etc). i want a big one for the helm, but then i still want good size on the bow. ive searched around and seen people usually do an 8 or 10 on the helm and a 5 or 7 on the bow... my question is how well do yall think that will work? i will be standing 90 percent of the time, and dont want to be bending over every time i want to see whats getting shown on the graph... in addition i will likely be running the bow unit on solely fishfinding (be it standard or sidescan) as i wont need the gps active while im trolling around, and will likely only use the gps from the bow to mark locations. while on the helm i will likely be running a 50 50 split of gps and fishfinding. so that will give me full screen fishfinding on the smaller bow unit which will offset the smaller screen size....
i need to choose a good compromise between unit size, obviously with stucture scan screen size is very important... i dont want to go oversized on the bow making me have to purchase a smaller helm unit or vise versa.... i just need tips on which sizes to get for each application...
3- since these units will be networked, do i only need to buy maps for one unit? or both? or can i simply copy the map from one sd to a blank sd? (imagine that its likely write protected)
4- looking at the sidescan transducer. is that it looks like it mounts to the bottom of the hull rather than on an arm flush with the hull like other transducers ive used. is that correct? i dont like the idea of having it on the bottom of the boat when i bump stuff in this skinny water on a regular basis.
reccomendations would be very appreciated.
5- how many and what type of transducers will i need for this two unit setup? i want both to have full standard and sidescan functionality. im not sure with the networking how that will work, can i run my bow unit off of a trolling motor mounted transducer still or will the system only run off one transducer when networked. to clarify, i dont want my bow unit showing me whats at the rear transducer is picking up! also, should i spend the money on a second sidescan transducer for the trolling motor or is the coverage of the rear one going to be ok.... so basically do i for a two unit system do i need
2 standard and 1 sidescan
or 2 standard and 2 sidescan transducers
