changing transducers and fishfinders.

[rolmops]

I mostly fish Lake Ontario In depths of 40 to 200 feet down and sometimes but rarely at 450 feet down
I currently use a Furuno 587 with a TM260 transducer and a Garmin UHD 64CV with a GT24UHD-TM Transducer. I am not really happy with this setup.
There just seem to be too many monitors on the dashboard and the Furuno does not "talk" to the Garmin which has the GPS. While the Garmin has too small a screen.
So I want to clean up the dash and have only one Fishfinder/GPS Monitor with a 1KW transducer with chirp capability, while not interfering with the Sea Hawk down temp and speed gauge which uses 70kh. I am thinking a 10 or 12 inch touch screen monitor ,probably but not definitely a Garmin because the auto pilot and the GPS are also Garmin but I get mixed up with all the different products on the market. I want my transducer to be high end, but I don't need a hookup to radar (I have no radar) or other super fancy equipment. I have a budget of give or take $2000.
What would you good people suggest?

 

[dingbat]

I mostly fish Lake Ontario In depths of 40 to 200 feet down and sometimes but rarely at 450 feet down
I currently use a Furuno 587 with a TM260 transducer and a Garmin UHD 64CV with a GT24UHD-TM Transducer. I am not really happy with this setup.
There just seem to be too many monitors on the dashboard and the Furuno does not "talk" to the Garmin which has the GPS. While the Garmin has too small a screen.

How are you using the units?

Ran a 587 with a B164 for a number of years.
98% of the fish I target are in the top 30' of the water column. Really only needed the extra power a couple of times (1000') targeting Tile fish.

Decided to switched to a Garmin EchoMap CHIRP 94SV paired up with a GT51M-TM transducer when CHIRP.

The 600W CHIRP reads just as well, if not better, than the B164. The deepest I've fished since the swap was 800' ft. Did well enough, but was pushing the limits of the unit.

Run 150' planer board lines in the Spring and fall. Side scan lets me see fishing I wouldn't normally pickup with conventional sonar.

 

[rolmops]

How are you using the units?

Ran a 587 with a B164 for a number of years.
98% of the fish I target are in the top 30' of the water column. Really only needed the extra power a couple of times (1000') targeting Tile fish.

Decided to switched to a Garmin EchoMap CHIRP 94SV paired up with a GT51M-TM transducer when CHIRP.

The 600W CHIRP reads just as well, if not better, than the B164. The deepest I've fished since the swap was 800' ft. Did well enough, but was pushing the limits of the unit.

Run 150' planer board lines in the Spring and fall. Side scan lets me see fishing I wouldn't normally pickup with conventional sonar.

I mainly troll for salmon which are usually just below the thermocline or they rest on the bottom
The 587 does a very good job in the depths that I fish, but because of the 19 degree cone of the Airmar 260 I miss a lot of fish that are of to the side. On a quiet day , that is no problem because I will have the boards out pulling leadcore at 40 feet down and weighted steel at whatever depth I need it, When it gets choppy I have to pull the boards, but I can still use the dipsy divers running 80 to 100 feet behind the boat at roughly 85 foot down and off to the side. That is where I need a much wider cone . So I can see the fish off to the side and aim more towards them. Hence the echomap
My problem is also that I cannot mark the spots on the Furuno I have to do that on the echomap. If the furuno could communicate with the garmin I would be able to mark the spots on the 587 and transfer them to the garmin chart plotter. All in all things become messy on the dash board with too many gadgets and not enough communication. I want to be able todo everything on the same gadget, preferably 12inch wide and touch screen. I do like to see my depth chart with marks right next to the fishfinder.

 

[dingbat]

The 587 does a very good job in the depths that I fish, but because of the 19 degree cone of the Airmar 260 I miss a lot of fish that are of to the side.

A little different than my situation. I'm chasing migratory fish (Stripers and Tuna) traveling as individuals or in small groups

Trolling #65 and #80 braid with lead heads (parachutes) and or in-lines for depth control. Typically fish no deeper than 25'. Most caught in the top 5'-10' water, thus the use of planer boards to get the baits out and way from the boat

For the most part it's a "blind troll" fishery. You put as many bait behind the boat as possible and cover a lot of ground in hopes stumbling upon couple. As such, my primary usage of sonar is to find fish.

The GT51 with mid-CHIRP has a 24 degree cone angle with a usable depth to 900'. Side Scan allows me to see a couple hundred feet off each side of the boat using 260 kHz

All in all things become messy on the dash board with too many gadgets and not enough communication. I want to be able todo everything on the same gadget, preferably 12inch wide and touch screen. I do like to see my depth chart with marks right next to the fishfinder.

Not a fan of combo units or touch screens for that matter. Hard enough pushing a button on a rocking boat. Add in my "big fingers" and a TS becomes almost unusable.

Currently running a GPSMAP 1042xsv for chart plotting networked with the EchoMap for finder duties. With this setup I have redundancy in GPS services. Santa is bring me an adapter to connect the B164 to the GPSMAP so I have sonar redundancy as well.

 

[eggs712]

I have a couple Echomap Ultra 106SV units. Bass Pro/Cabelas has them at $1000 with the GT-54 transducer. I like the touch screen plus buttons for when it's choppy. The GT54 reads bottom well at speed for me until about 250 feet deep, and the Sidevu is okay until about 100 feet deep at 460kz.