Minn Kota Universal Sonar 2

[lakeorbay]

I'm in the market for a new bow mount for my 17' Lund Tyee. I'm leaning towards the Minn Kota Riptide 80lb w/ 60" shaft. I mainly fish fresh waters, but I do see myself hitting some salt from time to time since I'm surrounded by it. I was planning on upgrading to the I-Pilot, but I've heard there is potential for the transducer cable getting twisted and snapped if you're not careful. For that reason I was considering getting the equivalent Terrova instead because of the Universal Sonar 2 (not available on the Riptides).

So my questions are:

-How's the sonar performance of the transducer on the Terrova?

-Is the beam the same as Fish Finder's transducer? In my case, I'm looking at getting a Lowrance HDS. I've found that the US2's beam is 20/80 degrees. I haven't found out the Lowrance beam yet.

-Bottom line, is the US2 transducer at the same level (quality wise) of top line fish finders?

-How will the Terrova put up in salt?

-Are the Riptides just a gimmicky white color, with no true added protection from salt?

 

[lakeorbay]

Re: Minn Kota Universal Sonar 2

I did a little more research and found that:

-Ridetides DO have increased measures for protection. Rust resistant alloys and coatings, fully encapsulated electronics and replaceable anode. Sounds to me like that should be standard on all high end TM's.

-Beam from a lowrance transducer is 60-120 degrees vs 20-80 from the TM 'ducer.

Unless I hear some other reasons than convenience of NOT having an exposed cable, I'm going with the Riptide with external 'ducer.

Feel free to talk me out of it.