Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

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teecro
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Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#1 Post by teecro » Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:31 am

On our last 2 boats we used single purpose in-dash depth sounders from Hawkeye and Hummingbird to which once you got the angle of the bird set they both gave good readings while underway at full speed.

On our newest boat we decided to try one of the low cost fish finders with built-in GPS from Garmin (Striker 4) due to it having the ability to provide speed and compass readings as well as water temp and DEPTH...

Thus far I'm quite disappointed in that while it indeed provides a lot info including system voltage and time it sucks at providing DEPTH readings much past 15 miles an hour...

I've tried just about every angle with the bird only to find no solid improvement in depth reading. A friend has the slightly better unit with the "cv" clear vu scanning sonar and his works NO better than mine.

Is this common issue made with "fish finders" when compared to standalone depth sounders?
T CRO
2017 Berkshire CTS 24 RFX with Yamaha F150/Simomized 200
2015 Caravelle 16 EBo with Mercury 90

Gearbanger
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#2 Post by Gearbanger » Sun Jun 18, 2017 4:47 am

I have the Lowrance Hook 4 and it seems to be "hit or miss" as well. I believe it's all in the transducer. Your transducer has to be as low as possible and constantly underwater. Any bubbles or cavitation around it will cause it to lose contact and not provide proper depth readings while underway. With that said, on pontoons you usually have it mounted behind one of the toons and there is always turbulence while running or you just can't get it deep enough not to cause interference which is my case.
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ron nh
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#3 Post by ron nh » Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:04 am

Mine too, I was told to make it work all the time it really has to be in danger of being to low. I know some have no issue, But just about everyone I know has the same problem. Sometimes mine works at 35 mph but not usually, It's a lower end model, around $500, I like it but I can't use Navionics so I want a new one. Nice boat by they way, I love the colors.
2015 Qwest LS 818XRE Tri-toon w/mercury 115.

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teecro
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#4 Post by teecro » Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:06 am

Thanks for the info...

I mounted the new bird in general no different than I mounted the previous other than it's on the Stbd toon which I understand is preferable, or at least it is preferable on V-hulls to be on the righthand side of the prop. I'll look closer as while I'm sure I could lower it a little bit more, I did line up the bottom of the mounting bracket with the bottom of the alum bracket welded to the toon.

Really a frustrating issue to have 4 stinking drilled holes in the helm of a 45K boat and not be happy with the results...

I foresee a SS cupholder in the Garmins current location...
T CRO
2017 Berkshire CTS 24 RFX with Yamaha F150/Simomized 200
2015 Caravelle 16 EBo with Mercury 90

Bilboinsa
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#5 Post by Bilboinsa » Sun Jun 18, 2017 9:31 pm

I have an original Humminbird 365i. It reads depth at speed, but sometimes the readings get a little bouncy due to the chop, I think.

urbnsr
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#6 Post by urbnsr » Mon Jun 19, 2017 3:29 am

[quote="Bilboinsa"]I have an original Humminbird 365i. It reads depth at speed, but sometimes the readings get a little bouncy due to the chop, I think.[/quote]

I find the same thing, too. I also have used a Lowrance Elite 7ti with transducer mounted on the port side. I never noticed this setup jump around. Seemed very stable at all speeds upto WOT.
Paul

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joe20toon
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#7 Post by joe20toon » Mon Jun 19, 2017 4:02 am

While I'm hoping it's just an adjustment of the transducer, "power rating" may play a part in losing the bottom at speed.

"Power:

An essential feature to consider before choosing the fish finder is its power. The power measure of these units is watts. Higher wattage gives better effectiveness, better speed of displaying readings and more usable depth. For shallower water you can use a unit with lesser wattage.

So if you plan on fishing in deep waters, for example in the Great lakes or salt water bodies, look for more powerful units. While for shallow waters 600 watts might be enough for you. For serious anglers a more recommended wattage would be a 1000 and up wattage."

It seems your unit is rated at a transmit power (200 W RMS).

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/528812

This model has more power at 500 watts:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/576388

Again, I hope it's just fine tuning the placement of the transducer...
2016 20 foot Sylvan RPT (V Pontoons)
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teecro
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#8 Post by teecro » Mon Jun 19, 2017 4:52 am

If I recall correctly the Hawkeye Depth Sounder that was on the previous pontoon was 250 watts transmit power and read clearly as long as it was clean and properly angled...
T CRO
2017 Berkshire CTS 24 RFX with Yamaha F150/Simomized 200
2015 Caravelle 16 EBo with Mercury 90

boocat
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#9 Post by boocat » Mon Jun 19, 2017 6:43 am

Not alot of experience with these things but have not noticed any issues with my Dragonfly.

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teecro
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#10 Post by teecro » Mon Jun 19, 2017 7:41 am

Is that the 120 dollar Dragonfly or the 750 dollar Dragonfly? lol
T CRO
2017 Berkshire CTS 24 RFX with Yamaha F150/Simomized 200
2015 Caravelle 16 EBo with Mercury 90

jadeboy
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#11 Post by jadeboy » Mon Jun 19, 2017 8:21 am

my Lorance I think it is a 5hdi works great at speed no issues what so ever never lost depth works better than in dash one on last boat

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Drago
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#12 Post by Drago » Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:48 pm

for me, it was all about where the transducer was mounted. A direct link to my transom with the Huminbird transducer is at http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r472 ... C_0019.jpg

It works at all speeds. The Garmin is mounted on a fixture on the port tube and is in a lot of turbulent water at speed so does not work well.

You can see both of my tranducers in this pix.
http://i355.photobucket.com/albums/r472 ... o_tran.jpg
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teecro
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#13 Post by teecro » Mon Jun 19, 2017 4:25 pm

Drago, the Hummingbird is that one just a depth sounder or is it a fishfinder too? I may yet have to try a center location like yours...
T CRO
2017 Berkshire CTS 24 RFX with Yamaha F150/Simomized 200
2015 Caravelle 16 EBo with Mercury 90

boocat
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#14 Post by boocat » Tue Jun 20, 2017 6:35 am

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0196 ... UTF8&psc=1

looks like it has gone up.. I paid $476 a few months ago.

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teecro
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Re: Depth Sounders and/or Fish Finders

#15 Post by teecro » Wed Jun 21, 2017 3:05 pm

Thanks everyone for your insite... This will have to wait till I'm off ship in 3 weeks. But I'm pretty sure that once I get the boat out of the water I will find that while the bird is mounted as low it can go on the bracket it is not going to be to the bottom or lower than the pontoon....
T CRO
2017 Berkshire CTS 24 RFX with Yamaha F150/Simomized 200
2015 Caravelle 16 EBo with Mercury 90

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