Do most here use a depth finder?

[GregF]

I got mine from the FGCU.EDU web site but they only had the local ones. These are the 1999 series.
I am not sure if you can find them on the USGS site.
You can get true color pictures from google and live earth but they are not as good for plotting depth.

[rbiederwolf]

Garmin 175S

It has GPS and sounder. Came with the boat, Still trying to figure it all out. But the depth is a necessity for exploring new areas in brackish.

[GregF]

An associated question, how shallow does the water have to be to alarm you?

[blackberg]

on mine, its a setting you set for the alarm
I have a 898csi with the side imaging



-bb

[ROLAND]

depthfinder? absolutely... low end garmin that came with the boat... black and white display, no gps, no alarm.... but the lake we use most often is a fairly shallow lake... I guess the deepest parts are around 20 feet, but the majority of the lake ( boat rows ) run between 8 and 9 feet..... and since we use our boat for fishing we find the depthfinder is a nice thing to have...

[jimbo753]

I have that depth finder on my pontoon, and I love it.
You can get get map chips for it that will show bottom contours of the body of water you are on. The name of the company is Navitronics.

[playcat]

I have an ancient Lowrance depth sounder and gps. Black and white display, and the maps are no more than outlines, but it does what I need it to do. The river changes a lot, like the Chesapeake Bay does - and my barge is too heavy to get out and push!!

[Bryden24shp]

Manny 1 didn't come with one, I bought a Faria in dash depth finder, with water and air temp. I think it was about $95.00 I use it all the time when in places that I'm not familiar with. When I had the Baja, on our honeymoon in Lake Pippin, we were cruisin about 70 in 80 foot plus water, when it alarmed just a few seconds after I just glanced at its depth finder. I missed a bouy and were in 9 feet of water. Talk about slammin back the throttles! All was fine, but since then, after realizing it probably saved our lives. Wasn't a good honeymoon moment!
I won't be without one. Nothin fancy, no picture display. Just works!

[GregF]

If you set the depth alarm to 8 feet you would have to look hard to find a spot where it wasn't going off in the Estero Bay.

[MH Hawker]

I keep mine at 4 feet, I also mostly run on shallow lakes.

[belercous]

We've got a HumminBird too. A necessasry piece of equipment on a river.

[PlaynDoc]

An associated question, how shallow does the water have to be to alarm you?

At 3' I start watching really close, because the propeller is about a foot below the transducer.... go real slow, trim the motor up....

On my local lake, I usually stay out of the areas I've known to be shallow... Less likely of striking an object, and less likely of sucking mud into my water impeller.

[rbiederwolf]

An associated question, how shallow does the water have to be to alarm you?

About 4 feet I begin to be really pay attention

[FAT BOTTOM GIRL]

I put a hummin bird in the dash. Just the $95 one that displays the feet. Still hit bottom on the susquehanna! Thinking of mounting it on the front some how. Up to 32 ft. reaction time if i'm not going to fast , just need to make sure it don't take the hit when i beach it!

[Ron Burgundy]

That's why I don't put much faith in them. By the time you get the depth read out it's too late.