New Sounder Input Wanted
Submitted by CalSmith on Thu, 2016-07-14 15:45
Hey Fishos
I have decided that I am over split screens and want to now run two seperate screens! Currently running a Lowrance HDS 7 and will be turning that into my GPS and I am now looking for the best 5-7 inch sounder on the market in the $500-$1000 range. It will be used purely as a sounding unit but i would like to hear everyone's opinions on what they believe is the best on the market currently. I am not biased to any brand and am very open to any suggestions aka lowrance, garmin, simrad, furuno etc and also what transducers to match with.
Cheers in advanced!
pricey10
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 07/01/12
Furuno 628
Furuno 628
Karratha. WA
BarraSlayer
Posts: 287
Date Joined: 14/04/14
Furuno 628
Furuno 628 might be a goer if you can scrounge a little mor $. I got the 588 recently to use next to my hds and it is like chalk and cheese.
Cheers
BarraSlayer
CalSmith
Posts: 9
Date Joined: 22/08/14
Furuno 628
Price doesnt worry me just wanting a clear idea before I go shopping;) I have heard the 628 is the ducks nutz!
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8050
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Another vote for Furuno. I've
Another vote for Furuno. I've upgrade my GPS to the HDS7 too so we'll have the same setup
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
quest
Posts: 248
Date Joined: 03/08/15
Furuno
Any Furuno, 620,627,628.
stevebw23
Posts: 155
Date Joined: 12/11/11
I had a black and white
I had a black and white furuno in my last boat and it was super easy to use (i'm currently using a sounder/gps combo lowrance 5 inch which i find difficult). I'll be looking for a new furuno soon to use for sounding and keeping the lowrance because the gps works well. The thing i dont like about the lowrance as a sounder is having to scroll through all the menus just to adjust the gain/depth etc, by the looks of the furuno there's nobs on the front you just turn to adjust
Symes Plumbing & Gas. No job too small, servicing all northern suburbs
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
furuno jerk fest hahaahah
furuno jerk fest hahaahah
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8050
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Did you bring the Sao
Did you bring the Sao biscuits?
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
nah sorry, i heard they had
nah sorry, i heard they had been all sold out by furuno love. very easy to pass the biscuit
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8050
Date Joined: 07/05/12
You know Arnotts make Sao
You know Arnotts make Sao right?
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
I'm not going down this path,
I'm not going down this path, you can keep your soggy sao's
Marineboy
Posts: 840
Date Joined: 14/03/14
Furuno
there are 2 types of people in this world, those who own furuno's and those who can only dream of owning a furuno hahahahaha
My spots are so secret even the fish don't know about them !
triggy
Posts: 128
Date Joined: 14/09/11
Furuno 628 (620,627) + P66
Furuno 628 (620,627) + P66 transducer. You'll never look back!
out wide
Posts: 1535
Date Joined: 30/12/08
Any Furuno....Lowrance only
Any Furuno....Lowrance only good for GPS
Luke
Posts: 167
Date Joined: 02/11/09
Garmin.... Furunos still in
Garmin.... Furunos still in the dark ages!
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Pfft. Had to move somewhere
Pfft. Had to move somewhere there is no deep water so they could read bottom.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Luke
Posts: 167
Date Joined: 02/11/09
Over 1200 meters with a 1kw
Over 1200 meters with a 1kw tranny dodgy, never seen a furuno do that! The best my FCV-620 ever got with a 600w P66 was 250 meters. I do like there commercial stuff but they dont outferform the other big names when there all set up properly.
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8050
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Yes and my 90hp can do 33
Yes and my 90hp can do 33 knots and my 6hp can do 12 knots.... what's your exact point?
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Calm down Frosty. Just a bit
Calm down Frosty. Just a bit of banter between mates.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8050
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Phew, I was quietly hoping
Phew, I was quietly hoping that that wouldn't be anyone daft enough to actually compare a 1kw to a 600w
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
Luke
Posts: 167
Date Joined: 02/11/09
I'm not comparing 600w vs
I'm not comparing 600w vs 1kw Chirp side by side but I think if you saw Garmins latest units in action you would be very impressed with there performance and capability.
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
So much more to it than just
So much more to it than just a rating stamped on the box. Sensitivity, head units power into transducer, gain, transducer placement....
Just because your speakers have 5000w on them doesn't mean your stereo will be the loudest in the street.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8050
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Yes but at the end of the day
Yes but at the end of the day if setup correctly a 1kw unit with a 1kw ducer will outperform a 600w unit with a 600w ducer hands down. It's like comparing a fibreglass and an ally boat.
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
quest
Posts: 248
Date Joined: 03/08/15
hahaha I think you've just
hahaha
I think you've just opened a new can of worms.
Luke
Posts: 167
Date Joined: 02/11/09
Correct that goes without
Correct that goes without saying, however there is a big difference between brands performance in the 1kw range, especially when it comes to deepwater stuff! Don't get me started on how much better ali boats are haha.
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8050
Date Joined: 07/05/12
Haha
Haha
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
furuno who?
furuno who?
pricey10
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 07/01/12
Furuno finds fish. The rest
Furuno finds fish. The rest do everything else. I run the gimmicks and furuno side by side. The furuno puts food on my table
Karratha. WA
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
yeah i find plenty of fish
yeah i find plenty of fish in tough waters so i guess the lowrance are no good. hope the garmin units dont make you sleep less at night
hezzy
Posts: 1519
Date Joined: 27/11/09
furuno for me old
furuno for me
old school maybe but i have my gps from 1998, it still going strong & never had any issues with over the last 19 years,
bought a fcv 620 in 2007, combined it with a 2kw tranny , it pings deep , deeper than i can go actually and gives me a great read out at 25+ knots
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
DTrain
Posts: 486
Date Joined: 10/02/12
I thought the FCV 620 only
I thought the FCV 620 only puts out 600W so the 2kw tranny would be overkill on it?
hezzy
Posts: 1519
Date Joined: 27/11/09
dtrain have aread of this
dtrain
have aread of this and it will explain it much better that i can mate lol
http://www.furunousa.com/Learning%20Center%20Documents/FurunoTransducerGuide-LR.pdf
page 6
Standard vs. High Performance
When you purchased your fish finder you made an investment,
and to get the most out of that investment you will
need to match it with the right transducer. Once you've
selected your mounting method (In Hull, Through Hull or
Transom Mount), you will need to select the right transducer.
The best transducer for your needs will depend on
a number of variables but there are some constants that
should be considered and we'll go over those now.
Most standard transducers are designed for recreational
fish finders and generally have a single element that resonates
alternately at 50 and 200 kHz. Although these transducers
are effective and inexpensive, greater performance
can be had by matching your recreational fish finder with a
high-performance transducer. These transducers are rated
for a greater power output and contain an array of 50kHz elements
along with one or more large-diameter 200kHz elements.
An array of 50kHz elements allows for a very tight
beam pattern, meaning there will be more energy on-target
to produce return echoes. Also, the greater surface area
of this array makes the transducer more sensitive to return echoes,
enabling greater target resolution on the screen. The same is true of
having one large, dedicated 200kHz element - its tighter beamwidth
and greater sensitivity create a better performing transducer at all
power outputs.
For example, a typical recreational fish finder will output 600 watts of
energy and is designed to function with a matching triducer rated at
600 watts. Pairing this fish finder with a high-performance transducer
rated at 1,000 watts will drastically improve the performanceof your
fish finder.
Output wattage and performance
Higher output power equates to greater depth range, as well as stronger returns on your fish finder
screen. The actual depths you can reach with your fish finder will vary depending on a number of
factors including salinity, temperature and frequency as well as the quality of the transducer. The
following maximum depths are general guidelines:
100W = 400' Max Depth
200W = 500' Max Depth
300W = 600' Max Depth
600W = 800'- 1200' Max Depth
1KW = 1800' - 2500' Max Depth
2KW = 2500' - 4000' Max Depth
As we can see in the image at right, your fish finder can benefit from
being matched to a transducer rated for a higher output wattage,
but remember that the output wattage must always be less than
or equal to the wattage of the transducer. If the echosounder has
more output wattage than the transducer is capable of handling, the
transducer will be damaged.
When to use a matching box
Most recreational fish finders have a single connection for your
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
Sulo
Posts: 256
Date Joined: 13/08/11
Wow Furuno must be so good,
Wow Furuno must be so good, you do not need to even know what someone is going to do with the unit before you recommend it.
CalSmith, you do not mention what sort of water depths you will be operating in, for shallow water Lowrance do some great units with very impressive features, and if you are into your offshore deeper water gear consider maybe the Simrad, they both have good back up service and are very user friendly and also have a good range of transducers to chose from to suit any requirements you may have. The fact that you have a lowrance transducer on the back of your boat already would be a contributing factor for me as well.
hezzy
Posts: 1519
Date Joined: 27/11/09
calsmith wrote ''but i would
calsmith wrote
''but i would like to hear everyone's opinions on what they believe is the best on the market currently. I am not biased to any brand and am very open to any suggestions ''
hezzy
OFW 11
evil flourishes when good men do nothing
CalSmith
Posts: 9
Date Joined: 22/08/14
Average fishing depths
Average fishing depths between 15-70m but on accasions we go deeper but would not be any more than 150m. Real purpose of upgrading is to target dermesals in the bottom 10m with better definition, I have been doing real well over the years but I am honestly sick of squinting at split screens. I went today and checked out the latest in lowrance and simrad, does anyone know some where SOR that has furuno gear to have a look at?
Stevo81
Posts: 1278
Date Joined: 16/04/12
http://www.taylormarine.com.
http://www.taylormarine.com.au/
•••••••• Electrical Contractor NOR ••••••••
Bluedog
Posts: 251
Date Joined: 28/07/11
I have a HDS7 alongside a
I have a HDS7 alongside a Furuno 627 and the Furuno shows a better reading, nothing wrong with the Lowrance though, it shows a good reading but just not as good. The Furuno is connected to a P66 on the transom while the HDS is connected to a P79 in hull so probably not a fair comparison. On my old boat I had both units with transom mount trannies and the Furuno still won the battle, but the Lowrance was running the Lowrance tranny, so again maybe not the fairest comparison.
t bone
Posts: 351
Date Joined: 20/04/14
something different
I run a HDS gen2 unit as my main maps, ( was my old combo unit from old boat) and runn a simrad NSS evo 2 as my fish finder nowdays.
Few points for me were that these two machines network together very nicely. all my old spots on the lowrance show on the simrad, anything new on the simrad goes the other way.
the simrad has some nice colors and surprised me with screen brightness and operation for a touch screen. Those sort of depths, you could also get a little chirp transducer and get great definition at those depths.
You also have the benefit then if one of the units does crash whilst out fishing, you can return to the split screen on one unit to finish out the day
:)
Jackfrost80
Posts: 8050
Date Joined: 07/05/12
End of the day you are going
End of the day you are going to have fan boys of any brand, geez, I still see grown men walking around with Holden and Ford t-shirts on.
If you've already got a Lowrance you can still move the transducer to a secondary location and use it as an additional fish finder once you hit good ground so there's probably not much good in buying another Lowrance unit that will give you the same result/reading. My plan with my HDS7 is to install structure scan so that it gives me something completely different to what I can see on the Furuno especially around the 3 Mile, that way I am hoping to have the best of both worlds.
Officially off the Pies bandwagon
barracuda
Posts: 197
Date Joined: 01/09/13
furuno 628
is nice system bought it from NZ pretty cheap
Bryce Day
Posts: 812
Date Joined: 01/06/15
For the shallow stuff they
For the shallow stuff they are all much the same, best way is to get an oven door and glue that to the bottom of your boat, that way you can physically see what's down there. I use that for all my deep water stuff.
JohnF
Posts: 2836
Date Joined: 07/07/10
Sold my Furuno, gone Garmin.
Sold my Furuno, gone Garmin. Garmin sounders are not what they used to be........read into that what you will.
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.