Sounders $900-$1300

 Hi all Imm a newbie

Have just bought a chivers thunderbird with 3l mercruiser

I need a sounder for it, whats a good one?

 

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Vinesh87's picture

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Raymarine Dragonfly ?

Sat, 2013-08-31 19:49

Raymarine Dragonfly ?

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when my

Sat, 2013-08-31 20:32

when my hummingbird cacks it self I will be getting a dragonfly

Zedge's picture

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Dragon fly

Sat, 2013-08-31 20:26

 So why are they so good?

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If your going into deeper

Sat, 2013-08-31 20:27

If your going into deeper water than 50m, I would recommend a Furuno FCV587. Old skool, does not do all the fancy stuff the newer sounders do, but its a proper sounder that finds fish in deep water. Has a large screen in portrait  that is very handy in deeper water. The trend to landscape and even worse wide screen GPS's and sounders does my head in!

 

If your smart, you can get it within your budget. Dont forget the transducer. Its more important than the sounder and you really should be spending more on the tranny than the head sounder unit.

 

If 50m and less, Dragonfly and many others will be fine, .and may well have some advantages 

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Vinesh87's picture

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 Yeh like john said depends

Sat, 2013-08-31 20:30

 Yeh like john said depends what you want to do. Dragonfly is brilliant in under 50m I have a diff sounder to go deeper. 

 

 

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Johnf

Sat, 2013-08-31 20:32

 Thanks was looking at furuno but the smaller one fcv 627

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Vinesh87

Sat, 2013-08-31 20:35

 Thanks will look at them.

Are they duel band

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Always Over The Edge

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chivers thunderbird

Sat, 2013-08-31 20:37

good solid boat you have there

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Petermac

Sat, 2013-08-31 20:55

 The unsinkable brick

Will go through almost anything

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Deja Vu ;) Loving it so far!

Sat, 2013-08-31 23:03

Deja Vu ;)

 

Loving it so far!

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Chivers

Sat, 2013-08-31 23:17

 Was some of your posts with others that i bought it.

Cheers

Zedge

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Chivers

Sun, 2013-09-01 16:24

 Hi Tradewinds

what speeds do you get and what is the handling like

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It's the Outboard model and

Sun, 2013-09-01 18:31

It's the Outboard model and has the original Johnson 115hp

Throttle is restricted so it wont go WOT but I cruise at 25mph easily and I can push it to 30mph. Very thirsty outboard and average about 1litre to a kilometre. I heard when they used them as ski boats at WOT it'd get near 2.5 litres per kilometre

Handling is pretty easy but I need some more time on the water to really say

 

I've started putting money aside from the jobs I do on the side (IT Work) for a replacement outboard fund.

Wanted to go with a new suzuki DF but after careful consideration i'll spend half of that and get a 2007ish etec when one comes up down the track

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A old etec ? Hope you get a

Sun, 2013-09-01 18:34

A old etec ? Hope you get a good one!!

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So Do I! =) Really need

Sun, 2013-09-01 20:14

So Do I! =)

 

Really need better fuel efficieny to get out wider easier

I've got an 8hp aux I was thinking of using as a trolling motor come summer

Will be interested to see what speed and how much fuel it guzzles at 8knots

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Thunderbird

Sun, 2013-09-01 20:19

 Pick mine up on Wednesday

I hope its all ive heard about.

But would be happy with half of that, sea trial was on the river.

 

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Always Over The Edge

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I've got the Lowrance

Sat, 2013-08-31 23:37

I've got the Lowrance LMS-527c with the 50/200 transducer, but i'm not sure if it's the position the transducer is mounted on the stern, but I dont get any image unless i'm less than 6mph

Also the Fish ID is picking up a lot of signals where there are no fish (visually looking)

 

I've been through the manual a few times but it could be either the Transducer is crappy or the unit isn't too good

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Tradewind - I'd put money on

Tue, 2013-09-03 12:39

Tradewind - I'd put money on that being a tranny position problem.  The link below may be of use.

 

http://fishwrecked.com/forum/correct-sounder-settings-and-problems

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Furunio

Sun, 2013-09-01 05:29

Like JohnF said get a 587, I went through this and bought a Lowrance and regret it, mate's got a 585 and it shit's over my Lowrance. We both have 600w transducer's, IMHO the lowrance are just toy's where the furuno are proper sounder's

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Furuno

Sun, 2013-09-01 07:27

bcf online $500

it's the smaller 620 model and another ~$150 for a p66 trans but cheap as chips 

 

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Furuno 620

Tue, 2013-09-03 13:08

I have one on order mate the price was to good and it is a huge upgrade from my old LS4100