Structure Scan - Sonar - 3D Type Sounders

Does anyone use or know much about the sounders currently on the market with "Side Structure Scan" providing a 3D image. are they any good, do they assist with identifying structure such as ledges, holes, bombies, etc, are they worth spending the extra dollars to purchase rather than just a normal sounder??????

Any opinions would be appreciated.

Just contemplating upgrading my JRC FF50 to one of the newer type sounders, looking at the Lowrance range that include "Structure Scanning".

 

Old Banga!

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OLD BANGA


Vinesh87's picture

Posts: 2751

Date Joined: 02/04/11

I had downscan on my last

Sun, 2014-12-14 09:58

I had downscan on my last boat not sidescan and that was very good in under 20m .

 

A kimberly trip earlier this year one boat had sidescan and it made finding the fish in the rockwalls too easy! Used mainly in under 10m of water. I think it would be great for finding shallow ledges.

 

I will be buying a Raymarine CP200 for my next boat for sure !

Paul H's picture

Posts: 2104

Date Joined: 18/01/07

Have a Low HDS with side

Sun, 2014-12-14 13:37

Have a Low HDS with side scan/down scan - find the side scan more useful than down scan, great (to around 30-35m) for finding sand holes when cloudy and ledges etc. when dropping pots or bottom fishing etc. Certainly gives you more info than 2d sonar

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t bone's picture

Posts: 351

Date Joined: 20/04/14

HDS10 gen2

Sat, 2014-12-20 17:34

I ran a lowrance HDS10, gen 2 with structurescan in the quintrex before i offloaded her. Was great in the shallow stuff, but once you get a bit deeper, and the swell starts moving you a bit more, i ended up changing back to the 2D most of the time. In saying that, the new boat is having structurescan just for those times y a throwing the pots out and playing in the shallows...

Posts: 5815

Date Joined: 18/01/12

whens the new boat coming?

Sat, 2014-12-20 21:02

whens the new boat coming?

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 Give a man a mask, and he'll show you his true face...

 

 

The older you get the more you realize that no one has a f++king clue what they're doing.

Everyone's just winging it.

 

t bone's picture

Posts: 351

Date Joined: 20/04/14

the jitters have started...

Sun, 2014-12-21 06:07

Rob, final delivery is locked in for mid Jan, which is when i get home for my month off..  Just a mad rush to get the new shed built to put her in now :)

Posts: 6454

Date Joined: 08/08/11

 I have a simrad but without

Sat, 2014-12-20 20:03

 I have a simrad but without the structure scan yet.  It is on my to buy list.  If you mount the transducer next to each other, it gives you a choice of both side and down scan.

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Fish! HARD!

t bone's picture

Posts: 351

Date Joined: 20/04/14

Depending which simrad unit

Sun, 2014-12-21 06:13

Depending which simrad unit you have, ya can plug the LSS-2 transducer strait into the head unit from my understanding. Makes things a bit cheaper than having to buy a box.  Ill be runnig a big simrad for my main fishfinder for the first time.. im preying that i made the right choices.

Posts: 6454

Date Joined: 08/08/11

 I have the nss7 and need the

Sun, 2014-12-21 09:03

 I have the nss7 and need the hub.  I think the 8 and 12 you can plug straight in.  depending on how big / blinged your boat is, with the simrad you can run radar, video, even your instruments and additional screens though the unit.  good choice!

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Fish! HARD!

t bone's picture

Posts: 351

Date Joined: 20/04/14

For the price that ya spend

Sun, 2014-12-21 11:39

For the price that ya spend on a sonarhub or BSM unit, you would just about come out even buying a NSS8 to run it and then use the 7 as an extra :)

 

I had a radar on the oridinal planns, but chose to drop that in favor of running CHIRP fish finders. I can handle getting wet if im catching something

glastronomic's picture

Posts: 892

Date Joined: 16/02/11

Randall df223 That is what I

Sun, 2014-12-21 10:17

Randall df223
That is what I did.
Running my Auto pilot and video through the Hub that links it all together
For the video (Underwater camera) I use an extra TV/Video screen.
NSE 12 with a slave NSS8 running the Lowrange sidescan.
Very happy with the setup 12+ mnds
Make sure you get the correct (long) bracket for the unit!

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t bone's picture

Posts: 351

Date Joined: 20/04/14

nice setup

Sun, 2014-12-21 11:42

Ive heard a little bit about hooking camera's up. Do you just use a "GO PRO" or something along those lines??

 

with your NSS8 running the structurescan, with both units networked together, can you pull up the structurescan pictures on the NSE12 also?

glastronomic's picture

Posts: 892

Date Joined: 16/02/11

The NSS8 is set up as a slave

Sun, 2014-12-21 22:06

The NSS8 is set up as a slave unit and can display every mode/screen single/multiple screens separate. Info for the screen comes from the NSE driven Hub which it is linked into.
Camera has to be a dedicated cable signal version to get live video streaming.
Simrad has a very informative website that explains all the options with the different equipment and how they can interact.

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glastronomic's picture

Posts: 892

Date Joined: 16/02/11

as you can see the structure

Fri, 2014-12-26 10:24


as you can see the structure scan indicates where you are looking on the map, very handy with the split screens you can choose with the push of a button

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marble's picture

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Date Joined: 03/09/09

Maybe ok in shallow water but

Sat, 2014-12-27 18:55

Maybe ok in shallow water but not much use for average 30 metre plus depths most guys bottom fish in.

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PMY 25 Centre Console DF300 Suzuki

Posts: 1535

Date Joined: 30/12/08

Yep after researching for about 2 months

Sat, 2014-12-27 19:44

and very nearly buying a structure scan  I came to the conclusion that if you want to fish deeper than 50m [ because structure scan just bullshits you beyond this depth...has no power to go deeper.]

Have bit the bullet and joined all the top fishermen and pros and gone for a Furuno. Being a 587 with only 1kw ducer but should get me down to 200 to 300m with out to much trouble.

PS. Love the bottom lock

glastronomic's picture

Posts: 892

Date Joined: 16/02/11

Yes agreed it only works till

Sat, 2014-12-27 21:43

Yes agreed it only works till about 30 mtrs. max.
But if you practice with it you will recognise what the sounders is showing you.
The structure scan shows the trench of the sewer pipe outlet in 3D, (sadly I was a bit slow clicking the picture with my phone), but in the corner of the sounder is the same trench in 2D.
You can switch the structure scan into down scan and super impose that on your fish finder plus have a half screen with clearer image next to your sounder.
from all this you can see the extra detail/information.
Same with the difference in fish and weed, it becomes clear what is what.
You can clearly see the weed covering on the bottom and see this in brown/dark red on the sounder.
It is not for every one but it is avalable

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