Mate the best way to learn and understand your sounder is start in the shallow water 4-5mts , where you can see what the bottom type is . This is the way i have learnt how to use my Navman 5507. I dive so i spent time drifting over the ground that i new was coral,reef,weed and got familiar with what it looked like on my sounder .I used to spend hrs by myself drifting around the ocean with sounder manual in hand playing with the bottom zoom on ,looking at the bottom only.This wont take you long to work out what settings work best for you.

Spend the time on the water is the secret.

Hope this helps

I've a Northstar so it should be the same.

This is out of my manual,

Soft bottoms such as mud, weed and sand show as narrow bands,

Hard Bottoms such as rock and coral show as wide bands.

The cone width of the sounder if you have the 50 khz / 200 khz option is dependent on the setting, that's to say the amount of bottom it's looking at and displaying on the screen.

The 50 khz setting means you will "see" alot more of the bottom  where as 200 khz is a narrow beam that gives more detail of a smaller section of the water below the boat. ie if I'm in 50 ft of water the 50khz setting shows (4) times the amount of bottom as the 200khz setting.

I'm still learning with mine and it's just time on the water and read the manual or get a manual to read every time you come back in to help you learn what you have just seen out on the water.

ids for far greater depths if ur fishing 50m, then use the 200khz, thats the wider beam,

the 50 is the narrow(vertical beam)

M84 manual

ok but the 50mhz is deff for deep water,200 shallower waters, when i say deep i think 130+m, i thought the 200 was wider

Harro, it may be as you say, I never know if I can trust these manuals anymore as most are printed in China and there are often typos with the info.

Can anyone else throw some light on the beam width. (no pun intended)

cheers

Pretty sure there is a book Rick Huckstepp wrote about 'understanding your sounder'. Should be at some tackle stores/Kmart. I've got a copy somewhere if you wish to borrow.

you can buy the books as mentioned, its a good investment, i had the Navman unit on my previous boat, 200 hz is good up 120 mts and then 50 hz there after , i have recorded good pictures up th 190 mts on the 200hz whilst trolling.  as the other have said you have to get out into reasonable depth 25 to 40 mts and loose a day just playing with the settings, best thing is to go trolling and let the wife drive and you kepp chamging the settings, dont hold back on the sensitivity, you may get a clear picture but it wont show the fish, my navman was brilliant up at Gnaraloo showing the grass banks and hollows where the reds where holed up in 65mts, try the unit on simulator as well when at home, set up the colours that red is for hard bottom, with 70 to 80 sens, it should show a thick red coral type bottom when over hard ground on this will change to a thin line when over sand, i have two books and a dvd you can borrow if you want, NOR just pm

best thing to do is ask around till you find someone really good on your type of sounder and take them out for a free fish...

you'll learn tons that way....

also google Youtube for instruction videos on your sounder, you need to try a few different combinations of words and phrases to find the best ones. Remember Navman was called a North Star in the USA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcJE0fEsicI

i think there is a market for a sounder doctor i would pay good money for

someone to come out and tune my sounder adjust the transducer and give me some lessons on whats what

i have a hds 10 and its ok but i know it should be better

i would be interested in a get together one night with all those interested to discuss sounder issues and how guys set their sounder up

I have a Furuno sounder and I know I should get more out of it.

So I think that is a great idea

what would you pay for a half day course on ow to get the ebst out of your Furuno sounder??

could put no more than 5 on a boat plus techy expert making it six. But say for $400 for the group, I'd be in for $80 of my share...

if enough hands go up and book, we can look at organising something.

cheers

Try running bottom lock at 2m, if it flat lines with no echos comming of the bottom its sand, look over the side where you can see the bottom, then drive over weed/sand edges or lumps and look at your sounder, if you run to much gain you loose bottom definition and see bait fish everywhere, I run very little gain on 200 and look for bottom descrimination, if you find good bottom youve found fish. Its great to see fish on the sounder all the time but a waste of time if you keep dropping big baits on yakkas in the sand.

Try running bottom lock at 2m, if it flat lines with no echos comming of the bottom its sand, look over the side where you can see the bottom, then drive over weed/sand edges or lumps and look at your sounder, if you run to much gain you loose bottom definition and see bait fish everywhere, I run very little gain on 200 and look for bottom descrimination, if you find good bottom youve found fish. Its great to see fish on the sounder all the time but a waste of time if you keep dropping big baits on yakkas in the sand.

Blue water tackle in Melville  had a guy that did this.  Just called them the guys name is John Adams 0405-209-101. I haven't called for pricing or anything just wondering how many would be Keen? 

Ben

 If it cost $100, would be money well spent to understand them properly.

i dont think a group session would suit most except for the basic runnings of certain units

i think each sonder has to be set up for the boat its fitted to  not one set up would be the same im thinking

i would pay $50 a hour for some one to come out and tune my  sounder but they would have to know what there doing i would be expecting results

 me too, or the other way, but someone ON MY BOAT would be heaps more beneficial.