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I am in the market to upgrade my fish finder. I have around $1500 ish to spend.
I'm a techno retard so want something user friendly, accurate and easy to read and understand.
For all you regular fishos out there what would you reccomend?
Another dumb question can you get them wireless?
Do you have to buy mapping seperately or do they come pre installed?
Is side scan worth it?
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maybe checkout NZ fishing website,countless threads on this exact topic.
theres bound to be a fresh one going atm or just put out
Spend the max on a sounder I prefer furuno even some of the older 620/585 models are great with lots of transducers around . I find the more buttons the easier to use rather than the newer menu based models as you are always looking for the right function in the menu .As for gps go garmin all the way and better if it has a zoom in zoom out button just like your handheld , you get pissed of changing between sounder /gps on a single much better to have 2 units you can even get the latest charts for $20 on your stupid phone gps . Remember a sounder will show whats down there so get the best . I run a furuno combo unit in gps only with charts and a separate furuno colour sounder , if the sounder only unit shits itself I can plug its transducer into the combo unit and carry on with split screen if need be .
Had a quick look. Not much there to be fair. Mostly people having issues with what they have boughtQuote:
Originally Posted by widerange
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It all depends on exactly what use you want it forQuote:
Originally Posted by R93
Um budget is about right if mainly fishing shallow, if fishing deep (over 150-200m then you have almost got enough in your budget for the Transducer only)
Most are somewhat easy to drive but to get the best out of them you need to use the "manual settings"
The more expensive units can and do support Phone app's / wifi....................but I have to ask why bother is a smaller boat (less than 10m )??
Mapping is usually show separately but included (ask) Garmin for example show charts at a Value but you cannot actually buy one with out charts
Marine Charting on SD cards usually ranges in price from 300-500 dollars (yes I know you can buy charting for your phone from the same companies for peanuts but that's the way it works)
Sidescan works but only in shallow water as it was really designed for use by freshwater fisherman in the states (effective range in saltwater is much reduced compared to Freshwater)
Working out how to read it also will mess with your head for a start.
They are also a lot easier to understand if you hinge the transducer out from the hull. New to me and I was starting to think my old one was better than my new one!!
I have the Simrad GO7
Need accuracy for fog so chart is more important than Sonar depth to me.
Nice compact unit
Only negatives are very bright in dark (yes in Dark mode) but I imagine all same there and cover is a bitch to get off so I just leave it resting over it
https://www.actionoutdoors.kiwi/epag...oductViaPortal
Attachment 132704
Have you tried turning brightness down not just using dark mode?
Momentary push of power button then select brightness from memory its been a while and now simrad is competitors product but these are full dimming displays i believe.
I keep meaning to take the manual down to leave on boat - its not really an issue to me - I just pop the cover over it whilst driving if needed.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikee
Will give it a go @mikee
Keep letting me know when over - will catch up "one day"
Simrad EVO3.
Put the manual on your phone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarvo
Id go for a garmin, i personally stay away from touch screens also.
And if ya going to use it in a split screen mode don't get the 7 inch model. Unless you have the eyes of an eagle. I'm gonna upgrade the head unit to 12 inches. I have a garmin
I've used recent model Garmin, Humminbird and Simrad fishfinders and they're all good. Nothing to add to what's written above apart from the side scan thing. Unless you're seriously in to lure fishing in shallow water, I'd skip it.
What do you mean out from the Hull? My current one is on a bit of an arm and is about a third as far as the prop.Quote:
Originally Posted by Maca49
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Was out with Tony Orman (charter) and he had a garmin, the thing was huge., 36 in?. Bloody awesome. Mine 9in, and split is fine.Quote:
Originally Posted by rugerman
Next boat though, I'm getting bigger. Even on a trailer boat, makes it so much easier to see/operate.
Also, the simrad has a free app called 'link'. It let's you control it from your phone or tablet. The big win for this, is you can have a cheap tablet on top of your bait board, so when fishing off the back you can see what's happening..
I imagine you will be fishing Jackson’s Bay/Hokitika Trench so quite deep water.
If you want to target Puka and Blue Nose you will need a 1kw transducer, that means you will need a 1kw capable unit to run it.
Dedicated sounder and value for money would be the Furuno 585 + TM260. Still $3000 off the shelf, but they come up on trade me and often prizes in game fishing tournaments so a few new ones get listed.
I still use my iPad with Navionics, same as any sounder but a 10.5’ screen and don’t need cell reception.
I quite like the look of some of the Garmin units.
Bay Marine electronics have a few good vids
I have a garmin echomap 95sv plus. Side scan isn't worth it in my opinion. The chart and fish finder combo is great though. Easy to use. Only fairly shallow depth range with the factory gt52 transducer.
Furuno or Simrad with a 1kw Chirp transducer seems to be where its at for deep water or game fish.
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I have no experience with side scan but I think it would be great for finding rocks/turf to dive?
I really thought furunos fish size thing would be a gimmick but if you see some bait and it marks some fish hunting it at 98cm or 105cm and you hook up it is that size within a couple cm....unbelievable but it just works.
Bottom discrimination is also great and is how I hunt my fish......yes you can learn to read any sounder for bottom type but how many years will that take you.:D
Something like my setup would really suit you in close 100m or less but you have all that deep water so close it would be a shame to handicap yourself.
Big transducer.
Deep water (over 500m ) would be a FCV295 or FCV1150 with 38 Khz transducer. Budget about $10kQuote:
Originally Posted by Wildman
Most commonly used sounder on Small commercial vessels.
FCV588 + 1KW transducer would do as stand alone fish finder (about $3699 is new at a guess)
New TZT with built in 1KW sounder and TM260 would also do
Stingray has one of these
Attachment 132839
But I have not herd if he likes it yet?? and Cam has the Earlier non touch screen model.
Touchscreen is a pain in small boats underway................Personally I would buy a standalone sounder like a FCV588 and a DB7 to use as a plotter if I had the budget.
I have a Navnet VX2, Radar Plotter Sounder and TM258 in my boat which has not moved in over 12 months now
Unless you are fishing deep more than 80% of your time then a P66 600w transducer is best value and best performance for general fishing
I seem many people buy the 1KW ones (We dont mind) then only fish shallow (less than 100m) except for once or twice a year.
They are handicapping themselves in the shallow water with the 1KW units
a 1KW transducer has a very narrow beam angle so while good in the deep for finding holes and stuff in shallow water you are only looking at a very small area in shallow (in 20m water you are mybe looking at 1m bottom area so you can miss the school of fish by 1m!!
They will interfere (we are talking recreational type Plotter Sounder or standalone sounders) Generally they have duel frequency transducers in a single housing (usually 50 and 200Khz) and both fire similtainiously so if you have 2 units driving transducers transmiting at the same time you will get interference. For example if you had 2 Furuno DB7's, one connected to 1 50/200 600w trandsucer and the pother connected to 50/200 1Kw one, you could alway stop the Tx on the one you are not using rather than unplugging it or turning it off.Quote:
Originally Posted by 7mmwsm
Commercial Sounders (and Sonars) have the ability to be "keyed" to a master Sounder so they all "fire" at exactly the same time and its not uncommon to have 3 or more all keyed together on the larger vessels.
Sub surface Turbulent water usually rather than thermocline in that areaQuote:
Originally Posted by hamsav
I own a garmin and I am by no means technology clued up but I find it easy to use
He likes it.Quote:
Originally Posted by mikee
Best feature of it compared to mine is the ability to drive over something be it some structure or a school of fish and touch the feature on the sounder even a minute or two ago and put a gps mark right on it, mine I gotta loop back up my trail and find it again and mark it.
I finna garmin gps7412, gps7410, gsd26, tm265lh, gm18rhd, fusion bb300, garmin heading sensor, gps19x gps puck and a gt56 transducer.... about 18k worth. Its fucking amazing.
I have 2 on my boat, ones is just a fish finde where as the other is GPS linked. Was a clown when I installed it. Should of asked for some advise from Mikee before drilling more fucking holes. The issue is I cant run both at the same time as they default one another. I kid myself when asked saying oh that ones more accurate as my shallow unit where as the other is my tracking system. All bullshit but it does kinda look cool, even if it is a retard concept. So R93 be aware if looking one guns enough, but I guess you would be more on to it than me. Not my skill set.
What you say it true BUT if either fails you can still go fishing where as with an all in one fails you are left with not being able to find the fish on the one hand and not knowing where you are or where your marks are either.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gapped axe
Mind you my boat has not moved in over 12 months so I know exactly where it/I am :D
Not mine either mate[emoji1787] I will get anything I decide on professionally installed. Probably be a year before I do anything and something new and flashy will be out by then. Those ones you can track fish in real time might be the go in some spots I will use it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gapped axe
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I kayak fish a lot and I use a Garmin 7sv https://buy.garmin.com/en-NZ/NZ/p/592111 - I used to use Humminbird.
It's not a chart plotter, but it has GPS, draws it's own contour maps and traditional sonar and side scan and down scan.
I don't need a chart plotter because I can usually see the rocks and islands etc before I hit them.
The side scan is really good, if there's a tire on the floor, you can see it's a tire, can't quite read the 'GoodYear' but it can be very clear.
The quick draw mapping is really good too, I can get so much more detail in 1' increments, much better that current charts and chart plotter, and this can be all shared online so I can take advantage of scans that other folk have been and done.
Recommended.
also - https://www.fishfinders.info
