Any recommendations for fishfinders for depth?

[snoopy_]

Hello,

I am looking for recommendations for a fishfinder to use for depth analysis and alerts. I see some that also proved gps and chart plotting services, but I am trying to stay around $150.00. I am interested in the in-hull/shoot-through-hull variety of transducer.

Thanks,

Snoopy

 

[Benny17441]

All transducers can shoot through hull, what they cannot do is shoot through air. The hull at the chosen location must be solid with no air bubbles or of core construction. The transducer must be submerged in water, oil, epoxy or a toilet wax seal. I once set one in epoxy, it served to hold it in place and shot fine through a hull and when it came time to remove it easily detached in one piece. It is best to test the location by filling with water before doing a permanent installation. I had a cheap fish finder that provided a bottom contour and it was neat. A minimum depth alarm would be a plus but what you really should look for is large display numbers.

 

[flynhi4u]

I agree with Benny, large numbers is a plus. I recently installed a Lowrance Elite 4 Chirp chartplotter fishfinder/sonar. The depth is shown with a large number and is easy to read. I wish I could make the speed info a little larger. West marine dropped the price and it is close to your price range now
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/lowra...e=&network=g&gclid=CP2TmLCE68wCFQKTaQodTXICrg

The transducer shoots through our hull just fine. The temp info is not accurate though as the temp sensor is on the top of the transducer and it is measuring the air inside the hull.
It has alarm options that you can set with a keel offset which is nice. I went to all the trouble to mount it in front of the keel thinking it was worth the trouble but in reality it wasn't. By the time the alarm goes off there will probably not be anyway to stop or miss whatever it is I am about to hit. I would not chop holes in your boat to put it in front of the keel unless it was the only place you had.
Overall I would recommend the unit. It will do much more than we needed yet at the same time won't do some things my old handheld GPS will. Wish it would tell me how far we sailed. It might, but I haven't figured out how yet if it does. It did link right up with our VHF and sends the latest long info to it.

Sam

 

[snoopy_]

flyinhi,

That the exact one I was looking at yesterday, it was only $149, now it's $179. Looking at it I was a little fearful as the transducer that comes with it looked quite large, so I wasn't sure I could get away with the shoot-thru configuration. I think I will go with it.

Thanks,

Snoopy

 

[flynhi4u]

It works just fine shooting through our hull. I actually bedded it in plumbers putty just to get it going and to make sure I had a good location. Again. It does a lot, but doesn't due a lot of the basic stuff I was used to with my handheld garmin.
Does it come with the Navionics card for that price? That is a pretty sweet deal if it does.

Sam

 

[snoopy_]

Flynhi,

I am not sure about the Navionics card, but I did see a youtube video where he loaded his own maps from the internet. I think they were from the Army Corps of Engineers:

Snoopy

 

[snoopy_]

Sam,

I was incorrect, these are two different fishfinders. The one I as looking at was Elite 4 HDI for $149, and you have the Elite 4 CHIRP, which is $179. I compared the two, yours has a backlit screen, vs tft display. And, the HDI has Nautic Insight Pro charts... not sure what that means, as yours is different. Also, the HDI Q&A says shoot-through-hull is not available, except with other transducer. This may be incorrect.

Any comments or recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/lowra...z-transducer-nautic-pro-cartography--17030388

http://www.westmarine.com/buy/lowra...e=&network=g&gclid=CP2TmLCE68wCFQKTaQodTXICrg

snoopy

 

[BILLNPR]

I use the Sonar Phone with my tablet and phone. Anyone else with you can look at it to with you. It has a lot of simple functions.

 

[flynhi4u]

Snoop,
Ours came with instructions on how to mount the included transducer to shoot through the hull.
I figured out how to adjust the size of the text on the screen today. It ranges from small, medium, large, and huge. That cracked me up. Large was big enough so not sure how big huge is.
I also found out how to see the length of the trail you made. I was very happy to find out how to get that as I really liked knowing how far we sailed.
I would go with the back lit screen as it is visible in daylight even with polarized glasses on. I have several devices with out the back lit screen and they are invisible in daylight.
Funny thing, when your heeled over 40 degrees 40 feet of water becomes 70 feet LOL
Good luck and just pm if you need any more info

Sam