Depth meter vs. Fish Finder

[Ian McGain]

I am starting to pick-up condensation once again in my depth meter and the LED is starting to bled out. The last time I sent this to the bench to be repaired, it cost over $100.00I have started looking at the under $100 fish finders. Not only do you get a read on the bottom but you get a sense of the bottom slope. The fish are a bonus.Anyone using a fish finder for depth rather than the traditional depth meters?ThanksIan

 

[Ken]

Humminbird

I'm using a Humminbird Fish Finder (right at $100) on my Hunter 240. I epoxied the transducer inside the boat and have the Fishfinder mounted on a nice piece of Teak attached to my Stern Rail seat rails. It works great. A wireless option would be nice as I currently feed the power and transducer lines up through a Hatch.

 

[Arlyn Stewart]

bottom contour

The greater advantage to a fishfinder is not watching the contour... that can be done numerically with any depth sounder albeit not as easily. In fact, watching the contour may divert ones attention from the actual depth numbers.The greater advantage is scoping out the bottom structure in advance of choosing and deploying an anchor. Weeds show quickly and can save the grief of even trying to anchor in a location if other options exist.

 

[Bart]

THINGS TO SEE

I have an inexpensive Hummingbird on my 240. Once while on Lake Hartwell in 250+feet on water, I swear I saw the outline of a roofline of a house. When the Corps buile Hartwell they did flood things like that.

 

[Wanderer138]

Piranha fishfinder works for me

Not all fish-finders are created equal. Get one with large numbers and a backlit display. My Piranha works great and cost just $70 in Wal-Mart.PeterH23 "Raven"

 

[Marc Honey]

You betcha

Mine is a bit more elaborate, Raytheon 365 with a bronze thru hull on my 28.5. Mine give me depth, speed, water temp., log (like an odometer), and several different screens to view all this with. Graphic representation of the bottom contours is a big plus as it really shows you trends. We have flooded pecan orchards on our lake and I can tell when I'm on top of them. Guests on board, particularly kids love watching the fish and other structure. So much more info. than a few numbers.