Favourite Fish finder, plotter, gps etc...

[matty]

May as well be the first to post in this part... :D
Just wondering what everybody uses/recommends in the way of fish finders etc as the subject suggests!!
As im thinking of getting a new one soon...

Cheers

Matt

[sydfish]

Ive been using the humminbird matrix series and found them to be very good. I started out with the 35 b/w one one boat and a 97 on the other The quad beam is excellant and both are very easy to use. The fish id is one that you can generally trust.

[Bashir]

I have owned three sounders.

the first was an apelco 470. It wasn't a top of the line model but for a b/w model in its time it was fantastic. It was copied by JRC at the time and apelco of course became raytheon and then raymarine, top sounder!

second was a humminbird 450tx ... not bad for an inshore fishfinder but really lacking in detail and useless for work over 100m. The old apeclo was a million times better than this

currently have a simrad eq32 which is fan bloody tastic, although I recenty took it out of the boat and have the humminbird at the moment until I have some transducer issues sorted. And yes the h-bird still sucks.

I will never look at a humminbird, lowrance, garmin, navman etc.... just go straight to the brands that make the commercial stuff ie, raymarine, furuno, simrad, koden, jrc - they are the best and most of them also make cheaper models.

[plfishfingers1]

Hi Guys
I have always used Lowrance sounders. I first owned a x65 which was a great sounder.
I have just installed a Lowrance x102c and its unreal. I have travelled Pittwater for 15 years looking for wrecks and in the last week because of the quality of the unit I have found another 6 wrecks. These wrecks were marked already on the GPS but the new sounder really shows you whats there.
If you can save for the extra month or so to buy a colour model, its worth the wait.
I will never go back to using a B/W sounder again.
I cant recommend this model highly enough. You can travel at 60 knots and still get a bottom reading (I wish my tank would travel at that speed so I could check it out).
Before you buy any sounder, check it out. It is capable of sounding at depths of 284m which is more than enough for most fishing destinations.
All the best
plfishfingers

[Boiler]

My first was a humminbird, basic one - just what i needed for my first one......but now......

I have a furuno & i have no idea on how to use it.....aaagghghh>>>>so the fish are even safer when i'm out and about

[mr antenna]

Gday CROW is your furuno a 600l?.Imust say the furuno is not a user friendly unit,but once you get to know it ,its awesome.I should know i have a ,
Furuno 600l,which i was selling but decided to keep it and put it away,As i now have the 580l next model up,which is even more complicated[LOL]

[Boiler]

Mr Antenna,

yep i think its a 600lc? cant remember exactly right now.

I really want to work it out, but when i'm on the water i'm too interested in holding the rod & not the manual.

Would i get the generall jist of it if i just played with it at home???

Any advice would be greatlly appreciated

[mr antenna]

Crow you can try playing with it at home,but its just not the same.Read the book and play with it,and do the same on the water.The gain button is very important ,if you are in shallow water turn it down to about 1.5.
The deeper the water higher the gain.Or another easy option is to go to automatic mode ,where you can choose either [cruising ]or fishing.

[djmac]

gain is best when used in manual mode, auto can be good but it is only as accurate as they make, and sometimes conditions will differ.

i basically turn the gain up as high as i can until i get interference

then i turn it down little by little until i have a clear screen.

gain is great when looking for baitballs etc etc. and when i turn it up i can even see the thermocline.


read the manual and learn it yourself and you should start to catch a lot more fish.

[Boiler]

Thx Boys,

Well this arvo will involve :-

1. Drinking cans
2. Watching cricket
3. Reading that damn manual
4. Drinking cans
5. Reading some more of that damn manual
6. Watching cricket

So therefore i should be a damn pro next time i'm out on the water :p

[JOC00L]

So therefore i should be a damn pro next time i'm out on the water :p
Either that...or very unsteady on your feet!:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: