Sounders

[Big_Kev]

Can some of you guys give me some tips on the benifits of a more expensive sounder .
Currently I run a Humminbird 150 .
It seems to work OK to me , but then I dont know any different .
Am i missing out on something ?
Cheers Reel Hard .

[krazyfisher]

Well they all show the bottom the differance is how much detail the more money the more detail. My first sounder showed the bottom but that was about it. The sounder that I now have will show weed bait fish and themoclyines(spelling maybe wrong) It is more inportant to know how to use a sounder. A cheaper sounder used right can be better than a dear one set up wrong. But always spend as much as you can as you get what you pay for

[Lucky_Phill]

The never ending story ! What sounder !

decide how deep you'll be fishing in ( maximum ), and your budget !

Take this knowledge to the dealer and take it from there.

Personal choice, offshore Furuno Colour Video. and Bay and estuary Lowrance Black and Whites, I use a X28 in the bay but a good alrounder is the X85.

Good Luck

[Big_Kev]

So what would the advantage of a colour sounder and how would that help offshore ? Thanks Reel Hard

[Lucky_Phill]

Well, LCD have up to 4 " grey " colours and varying amounts of pixels. The more pixel count the better defination.

A colour video unit has up to 8 colours ( if you use a black background ). These colours are used to tell the size ( thickness ) of fish, botom structure and type ( sand, mud, reef, weed ).

For instance, with my colour unit, I can see Pearlies in wire weed on the bottom in 80 meters of water. I can tell if the mass of colour near the bottom is bait or table fish.

Once you get to know the colour units, you can pick the diff between a school of squire and a school of baitfish, such as Yakka. Larger fish like Ambo's and Jew show up quite clearly.

More important, the bottom reading capabilities of the colour unit , in my opinion, outclasses the LCD grey units. Now all this depends on how good you are at " Reading " and " Understanding " what you see on the screen.

Bill Coreton has gone in depth on sounders in Bush'n'Beach mag some months ago, and well worth a read.

Bill has a colour JRC ( from memory ) and a grey LCD Lowrance side by side on his Cruisecraft, just to show his clients the difference between the two.

As I said earlier, where you fish and your budget will determine your unit.

LCD's $800, colour units from $2,000. or the basic LCD @ $350.

The choice is yours. ??? ;D

[Balistapus]

G'day Mate, I am using a recently purchased and installed Lowrance x51, which is perfect for my needs and space (4.5m open tinny). It is similar unit (price and features) to your 150 Humminbird but i prefer the better resolution and some miner features eg. temp as standard. If i had a bigger boat, would have definatly purchased a humminbird ledgend as they are close as you can get to colour units and reasonably priced!!
Mick

[jaybee]

I have a lowrance x75 that come with the boat..first lcd...I have found it does the job in the bay and outside..but I am still trying to learn how to use it..have downloaded the pdf from their site..my biggest problem is getting someone that knows how to drive a boat so i can sit and just have a play..

[blaze]

Hi jaybee
know what ya mean about a good deckie, mine is a very kean young fella, loves to fish but thats where it ends, no good at launch, no boat licence and not a good navigator so i find if i want it done i do it myself (bloody pouring with rain again, i reckon yo will hear it) any way back to the deckie top bloke and would'nt change him
cheers blaze

[skales]

I have just bought a NAVMAN 450 colour sounder has heaps of functions .I have only done one trip so far and found the performance quite good , it will take a few more trips to get a good grip on it.It cost just under 600 bills , I will keep you's posted on its performance .

[Big_Kev]

Many thanks for all the replies guys , you have broadened my knowledge ten fold . I guess that the colour sounder may be a little to pricey for my needs,but with this information I will now know what to ask for when looking at the shop .
Another thing that was of interest is the 3D humminbird that I have only seen pictures of does anyone know ?
Regards Reel Hard .

[Kal]

I use to own a hummingbird 3d sounder,but got to the stage of wanting to know exactly what type of ground i am fishing,eg distinishing between reef ,coral,weed,gravel and sand. the hummingbird i had will 0nly let u distingwish between sand and the rest of the bottoms i mentioned above. I now have up graded to a colour lorrance sounder,i have use it about 10 times so far,and have to admitt it is one of the best investments I have made.I am still playing around with it to get it spot on,i must admit it does take a while to get it right.For me it has up the catch rate due to the fact that u can see the fish on screen and you can tell which type of ground you are fishing.