Reply With QuoteGarmin DownVu.jpg
Exhibit A
We've all no doubt seen the images of near perfect boat sitting on the bottom of what I guess is a lake - appearing on Garmin screens.
In the west, we don't have too many lakes, and most of my venturing is done in 30 - 55m of the briney stuff (with the occasional 100m+ sortie) - it is usually choppy (thanks to the ever present Fremantle Doctor) and a decent swell to boot.
We currently have a GPSMAP 1020sx with a 1kw, thru-hull traditional 50/200kHz tranny but want to know if the $700+ to acquire the CHIRP DownVu option (run through the Garmin "Black Box") is worth the extra $$$. We usually get intermittant coral and rocky "lumps" off the South West of WA - in between lots and lots of... not much.
For the techy types, we're looking at the GT23M-TM Tranny - 600w CHIRP Mid Band - to go with the Black Box.
Does anyone use DownVu in these sort of conditions/areas that could share their experiences.
Garmin DownVu.jpg
Exhibit A
Still kicking myself I didn't get a photo of this blokes sounder. He was running a 7410XSV with a GT51M-TM transducer and was showing me rubble patches fairly clearly in 50-60m of water. And he had the nannygai and red emperor to prove it, too. However this was on a glass out day and anything else and the sidevu becomes redundant, however the downvu would still work quite easily in any case. I don't think you should go the other transducer other than for a little of downvu and CHIRP. I'd keep the same one with a good quality deeper water traditional transducer.
All depends on the sea conditions. If it is flat (very flat) then yes. If it is swelly or choppy the boat movement does mess up the images. This is the same for all brands - not just Garmin. At some stage when they allow for a stabilised rate gyro input for pitch and roll compensation it will get better
Yep - I suspected as much. We don't often get flat water here out west.
It is surprising I haven't seen more photos on here of DownVu screen grabs - perhaps because no one is using it!
downvu hasnt interested me all that much. its showing me a higher resolution image of what my already understanded traditional sonar shows me.... sidevu is where the game is at!
Hey Aussie crawl I fish mainly the same depth as you mate I've just ordered that same transducer and iam from Bunbury WA so when I get it fitted in a couple of weeks I'll let ya know how it goes .
Thanks Ginodan,
Will be keen to hear how you go. What head unit did you go with?
Running 751xs
