Depth sounder or bottom finder??

[delta breeze]

I'm a houseboater and my fish finder has been overtaken by gremlins!I would like to know what kind of replacement would be good.I'm on a land locked lake so i'm not really traveling or such.Iwould like something would really show the contour and whats in front of me rather than a fish.They lake varies in depth during differant times of the year and in the winter I understand it gets very shallow in certain area's.I would like to be able to see the area before i run aground?Any help would be appreciated! Thanks, The Delta Breeze

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Depth sounder or bottom finder??

If you want to see ahead of your vessel, you need something called phased array or scanning sonar. Currently, the scanning sonar is more accurate; the phased array is less expensive. Interphase Tech. makes such phased array products. They seem to be ‘love it or hate it’ critters. Placement of the dual transducers is critical so if you are handy AND you have two or three brain cells, you might be able to get it done correctly, otherwise, someone familiar with the product would be a better choice. (It's basically placement and orientation critical.) Landlocked? Not likely you are going to find many folks familiar with the products.<br /><br />Take a look at the Outlook. I’m not sure if it is a single or dual transducer.<br /><br /> http://www.interphase-tech.com/outlook.htm <br /><br />Btw, their tech department has been very responsive, helpful, and easy to get a hold of someone if you call. You might want to talk to them about installation before deciding.

 

[bossee]

Re: Depth sounder or bottom finder??

Hi,<br />Echopilot FLS Bronze is probably the cheapest forward looking sonar You can buy. But it is not that cheap compared to regular sonars. You need to drill a hole in the boat to mount the transducer, it will be 28 mm into the water. I belive the FLS Bronze is rather good.<br /><br /> http://www.echopilot.com/listings.asp?dir=10&infoid=Forward Looking Sonar & Sidescan

 

[roscoe]

Re: Depth sounder or bottom finder??

Approximately, how much do these units cost?<br />Just curious.

 

[18rabbit]

Re: Depth sounder or bottom finder??

Rosco – the Interphase costs about as much as a good quality fishfinder. The MSRP info is on their website. Most places sell at or very near MSRP. Airmar makes the transducer. It’s basically a multi-channel transducer with multiple acoustic windows, each pointed in a different but overlapping direction. A signal is sent to each window in sequence and all the echo returns are assembled into what will appear as a scanned sonar image. I said they are not as accurate as scanning sonar but in fact they are no less accurate than a normal, everyday ff. Interphase markets their units highlighting their ff capabilities, but I think dedicated ff’s have more ff’ing functions.<br /><br />I had never heard of the EchoPilot products. I have been looking at them at a couple of different websites. They appear to be similar to the Interphase products but the manfr’s website does not have any mention of ff applications. I don’t know who makes the transducer but it doesn’t look like something Airmar would make…perhaps a RadrSonics transducer? I think EchoPilot is made in England and if so, that would be the home of RADAR, sonar’s bigger brother, so maybe they make their own transducer. The CASS (collision avoidance sonar system) has caught my attention as possibly a “chirping” multi-frequency transducer. EchoPilot appears to be a very small company with very limited distribution. The only pricing info I can find online is in Russian rubles.