Furuno fish finders....

[steve forsythe]

I know this is probably not the right place to post this but, everyone seems to be in this room. Does anyone have an opinion on what you need in a fish finder. Would there be a big difference in 300 watts RMS and 350 watts RMS? How about 2400 watts peak to peak compared to 2800? How about a CRT screen compared to an LCD screen? The 2 Furuno units have these differences and are $200 apart in price. I am using it in the ocean with depths from 30-150 feet. I really want to see the bottom more than find fish. I dont know what "RMS" is, or "CRT" & "LCD". The liquid crystal display will be clearer but how much difference will i notice. Which is better in bright sunlight? Any help appreciated.

 

[Alrobot]

Re: Furuno fish finders....

Don't know particularly about Furuno's but old navy radar knowledge says: RMS is the Average power output from the unit. Lots of companies used to use Peak Output, but the units will not hold that, so now it is RMS or Average. An LCD will be more readable in the sunlight from what I have seen, they don't tend to "washout" like a CRT.

 

[steve forsythe]

Re: Furuno fish finders....

Thanks, i just have to decide if $200 is worth it for an LCD screen and 50 watts more RMS power. I really dont know how much power i need, RMS or peak to peak. I think sometimes you pay for a lot of extras you dont need.

 

[Franki]

Re: Furuno fish finders....

RMS means "Root Mean Square".. as stated it is more or less the sustainable output, peak outboat is basically the measurement from the lowest to the highest point and isn't a good method of measurement since its by no means sustainable..<br /><br />CRT's (cathode ray tube) use more power,, are generally bigger and as stated won't look as good in bright light.. (however color LCD's don't score that well either, sometimes worse..)<br />CRT's do however respond to change faster then an LCD screen.. but that is more applicable to a computer screen then a fishfinder display where the speed is not as important. (as an example try playing Quake3 on a laptop screen at high resolution and then try it on a desktop CRT display.)<br /><br />If you can go the LCD, take it.. I don't know if 50 watts rms would make alot of difference, but as I understand it, the number of beams is more important anyway.. a three beam transducer gets a much better picture of the bottom then a single beam transducer..<br /><br />whatever you do, stay away from hummingbirds, in particular, do not buy a Wide 100 ,(also known as a 100sx I think.) I got bitten and now have a fishfinder that drops out if I go over 5 knots.. regardless of the transducer position or angle..<br /><br />rgds<br /><br />Frank

 

[NathanY]

Re: Furuno fish finders....

Well I dont know anything that you guys are talking about, all I know is that I have a cheap Wal-Mart HumminBird and it tells me where the fish are and how deep it is. Just thought that you might like to know.

 

[steve forsythe]

Re: Furuno fish finders....

Nathan, i am talking about finding fish in 100 feet of sometimes rough ocean water. This unit has to be impervious to ocean waves, wind, sun, and a hard beating. It has to be able to look in deep, rough, fast moving water and 'see' the fish for me as i am moving. I need a top performing, durable, ocean fish finder, not found at Walmart.

 

[MURX]

Re: Furuno fish finders....

us west coasters use nothing but Furuno, only fish finder I've seen out of the eleven that i've owned that would lock at 20mph besides a furuno 667 or better was a Raymarine 470L with a through hull. furuno FCV667 or FCV600L will work perfect for you... 582L is nice but very spendy... also for depths of 100-200 feet a furuno LS6000<br />budget unit might suffice 300watts rms 195.00 at www.conumersmarine.com use it with the through hull(95.00) and you may just have success for about 300.00..... I personally use the FCV 668 the FCV667 is 739.00 with a bronze thru hull tri-ducer....... you want quality you got to spend..Don