Fish finder or depth sounder

[bmb779]

hi what would be best for a non fisherman,ie just looking to keep away from too shallow water. Fish finder or Depth sounder?

[paintman]

You'd probably be better with a GPS loaded with charts for your area.
A fish finder/echo sounder will tell you what's underneath the boat - which may be too late if you're sat on top of a rock!

[jambo]

Originally Posted by paintman

You'd probably be better with a GPS loaded with charts for your area.
A fish finder/echo sounder will tell you what's underneath the boat - which may be too late if you're sat on top of a rock!

+1
a small GPS plotter would fit the bill

[A1an]

I suppose it depends on your cruising grounds, a GPS won't help with sand bars/spits that are prone to moving.

[jambo]

Yep never thought of that ..I just thought that all round seeing he wasn't a fisherman the plotter would give him more.

[ynp]

I agree that a chart plotter is the must.
But a transom mount skimmer will give you the depth and temperature. I use a Navico (Simrad nss7) and the Navico Transom Mount Skimmer Transducer works well and it's very inexpensive. It's not a fisherman's transducer and will not show the bottom profile or fish.

We also have a smaller Raymarine Gradonfly 6 inch on our smaller rib and it is a GPS and Sonar combo, no touch screen, and works very well on the rib.

[ynp]

my skimmer on the transom

[paintman]

Originally Posted by ynp

We also have a smaller Raymarine Gradonfly 6 inch on our smaller rib and it is a GPS and Sonar combo, no touch screen, and works very well on the rib.

How good is the downvision on this in reality? I'm always suspicious of the marketing videos.

[jonp]

Ive used Lowrance units for years and love them, I believe the latest units have electronic compasses built in which is a great feature for pinpointing and always having the screen showing the direction you are facing (even while reversing). If searching for sunken boats or finding good snorkel and diving reef down and side scan are extremely usefull, in shallow water you can locate even small objects such as a bottle (if you ever need to search for a bottle!!).

Heres a couple of images from my hds 8.



side scan with a humpback.


down scan + standard 200htz


side scan


Jon

[ynp]

Originally Posted by paintman

How good is the downvision on this in reality? I'm always suspicious of the marketing videos.

Dragonfly works great as a downscan sonar . The border between sand/ clay and rocks /coral is seen clear and you can see the structures, although I have never seen very detailed scans of the wrecks myself. I have seen structures, wrecks, mooring anchors and chain, but nothing as detailed as in the brochures.

I mostly use downscan to find parches of sand and clay for anchoring in inshore areas where the water is not transparent enough.

[paintman]

Thank you!

[bmb779]

Thanks guys,greatly appreciated.

[bmb779]

As I don't go out to sea very often and usually just explore lochs a plotter seems a lot of money to tie up,anyone tried Navionics app on either IPad or Samsung tablet?

[Starovich]

Originally Posted by bmb779

As I don't go out to sea very often and usually just explore lochs a plotter seems a lot of money to tie up,anyone tried Navionics app on either IPad or Samsung tablet?

Yep and works fine if you have ipad with 3g (wifi only version has no gps chip)
I use Isailor and i use the Waterproof case on both my motorbike and boat.

[bmb779]

How does it work with Google maps then?

[1eyedjim]

I have a wifi only iPad and just had to get a gns 2000 GPS receiver and works fine

[jonp]

You can also use navionics on a car gps if you already have one of those.
Jon

[Starovich]

Originally Posted by bmb779

How does it work with Google maps then?

wifi triangulation.Specs scroll down to the mobile and wireless section.

[Rokraider]

+1 for the Dragonfly. I have the combination plotter / sonar fitted with the Navionics gold card, it is a very good package, The plotter is extremely accurate.
I believe Navionics now have a transducer that will work wirelessly with an i pad etc?

[1eyedjim]

GNS 2000 Bluetooth Receiver

iv got this,,

connects to the ipad via bluetooth. has a 10 hour battery life and for £40 iv got the gold navionics and sonar charts on the ipad and works perfect for what i need on my cruiser and as a backup. with the blueooth gps its actually more accurate than the gps built into the phones/ipads and thats why pilots used these even on their phones/cellular ipads

for my rib i will be getting a chartplotter but on the other boat its not needed/justified