Lowrance X58DF

parm · 22 October 2006, 20:08

Lowrance X58DF any views on this depth/fishfinder? £125.00 or is there better out there?

yoyo · 22 October 2006, 20:56

parm,

Yes I have got one and I have been verry happy with it. I picked it up in the USA just before xmas last year. It has not missed a beat!!

It is very user friendly with a decent quality screen. It has some great functions that you usually only see on more expensive units. The only problem that I have found is the paddle wheel speedo is rubbish over 20mph, this seems to be the case with most speedo's of this type.

I am currently refitting the unit to my new rib, but I will not bother with the paddle wheel speedo, as I now have GPS which will give me much better speed readings.

I would give the unit 9/10..

yoyo · 22 October 2006, 21:01

Parm,

parm · 22 October 2006, 21:14

thanks for the info
not much interested in speed either i will use gps also

Biggles · 22 October 2006, 21:29

I once had one of these. Very good at holding the depth and never, ever played up even when it got very wet. No screen misting or going crazy.

Also very well built with good plug connections. In my opinion far better than garmin. Although that is what i have now.

parm · 22 October 2006, 21:36

Just been looking at Lowrance X52 slightly lower spec - no speed 200khz instead of 50/200khz but does have NMEA 2000. As i also have a 3500c plotter i could link the two, but can anyone tell me why? why would i want to link them or am i missing something?

jyasaki · 23 October 2006, 20:55

That NMEA connection is in case you have a monster NMEA 2000 display unit. You can take the info from your X52 and pump it over to the big screen, and display it there as well. As far as I know, there's not much more reason for the connection. No interfacing with GPS required, unless you're trapping depth readings cross referenced with GPS coordinates, or something along those lines.

jky

parm · 23 October 2006, 21:24

thanks jyasaki thats what i thought

Texel Tom · 26 October 2006, 10:54

The NMEA2000 issue is much wider than just linking units. Depending on the position of each unit you may want to overlay depth or speed on your sonar etc but its all about the wider network.

You can add further NMEA2K devices to the network and then have options on both displays to show the data. For example with the addition of a fuel flow sensor you can have a full fuel management system which can be displayed on either screen. The same will be the case very soon with engine interface (Suzuki first) where you will have options to display all the info via the engine command link such as Tacho, trim, oil pressure, temp, alternator voltage, engine diagnostics etc etc etc.

Two linked units gives you more screen options.

You could have one showing full map and the other all custom gauges and fuel info until you arrive at your location where you may then switch back to sonar only for fishing diving etc.

TT.