Fish finders

[wildroverdiving]

Any advice on which fish finders give the best bottom contour pics? Mine (cheap Ratheon) misses wrecks when I am right over them.

[Gilligan]

I'm not sure the Humminbird SX100 will fit your needs but I have it rigged for my kayak which I do all my scuba diving from. It has helped me find new reefs to dive on. It is not that great at bottom contours but the fish alarm gives me a tip off that a reef is below me and may be worth checking out.

[US RANGER]

Humminbird Wide 3D Paramount

2d and 3d modes..... or split srceen

I've got one and think it's an excellent tool for diving.

[JeffAustin]

I have a Ratheon 470 that I use alot for finding structure when fishing or exploring, it works pretty good, especially with bottom contour.

If you are stationary over structure, it will not show shape or form; you must be moving to "see" the bottom detail, but all fish finders are like that.

Also, the transducer angle of acceptance affects how detail is shown.

Can you adjust the sensitivity on your unit?

Screen refresh rate also affects how structure looks on the screen. The faster you are moving, the faster you can set the refresh rate (if you have that option).

Some finders use software to interpret and enhance screen detail, it may or may not be an accurate interpretation.

Remember that, depending on depth and transducer, you might be covering an area that is 20 ft. in diameter, imagine a cone that gets bigger the deeper it gets.

If your sounder is more than 5 years old, you will find the new fish finders to have much better detail.

[100days-a-year]

A color either LCD or CRT from any of the serious manufacturers.150 to 300 watts RMS minimum.Most diving is less than 150' so a $3k machine is not needed.I have found Furuno,Simrad,Raytheon,Raymarine,Si-Tex all to be very reliable.Humminbird is unsuitable for saltwater.Lowrance is way overpriced and inferior in clarity.Don't get a combo unit as all info is lost if one part goes down,at the very least back up a cobo with a good handheld GPS.Almost all the commercial charter captains in the Southeast and Gulf use either Furuno,Si-Tex or Raymarine.

[darkmoon3d]

Have you tried this one? =)

Sorry but be sure to copy link DON't click on it.

[url]http://www.somethingawful.com/inserts/articlepics/photoshop/electronics/scrutinizer_goldfish.jpg