good depth finder
 

looking for a good depth finder - my current lowrance cant handle more than about 10mph - would like one that works better at speed. thanks

Never seen any depth finder work over 10mph

My Airmar in hull will work at 50mph most times.

some is wrong then with your Lowrance or the transducer or the install . At one time thats all my dealerships would install because they were so reliable.

Which unit do you have and how old ? Have you hit your transducer and how is that installed ? they can not read air -- Is the transducer transom mounted or shoot thru the hull -- The can NOT read thru a cored hull FYI - has to be solid glass with no air bubbles between the laminates if the transducer is shooting thru the hull. Just saying

Transducers can't read through air. They need clean water under with no bubbles. If you want to read at speed it has to be placed so that is maintains clean water under. A stepped hul introduces water under the hull making it harder to find clean water.

Like mentioned it can read through fiberglass but not any material with air pockets. If mounting to read through the hull it is expoxied to the hull. No air bubbles in epoxy.

You can test it's location by temporarily attaching to hull and flooding area with water so it fill voids between hull and transducer. Then run at speed to test.

mine is mounted in antifreeze.

I have this one and it works great:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/530269

baby oil is the recommendation for the transducers to be submerged - including the airmans.

I sure wish someone would come out with a glue in transducer that can do all the 3D, ClearVu and all that cool stuff they can do nowadays...

I have the same, and I can get depth readings at 60 in flat water. Once I get in the air it takes a long time to reset, sometimes I have to turn off my GPS to get the depth readings back.

Interesting... mine doesn't do that.

With the Garmin unit GT15M-IH and an Echomap plus - do you still also keep the original transducer or the thru hull unit replaces it and is the only one? thanks!

What the thoughts on low profile through-hull units like the airmar B60 in a non-stepped hull?
Guess main question is, how much does the added drag actually cost ya..

Anybody have a good HDR 600 Humminbird laying around in white...
Need a good gauge.

I was wondering the same thing. I recently replaced/moved the transducer in my Donzi to an area that I assumed was solid glass, but still doesn't read worth s***. Was recommended by my local marina to put a through haul transducer, but still can't get past the idea of drilling a hole in my hull to plug with a piece of plastic...

I ended up going with that Airmar P series, but haven't got boat in the water yet to see how good it works. And yes drilling thru the balsa core "only" to expose the outer skin can be a challenge. Then you have to back fill around the angle mounting cup with resin, also kinda tricky on a 24deg bottom. But it's mounted in there now..
After the fact, I'd go a transom mount next time and save the aggravation...

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...fc59157e08.jpg

+1 on the airmar glue down with glycol reservoir . Have mine hooked to a garmin downscan sonar. Reeds at speed to 600 ft and 900-1000 at idle.\
Chris

Glad to hear they work good at speed. That was our biggest factor for going that route.
This one is going on a Raymarine MFD. And while the Aimar might not provide all the detail of Realvison or 3D scan units, the techs all said if installed correctly they will read above 70mph, depending on depth, until you outrun the echo..

ugghh. The speed I was talking about is 30 knots. 53 Ft Express Cruiser. Twin Volvo D12 675's. I have never looked at the sonar scan at that speed just know I still get depth at that speed till 600ft. So I would think 70 at 100ft would be no problem.

Chris

running a airmar p79S (oem install) and it works for crap, its running into the 525efi harness and running up to the mercury vessel race race view, it is intermittent at best, not moving,idle, from 20-80 no rhyme or reason maybe works maybe doesn't. have plans to upgrade to a simrad plotter in the near future and really hoping that it will work better, if not ill maybe buy the same sending unit that plug directly into the simrad and not go through the smartcraft... also though about a through hull, but man drilling holes into the bottom of a boat :angry-smiley-044:

My Airmar is bullet proof running to a my Dual Garmins. The Garmins are also hooked to a NMEA 2000 network as are my Simrads. The Simrads read the depth off the network. So Im guessing its either your Smartcraft or very possibly your Airmar Cup is dry. Turn it a 1/4 turn , pull it off and have a look.

Chris

unfortunately with the install i have to pull a motor to get to the transducer.... It is full however, i did pull both motors in my garage this past winter and did a complete new install with a new transducer and mounting base lesk tested it for several days before i did the final assembly... same problem as the original install.for it to plug into my engine harness and run forward it is a mercury part built by airmar to mercury protocol/specs... very disapointing and fustrating. is your transducer nmea 2k version? or does it run right into the garmin displays?

It runs into the Garmin.

If you pause the vid you will see the depth being picked up on the Port garmin and the simrad. This is on a Cruisers 500 express. 35000 lbs thick hull.


https://mightytext.net/zVrZEs


Chris

Gents, switched to Humminbird recently and wanted to know - is the extended warranty worth the money? What do you think?