Fish finders as depth finders
 

I had a digital on my other boat, it was so all over the place I never really trusted it, went on a guys fishin boat with a finder, nice view of the bottom contours, you KNEW it was working,essential for someone like me who likes to explore and tows all over to new places, anyone use one?do they shoot through the hull?some of them are aimable? specific models? thanks Doug

Boating where I do (Chain O' Lakes) where the water is an average of 4-5 feet in depth, I REALLY like my Hummingbird fish finder. Built in alarm, lights at night, gives me the bottom contours so I can remeber where in the lakes the deepest parts are....it's great.

Only good to about 20-25mph though - after that it just won't read anything. My transducer is mounted on the outside hull - I guess it depends on the model and your hull as to whether it can be mounted in the engine compartment.

In our fish and ski, we have a garmin 165 fish finder. It is digital with floor mapping. The top speed is only about 55-60 (Our slow boat), which at that speed the mapping can't keep up, but the depth reading is accurate since it is just a number in the top corner. The displays can be also changed to where it can be viewed as a flasher and etc. The transducer is also mounted inside the hull.