airmar P66 transducer

[1shooter]

It's been 1 year since I purchased my LCX-27. I have been through 3 head units and several transducers and I think/hope I am close to having a functional unit.

I now can finally get it to read bottom but the transducer has to be so low in the water it causes the transducer to spray water all over the motor. I have played with the location but when I move it up so it doesn't shower my motor it looses bottom and when I lower it to get bottom it showers the motor.

I have the opportunity to try a airmar P66 but am wondering if these units are suitable for fishing in the midwest. i get the feeling they are intended for deep water versus the what I fish in. 5-45 feet.



Does anyone know what the difference in the specs are for the airmar P66 versus the lowrance single frequency transducer???

[JDP]

Send Yarcraft91 a PM if he doesn't respond to your post.

He is quite well versed on the AirMar 66.

JDP

[jdino]

If your transducer is mounted on a board you can make a "roof" for it. I had always had spray on my Lund and could never find the "sweet spot" for the ducer. Something that I thought I'd have to live with. However, after putting a fishing top on, the lack of wind on the transom area let the spray to soak the inside of my boat. Never new it was that bad. What I did was to get a 1/4" FarberWare cutting board and cut a piece about 5"x8" and mounted it to the top edge of the mounting board. Works like a charm! It worked for me at a cost of about $5. Figured that if it did not work then I was going to look at an Alumaducer. Worth the try IMO.

[yarcraft91]

I have an Airmar p66 mounted on my 16.5' Alumacraft, connected to an LMS-527c. Some info...

Specs: dual frequency- 200 KHz with 11 degree cone, 50 KHz with 45 degree cone, both cone angles measured at -3db point. Lowrance also specifies their cone angles at the -3db point, as I understand, so, yes, the "cone angle" of the p66 at 200 KHz is narrower than the 200KHz Skimmer. See below for some personal experience that tells me not to worry too much about that.
- Has a paddlewheel speed transducer, pretty much useless in my opinion. Can order without and retrofit later if you change your mind.
- Easy to mount, no fooling around with funky little notched wheels to make tilt adjustment.
- No roostertailing, reliable performance at planing speed in my application.
- Lowrance blue connector.

I use the p66 transducer in waters to 45' deep, most of my fishing less than half that depth. Next to it, I have mounted a 200KHz Lowrance Skimmer and I occasionally compare the two. The Skimmer is mounted deeper in the water than the Airmar, but the Skimmer doesn't work as reliably at planing speeds and does throw a bit of a roostertail, not bad though. Most of the time, I use the Airmar and don't feel I'm missing information. The Airmar seems to do a better job of marking things along dropoffs.

With every transom mounted Skimmer I have installed on this boat (at least 3)- the "cone" has side lobes that are strong enough to "see" the motor of the bow-mounted trolling motor. When the trolling motor is deployed and the Skimmer is adjusted to optimum performance, I get a continuous line on the screen at 16'. The Airmar p66 is engineered with weaker side lobes and does not "see" the trolling motor. One way to interpret this- the Skimmer sees things that are a long way from directly underneath the boat. The Airmar, IMHO, does a better job of telling me what is right under my boat, which is what I want a transducer to do.

Bottom line- if I were to buy a Lowrance in the near future, it will be without a transducer and I'd order an Airmar p66 at the same time.

Hope this helps

[1shooter]

I have an Airmar p66 mounted on my 16.5' Alumacraft, connected to an LMS-527c. Some info...

Specs: dual frequency- 200 KHz with 11 degree cone, 50 KHz with 45 degree cone, both cone angles measured at -3db point. Lowrance also specifies their cone angles at the -3db point, as I understand, so, yes, the "cone angle" of the p66 at 200 KHz is narrower than the 200KHz Skimmer. See below for some personal experience that tells me not to worry too much about that.
- Has a paddlewheel speed transducer, pretty much useless in my opinion. Can order without and retrofit later if you change your mind.
- Easy to mount, no fooling around with funky little notched wheels to make tilt adjustment.
- No roostertailing, reliable performance at planing speed in my application.
- Lowrance blue connector.

I use the p66 transducer in waters to 45' deep, most of my fishing less than half that depth. Next to it, I have mounted a 200KHz Lowrance Skimmer and I occasionally compare the two. The Skimmer is mounted deeper in the water than the Airmar, but the Skimmer doesn't work as reliably at planing speeds and does throw a bit of a roostertail, not bad though. Most of the time, I use the Airmar and don't feel I'm missing information. The Airmar seems to do a better job of marking things along dropoffs.

With every transom mounted Skimmer I have installed on this boat (at least 3)- the "cone" has side lobes that are strong enough to "see" the motor of the bow-mounted trolling motor. When the trolling motor is deployed and the Skimmer is adjusted to optimum performance, I get a continuous line on the screen at 16'. The Airmar p66 is engineered with weaker side lobes and does not "see" the trolling motor. One way to interpret this- the Skimmer sees things that are a long way from directly underneath the boat. The Airmar, IMHO, does a better job of telling me what is right under my boat, which is what I want a transducer to do.

Bottom line- if I were to buy a Lowrance in the near future, it will be without a transducer and I'd order an Airmar p66 at the same time.

Hope this helps

Appreciate the good information. When fishing in 6-15' of water do you have any problems with the Airmar unit loosing bottom?

[VernH]

I have an Airmar p66 mounted on my 16.5' Alumacraft, connected to an LMS-527c. Some info...

With every transom mounted Skimmer I have installed on this boat (at least 3)- the "cone" has side lobes that are strong enough to "see" the motor of the bow-mounted trolling motor. When the trolling motor is deployed and the Skimmer is adjusted to optimum performance, I get a continuous line on the screen at 16'.

Hope this helps

Oops I skimmed over the bowmount part. Sorry.

Is it seeing the actual bowmount motor or it is seeing the turbulence created by the motor. Is it always at 16 ft when in different depths from 20-48 ft? Any guesses why 16 ft? Can you get a screenshot?

Vern

[yarcraft91]

Appreciate the good information. When fishing in 6-15' of water do you have any problems with the Airmar unit loosing bottom?

Zero trouble, at least with the transducer. Sometimes the LMS-527 needs to be put in shallow water mode to see bottom in weedy areas, no matter what transducer I use- that's a problem with Lowrance software versions 2.4.0 and earlier for the LMS-520 series, as well as several other Lowrance units. When the 527 has the right software and is in the right mode, the Airmar marks bottom reliably from 2' to the max depth in this lake (45'), at any speed from dead slow to WOT (35) without any special effort at tuning sonar parameters.

[1shooter]

good to hear....I'm going to give it a try this weekend.

[gofishwalleye]

I too am running the A66. I got tired of replacing the lowrance xducers. No problems holding bottom 0-180' and I appreciate beiing able to keep a bottom signal at full speed, beside all other speeds. It is a big xducer, but who cares, I can't see it!

[1shooter]

Can any of you guys post or email me some pictures of what the airmar unit looks like on the back of your boat?

[gofishwalleye]

Sure, it's dark now but I'll shoot and post tomorrow

[gofishwalleye]

I added three pictures to my album, they are not great quality, I need to work on my photography skills, ranks just below my fishing skills of late!

[1shooter]

thanks for all the information. I bought the new airmar unit and before installing it I decided to make a big change and switch over to Hbird.

Anyone need a new airmar unit?