PDA

View Full Version : Gripe, Gripe, Gripe


LWinches
02-08-2010, 09:39 PM
I have a friend that was once accused of being prejudiced. He answered that he was not prejudiced. He hated everybody. That's how this post may sound. Here are some of my complaints about various sonars. As long as sonar has been around it seems like most of the companies would include more feature options. I don’t see other posts about this so I guess I’m the only one so particular (or maybe it’s weird) about this. So then, of course, all this is just my opinion. You may not agree.

1. Vexilar Edge3 has dual frequency, dual screen and dual real time sonar. I have not seen any other brand that provides the dual real time sonar. This is one of the real advantages of this unit. Couldn’t Humminbird and Lowrance do that.
2. Lowrance and Eagle units (and others) have a manual ping speed adjustment. Humminbird does not. What a bummer. This is a useful option for me.
3. Humminbird had a wide real time sonar option. I really like this. The best I’ve seen was in a Furuno LS6000. Adjust it where you want. For Lowrance, even on their HDS units you have to max the ping speed to get a wider real time sonar. Too bad if you want to lower the ping speed.
4. Lowrance and Vexilar work well at all depths I fish. Hbird is superperb down to 100 feet, but deeper than that it makes its own interference. I’ve used 525, 565, Matrix 37, Matrix 47, 777c2 and 997c. They all did it. I think I could have cleaned it up if I could have adjusted the ping speed.
5. Vexilar Edge3 has 320 vertical pixels. This is a great unit but one just like it with 640 pixels would be a better unit. An independent manual ping speed adjustment would also be an improvement. Slowing the scroll speed to slow the ping speed is not what I have in mind.
6.Lowrance HDS and older units have lots of transducer options included some from Airmar. The necessary details to match Airmar transducers to Hbird units is just not available.
7. Nobody, I mean NOBODY does as good a job of filtering out interference as the Lowrance HDS I used. Are they the only ones to figure this out?
8. Does anybody other than Vexilar realize that some of us would like to have a sonar running on something other than 200 Khz? or in a dual frequency something besides 200/83 or 200/50? Older Apelco's used 120 and 170 effectively. Bottom line used 455 in a traditional down looking sonar. I know 200 is supposed to be the best, but I also know these other frequencies will work very well down to 150 feet.

Ok. I'll get off my soapbox now and let all of you slice and dice me for criticizing your favorite brand and being so negative about all this. It's just that when I look at how long sonars have been out there, we ought to have more choices.

L.Winchester

walleyejim1216
02-08-2010, 09:56 PM
All I can say to this is, I wish you could ride with me for about a week to teach me how to run the few thousand things that are on my unit now let alone needing others!

LWinches
02-08-2010, 10:36 PM
Walleyejim1216,
Nothing takes the place of time on the water. Hang in there. You'll get it. I fish most every day and have for years. After a while, even if you're as slow as I am, you'll figure out a few thing.s

FinsNFeet
02-09-2010, 04:07 AM
I guess everything in life has trade offs'. You could say that about a lot of things. I wish I could take things from Dodge, ford and Chevy to make a super truck. How about the super wife? She would look like a S.I. Cover model, Extremely wealthy, cook and take care of me like my mother use to ( never ran out of socks when I lived at home) , would always let you go fishing and hunting, didn't mind you going out with the boys to catch a Mets game, would never say "no" when you returned. :exactly:

acar555
02-09-2010, 03:55 PM
"If you build it they will come"

yarcraft91
02-09-2010, 05:38 PM
I guess everything in life has trade offs'. You could say that about a lot of things. I wish I could take things from Dodge, ford and Chevy to make a super truck. How about the super wife? She would look like a S.I. Cover model, Extremely wealthy, cook and take care of me like my mother use to ( never ran out of socks when I lived at home) , would always let you go fishing and hunting, didn't mind you going out with the boys to catch a Mets game, would never say "no" when you returned. :exactly:

I've never had the nerve to ask my wife to describe the perfect husband.
:peepwall:

LWinches
02-09-2010, 08:50 PM
I guess everything in life has trade offs'. You could say that about a lot of things. I wish I could take things from Dodge, ford and Chevy to make a super truck. How about the super wife? She would look like a S.I. Cover model, Extremely wealthy, cook and take care of me like my mother use to ( never ran out of socks when I lived at home) , would always let you go fishing and hunting, didn't mind you going out with the boys to catch a Mets game, would never say "no" when you returned. :exactly:

FinsNFeet,

I'd bet your wife don't look on WalleyeCentral. But you did make a good point. It's easy to take advances that companies individually make and want them all in one unit. No comment about the wife stuff.

Burr
02-09-2010, 08:54 PM
Ya know LW - when you really stop and think about it, what has really changed in "sonar" technology? Not much. Sonar, is sonar. Same as it was back in WWII.

I agree 100% on the frequency point. How could something we've wanted for so long, still not be made available as an option on new electronics? My 20 year old Si-Tex runs at 120 kHz, which is why it has so often been on my boat opposite a 200 kHz unit. I can still get parts for it. The Si-Tex had clean sonar decades ago, now it's an optional and 'new feature' to be as good as we were decades ago? If the mfgrs wouldn't have messed up display processors, cleaned up sonar displays wouldn't be a 'new feature'! It's only making up for recent technology failures.

LWinches
02-10-2010, 06:27 AM
Burr,

I have a Hbird Matrix 47 on the back of the boat. It runs on 455 Khz. It is unbelievable how frequently what is seen at one end of the boat is so different than what is seen at the other end of the boat. Networked systems that have two fishermen looking down thru one transducer don't get it. Ice fishermen know this. I hate to say it but there seems to be a huge disconnect between the manufacturers and the fishermen.

The Genetron I have also runs on 120 Khz. It's a great unit but I can't run it and the Vexilar. Hbird makes some flashers that work on 240 Khz but they don't offer that in a graph.

Thanks for your comments.