does sonar need to be reconsidered?

[daren]

Sorry, I misunderstood your simulator statement, they don't have one on line but to be honest I think the Eagle/Lowrance simulators show the units to be more easily read than they are. As for the usefullness of the three view screen, I think it would be great if I trolled alot but it really does need to be bigger to be of best value or maybe just show three strips, left, center, and right so that they can still get decent detail on the screen. Imagine, 240 vertical resolution, split so the entire center display is across the top third of the screen, gives you 80 pixel vertical resolution on the center screen. You would think the side views would be better but they really aren't so it really limits your detail in the three way view. Three 240 v. x 80 h. views would have given better resolution even if they would not have had much history on the screen.

I beleive Bottom Line Offers such a set-up on their top model that includes the large screen and multiple transducers, possibly including the sidefinder. Don't know how much you can read at the same time.

[daren]

The difference with the Bottomline units is they use a more direct sidefinder as opposed to down and out. This feature does not give a bottom reading to either side of the boat which eliminates using it to track bottom hugging fish. It does work to a degree on suspended fish but I really feel the matrix side finder feature would be more usefull for most of my methods of fishing.

The side views also allow you to spot structure your passing near but not over and to see better how large peices of structure are put together better as you get three views of the structure/cover at one pass. Unfortunately, the resolution of the three way view greatly cripples this ability. Otherwise, you would be able to travel down a channel and pick out stumps, submerged trees, drops, humps, etc... and be able to see how fish are relating directly and be able to tell to what side of the boat that stucture/cover is located allowing you to narrow your search until you were over the particular bottom feature that attracted you using only the narrow center transducer. This ability would allow a person to work small areas on unfamiliar lakes very well. Travel along a point and as it gets deeper the three views would give you a decent look at that point allowing you to spot a secondary point or cut on the point as well as if there are fish present and where in the water column. As you can imagine, being able to do this would greatly help find active fish of whatever species you are targeting.

Here's the bottom line....
All fisherman should be fishing for suckers because we are suckers! I will promise you that as long as the manufacturers produce expensive finders, we will buy them. (atleast those of us that can afford them!) Yes, the newer technology can pinpoint fish in a mudpuddle! Do we really need it...no. Is it fun to have and play with....YES!

I believe that fishing brings out the competitor within us. Most of us will fall for anything that promises to give us that edge that will make us better than the next guy. I honestly believe that fisherman are naturally "gadget" people. We will spend money on gismoes that we never had 5 years ago...and now we think we cannot fish without!

Finally, it is a pride thing. "yeah, I got 2 x-19 units on my dash, and a x-15 up front!" Then the next guy says.. "Well I just bought the x-104 to go with my x-15's"

Rigging our boats is no different than gearheads that modify cars.. We're always looking for the latest and greatest.

Last month we fished a tourney. The guys that won it had an old Eagle Finder that was atleast 10 years old!

Admittedly, older equipment is still usefull, however, the newer equipment out now, even the low end equipment, is far beyong what was out even a few years ago. The price of good performance has dropped markedly and appears to be continuing to drop more and more. At under $150.00 you can purchase units now that are far superior to the units that cost two or three times that amount just four years ago. The great thing about this is the technology does now have to differentiate itself from the pack to do well.

I feel that at this time Humminbird is on the right track. They are not yet there fully but they are deffinately on the right track. Many of their units now are excellent bargains for the money. I would not get the matrix 35 though because it's one benefit over the 25 is the tri view screen which does not offer the resolution it needs to be truly usefull. All of the other units they offer have features that make them very competitive and in my opinion better than many of the other name brand units out there. Now, if you turn off the fish symbols on these units you see arches. With the fish symbols turned on you still see other echos that the unit is not interpreting as fish, and I believe they will tell you which cone the fish was seen in. You now have dual frequency technology and the ability to control the sensitivity of both frequencies independently as well as to turn off one or the other frequency. Their gray line is very good and can be controlled or even turned off if you wish. Their GPS has the best base map I have seen for fishing and appears to be the most user friendly of the fishing GPS units. Be aware though that I have not actually used this feature so cannot tell you it is the easiest to use. So in conclusion, YES, an old unit will work, but no, it will not work as well as many newer units and many of them are not that expensive at all.

I believe the Matrix units start at $125.00 and go up slowly to the Matrix 65 GPS/sounder which is available right now from some Gander Mountain stores for $399.00. Quite a bargain for a mapping GPS not to mention one with built in fishfinder of the quality it has.


To be fair, Lowrance/Eagle also offers many decent units in these price ranges, but currently I do not feel they match the quality and value of the Humminbirds. Also, be aware that for a very long time I would rather of had no finder than a Humminbird on my boat. They have come a long way.

Garmin units appeared at one time to be the biggest competition that Lowrance had, since they have not come out with any new units and their current units have not dropped in price enough to match those from other companies I feel that unlese they start releasing new units soon at much better prices then they will not be a big player in future recreational inland fishing boats.

Bottomline seems to be abandoning it's sidefinder technology as newer units do not seem to have it. Some of their newer units do appear quite nice but I do not feel they have the price/performance points of other units yet. They have deffinately come down though and are closing the gap from their history of high priced units. Their model 4300 from Reeds is only $189.00 with free speed and temp. This unit is older with sidefinder technology and offers 320 V. resolution and is likely the best buy fishfinder on the market at this time.

What is "deeper" water? I have done this in water as shallow as 8 ft.

[BlackSilver]

I have a PinPoint 7520 and a 3700-series trolling motor. This gives me a choice of 6 transducers, and I can use them in combination, looking straight down and at an angle to either side for example. Not only can I detect bottom-huggers, but I can look at the slope of a breakline (on either the up or downside of the boat) and see if fish are relating to a certain level in the water column or to a certain level on the structure. Often when I'm "bored" I just dink around with the different views and find something which just a "downlooker" (of any cone angle) wouldn't have made clear.

Walk softly and carry a big fish.

Hans/MN
--
"Gain to the verge of the hog-back ridge where the vision ranges free: Pines and pines and the shadow of pines as far as the eye can see; A steadfast legion of stalwart knights in dominant empery."