Choosing a Fish Finder

[freebird2]

spend the $$$ & get a good unit & Transducer.

[wassachu]

You haven't mentioned a Humminbird and probably for good reason. I purchased a Humminbird 595C new in April 2006. I was trying to save money. My last Humminbird was a 1990 and still running with no problems. My new Humminbird has been back to the factory 5 times for four different reasons. Each time I got it back I got a new Indicator, different serial number, or new GPS antenna, different serial number. Will it work this Spring???? It cost $500.

Either of those two brands mentioned are good. Look for the options you'll use. There's a lot of add-on features that may be nice but are never used.

[pmagrady]

Dan, If you have room on the boat to fit the 585 (It's a big unit) consider spending the $$$.

I did that and I have no regrets. If bottom detail for bottom fishing is important the better transducer will pay dividends. If you troll and just need to follow contour then the cheaper transducer will work for you.

[Albiemanmike]

I have followed your thread on the other site as well. Plenty of folks have given you solid advice. If you are serious about the depths you are talking about don't skimp on the unit and transducer. If you go with the FCV 620 and a P66 you will be very disappointed. I had a P66 and it wasn't very good at anything and I bought it to replace the one that came with my Lowrance unit. I am now installing a Furuno Navnet VX2 System with an Airmar M260 1Kw. transducer and it will blow the doors off of anything I have had previously. I don't fish nearly as deep as you most of the time but I am deadly serious when it comes to my electronics and after wasting money over the years trying to save a few bucks I have learned the hard way that you need to spend the money to get the performance PERIOD! So please save yourself a lot of hassle and money and buy the FCV 585 and M260/B164/SS264W transducer and hold on to your pants cause it will blow them off.

[Dan in Alaska]

I should probably update my post......

We bought the FCV-620 w/ the P66 transducer. Funds would just not allow for a $2K fish finder, as nice as it would have been. We'll spend the money we saved on the FF and put it toward a new chartplotter & radar next spring.

First impressions of the new fish finder:

The new Furuno is pretty amazing! My old Garmin 160 Blue would lose track of the bottom at around 200 feet, when running at 30 MPH. I thought that was pretty good, since it outperformed many of my friend's set-ups. The Furuno unit, with the standard Airmar P66 transducer, held fast and gave readings to nearly 800 feet while running at 30+ MPH. I was more than impressed; I was shocked!

The Furuno's bottom-lock feature will come in handy, as well. On the right side of the screen, it displays the entire water column. On the left, it zooms the display to only show the bottom 15 feet of the bottom. It provides great resolution for bottom fishing. I look forward to hitting all of my favorite fishing spots with my new "eyes" to see what I've been missing all these years.

[vanc]

I installed the Furuno 620 with a through hull 600W transducer.

IT IS AWESOME........I see even the small bait no problem.

THe through hull ducer adds alot to the package, I've had transom mounts for years, but this blows them away....I keep bottom readings over 35 mph....

Like others said the 620 only accepts 600W, the 585 1000W ducers, but for my purposes where, deepest fishing is less than 200' and thats not very often. The 600W has plenty of punch. Dual frequency on all the time and you see everything.

Quick spin knob to change the major features is sweet, they got the Sheit together.

All good I say, and I have not even taken it out of auto yet............as I'm still learning.

Good luck.......

[got4on]

I should probably update my post......

We bought the FCV-620 w/ the P66 transducer. Funds would just not allow for a $2K fish finder, as nice as it would have been. We'll spend the money we saved on the FF and put it toward a new chartplotter & radar next spring.

First impressions of the new fish finder:

The new Furuno is pretty amazing! My old Garmin 160 Blue would lose track of the bottom at around 200 feet, when running at 30 MPH. I thought that was pretty good, since it outperformed many of my friend's set-ups. The Furuno unit, with the standard Airmar P66 transducer, held fast and gave readings to nearly 800 feet while running at 30+ MPH. I was more than impressed; I was shocked!

The Furuno's bottom-lock feature will come in handy, as well. On the right side of the screen, it displays the entire water column. On the left, it zooms the display to only show the bottom 15 feet of the bottom. It provides great resolution for bottom fishing. I look forward to hitting all of my favorite fishing spots with my new "eyes" to see what I've been missing all these years.

were you in 50 or 200hz seeing 800 feet??

[Dan in Alaska]

were you in 50 or 200hz seeing 800 feet??

Both. I usually leave it in "dual" mode when I'm running. The 200Mhz side of the screen is usually less cluttered, though.

[got4on]

Both. I usually leave it in "dual" mode when I'm running. The 200Mhz side of the screen is usually less cluttered, though.

thats a great machine....i just got one a few months ago to replace my old 600l....