transducer question

[MikeP]

Just like someone could argue that a .22 rifle sucks compared to a .375H&H the issue is simply, "what is the application?" Are you going to shoot rabbits to eat or grizzly bears to hang on the wall?

Their are several Airmar in-hull transducers. They vary in power and can shoot thorough a 1" thick FG hull and accurately measure max depth from 400 ft to nearly 1400 ft depending on the unit (deeper if the hull is thinner). Garmin lists the relevant transducers on their own website and recommends the in hulls for depth (only) information. Based on Airmar's recommendations I installed the Airmar P79, their second lowest power unit and, as I noted, the in-hull/through hull depth readings are identical at all depths I have encountered in the CHes Bay.

A search of the cruising and other boat forums will reveal that in-hulls are used by by operators of boats from 15 feet to beyond 70. You will even find sites of serious fisherman showing excellent bottom/fish data on the screen supplied by in-hull transducers even though they are not recommended for that purpose by chartlplotter makers such as Garmin.

If you are concerned about conflicting opinions as far as decision-making, just do some general research - thankfully very easy to do nowadays - and decide what will work for your application. Searching more than one site is useful because you get a much broader spectrum. Single sites sometimes have the "usual suspects" personality-wise and this stuff can often turn into a Ford vs Chevy vs Mopar thing. OTOH, understanding personalities/likes/dislikes can help as well. Just as knowing you always agree with person X is helpful, so is knowing you always disagree with person Y. You can make a decision that works for you based on either result!

( Mopars of course!

[z28jimi]

Nope...Chevy. (Z28 when they were still real)

[MikeP]

I wondered whether your "Z28" was related to the cars and, if so whether it was the current one or the real ones.

[rsmith]

Whats that saying? "I'd rather have NOCAR than a MOPAR"

[Boatsb]

Just like someone could argue that a .22 rifle sucks compared to a .375H&H the issue is simply, "what is the application?" Are you going to shoot rabbits to eat or grizzly bears to hang on the wall?

Their are several Airmar in-hull transducers. They vary in power and can shoot thorough a 1" thick FG hull and accurately measure max depth from 400 ft to nearly 1400 ft depending on the unit (deeper if the hull is thinner). Garmin lists the relevant transducers on their own website and recommends the in hulls for depth (only) information. Based on Airmar's recommendations I installed the Airmar P79, their second lowest power unit and, as I noted, the in-hull/through hull depth readings are identical at all depths I have encountered in the CHes Bay.

A search of the cruising and other boat forums will reveal that in-hulls are used by by operators of boats from 15 feet to beyond 70. You will even find sites of serious fisherman showing excellent bottom/fish data on the screen supplied by in-hull transducers even though they are not recommended for that purpose by chartlplotter makers such as Garmin.

If you are concerned about conflicting opinions as far as decision-making, just do some general research - thankfully very easy to do nowadays - and decide what will work for your application. Searching more than one site is useful because you get a much broader spectrum. Single sites sometimes have the "usual suspects" personality-wise and this stuff can often turn into a Ford vs Chevy vs Mopar thing. OTOH, understanding personalities/likes/dislikes can help as well. Just as knowing you always agree with person X is helpful, so is knowing you always disagree with person Y. You can make a decision that works for you based on either result!

( Mopars of course!

I'm glad the internet is so great for testing. What do they use as a metric to measure the performance of them? Is it a "looked good to me" or "it worked so it's just as good"? Remember all the posts there are from people like you justifying their decision any way they can.

[Avenger]

Nope...Chevy. (Z28 when they were still real)

Real Novas?

[Boatsb]

They made real Z28's?

Remember the NO VA was a hit in Latin countries too.

[Boatnut]

Here we go again. Someone asked can they use a data marine transducer on a new garmin. Good answers were given, yet that's not enough now someone wants to turn it into an arguement for thru hull transducers. Enough already, it is technically almost inpossible to have a shoot through transducer match the performance of a through hull. Even if they make one that would match the performance, no one here would spend the money for it.

It's not a matter of ford vs chevy vs nopar or anything else it's all about technology, and physics.

Hearsay is worth what you pay for it. I don't think anyone in the ches bay area has been in 1000" of water to test one there, so how do you really know?

[z28jimi]

And without going back to see who said it, someone up above alluded to the most important factor...match the tool to the job. I don't want to know if a fish 200 feet below me has a birthmark. I just want to know if I have 50 feet of water under me, or 5 feet. At my intended rate of travel, I don't need super-fast response. Yeah, a state of the art through hull transducer that can show a soup can on the bottom in 600 feet is neat, but I don't need that power. Or cost. I may go with a through hull if I pull the boat to paint it and want to poke a new hole, or I may stay inside the boat. In either case, I'll get the information I need.

My old Z28 could separate your retinas, and I've scared myself silly more than once when I put the boot to it. Would I also have been fairly satisfied with a Boss 302 or a Hemi-Cuda? You bet. But I had a Z. Had it for 14 years. Wish I still had it.

[MikeP]

""I'd rather have NOCAR than a MOPAR""

That's good, I had never heard that one!