need recommedation for a new depthfinder

[motoryacht lover]

I have a 1995 Datamarine depthfinder that is starting to misread in water deeper than 25 feet. If I turn the unit off and back on it will read right for 30 seconds or so. Anyway I have made the decision to install a new depthfinder. In the past I had good luck with the Raytheon ST 60 but I am hearing about poor product support. What brand should I buy? Thanks for your time.

 

[Nonchalant1]

You could consider one of the forward looking sonar depth finders. I have the Echo-Pilot as one of my 2 depth finders and it gives you a good view of what the depth is both under and in front of the boat. However, if you only have one, go for a standard type. My standard is an ST 60 and it works great. No experience with support because it has just worked great for 5 years.

Doug

 

[SeaEric]

Ditto on the ST 60. No problems whatsoever. Reads out in nice BIG numbers.

 

[bobk]

I don't know where you are located, but if you cruise the ditch much, you might consider a Humminbird Matrix 37 if you can find one. These (and it's predecessor Matrix 27) have four heads in a single housing, two for straight down (deep and shallow) and two for right and left. When you are in a narrow channel and get a low reading, you might find more water on one side or the other. They have saved my bacon a couple of times. No mechanical issues ten+ years of ownership.

BobK
'Chateau de Mer'
1981 48MY
Marathon

 

[egaito]

I have a couple of digital only units on the boat, but only use them as backup. I like the trend that a "fishfinder" offers at minimum. Seeing the bottom come up in my peripheral vision is useful.

One of my units is an Interphase forward scanner. While it's not really effective for avoiding things under speed, it is excellent at spotting high spots and trends in front of you. You'll know when you're heading out of the channel. While Lanier was 20 ft down, topped trees were pretty close to the surface in areas, which I was able to spot with this unit.

I'm also warming up to the Humminbird side scanners. The resolution on these units is pretty incredible. At an EMS show, they brought images and film of search and rescue work. I could not only see the victim in the demo, but the appendages and body position were clear. Almost as clear as a FLIR image, only 3 dimensional.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I've had a number of Standard Horizon depth finders. As long as the transducer is clean, they read fine. No service required as yet. They will also do the remote read thing, with a second display powered off the first one. Actually, I've never had a problem with ANY Standard Horizon equipment, unless you count my blowing the internal fuse on a hailer unit, which wasn't their fault. And they fixed it for free.

 

[motoryacht lover]

Thank you all for responding. In my search for a new depthfinder I have found out that there is a 235 hertz (?) transducer that won't read much more than 200 feet but will read down to a foot below the transducer very accurately with none of the obviosly wrong readings and flashing dashes. I am most interested with the shallow than the deep. I think I am going to go with a depthsounder for my 6000i on one type of transducer and go with a new digital on the 235 transducer. Right now the boat is in Stuart, FL but its homebase is Wilmington, NC. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge and experience. I am going to take another look at the Hummingbird side sonar and the Interphase.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I have the sonar attachment for my 6000i system and it works fine. I have had it for a few years. It agrees with the Standard unit, FWIW. Most of my boating is in very shallow water- less than forty feet- so the ability to read in shallow water is a lot more important to me than the ability in, say, over fifty feet.

It seems to me that I had some trouble getting the NS system running- I had to update something- but since then it's worked fine. I do like the security of a standalone "dumb" depthfinder which doesn't depend on the GPS/plotter system being up and running to tell me how much water I'm in.

All of the transducers are made by the same company, whose name I now forget. I think it is Airmar. They sell several different transducers for each application. If you decide to go with the Northstar sonar add-on, it would be worth it to get the best Airmar transducer you can afford.