Thread: Someone please explain/ FF GPS questions

Higher power improves the fishfinder's ability to see small objects. I wouldn't pay much attention to power unless you are comparing two units from the same manufacturer. There is no standard for measuring it, and it can be hard to tell what the numbers mean.

Higher pixel count improves the fishfinder's ability to display small objects. High power is useless without the pixels to benefit from it.

Even moderate cost units can show a crappie jig in the water, so it isn't that big a deal.

Choosing the Proper Fishing Sonar

SpeckWick,
You have to remember that these lower end fish finders are sort of dual purpose. (That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with them. On the contrary, they are usually pretty tough little units.) They are geared toward the occasional fisherman who also wants to use it as a depth finder. The higher RMS (if I remember correctly) will give you a quicker, more accurate depth reading at cruising speeds. I know a lot of people here on Kentucky Lake that use them on their ski boats because every now and then they like to wet a hook but their primary use is for depth reading. Also, if your lake is somewhat a shallow lake (say 1-50 feet) you usually don't need a very powerful unit and the high resolution will help you on target seperation on your display.

As far as an external antenna, let me give you something to think about. On my boat, I have an external antenna mounted right above my sidescan transducer. One reason is so that when I mark something on my screen as a waypoint, there is no built in error of 10 feet. If your unit is mounted 10 feet away from your transducer and you are using your internal antenna and you mark something on your screen, you have added a 10 foot error to your waypoint. Also an external antenna will help your reception considerably because your body and boat parts won't be blocking the signal in any way. Do you have to have an external...No, but there are advantages.

Now, I own Lowrance units and I'm not knocking HB but I can use my external antennas on any of my units by way of NMEA 2K cables and share waypoints. I'm sure HB has something of the same sort so you could network your units and you could share your antenna and you wouldn't have to be moving your memory card around unless you are using it with a preloaded map. Please don't misinterpret this as me downing Hummingbirds. I just don't know much about them. Hope this answers some of your questions.

Thanks guys. Also thanks Joby @ Humminbird for the pm. I think I am going with the HB 768. It has high resolution and power output. Plus I believe it has an external antenna. Sixfin, I understand your point about the location of the antenna over the transducer. Makes perfect sense, and for crappie fishing submerged brush that would be extremely important. I wasn't planning to buy anything truly "low end", just less expensive than a SI for now. I plan on mounting the new unit on my console since that one is dead right now. Once I finally step up to a SI, I plan on either moving the 768 to the front or putting the SI up front, but that's at least gonna be later in the year. Good thing is the 768 is networkable with the SI. That's really what made my decision for me. Less changes to make later. Again, thanks for all the help. I'll probably be back asking for advice on installation in a couple weeks, lol.

We're out in the cold when it comes to meaningful ways to tell what is good or not in the fish finder world. Obfuscation and BS seem to be the order of the day when it comes to what manufacturers think we need to know.

256 Color TFT Screen, 300 Watts RMS, 2000 Watts (peak-to-peak) 200Khz/20 degrees @ -10db

What the hell is all that supposed to mean? I know, but knowing doesn't tell me a darn thing about how well this particular fish finder will work for my way of fishing.

Originally Posted by Fishtaco

We're out in the cold when it comes to meaningful ways to tell what is good or not in the fish finder world. Obfuscation and BS seem to be the order of the day when it comes to what manufacturers think we need to know.

256 Color TFT Screen, 300 Watts RMS, 2000 Watts (peak-to-peak) 200Khz/20 degrees @ -10db

What the hell is all that supposed to mean? I know, but knowing doesn't tell me a darn thing about how well this particular fish finder will work for my way of fishing.

:D:D:D

Originally Posted by Fishtaco

We're out in the cold when it comes to meaningful ways to tell what is good or not in the fish finder world. Obfuscation and BS seem to be the order of the day when it comes to what manufacturers think we need to know.

256 Color TFT Screen, 300 Watts RMS, 2000 Watts (peak-to-peak) 200Khz/20 degrees @ -10db

What the hell is all that supposed to mean? I know, but knowing doesn't tell me a darn thing about how well this particular fish finder will work for my way of fishing.

OK, I thought I was confident with my choice. You guys aren't helping me here.:D How 'bout I just buy the one with the highest BS numbers that I can afford and cross my fingers?:D

Sounds like a plan!