I'm still pondering about buying a side view fish finder. After watching countless videos about reading about sonar, down scan and side scan I've decided that the more I study, the more confused I get.
Am I correct that on regular old sonar you can see the arches which display fish. On down scan you don't see arches but do see structure better (so you should run both at the same time if possible to get the most info). And both old sonar and down scan only show a coned shaped area whose diameter at the bottom is about equal to 1/3 the depth your in. So if I'm in 15 ft of water I'm only seeing an area that is 5 ft in diameter? Sure doesn't seem like much!
And side scan will see almost straight down from the boat and say 75 ft to each side? If fish are suspended can you see them and tell how far away from the side of the boat they are? Or for that matter how far away a structure is from the boat?
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