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I just bought my first down imaging fish finder and was wondering the best spot for the screen. I was going to put it on the bow so when I am trolling I can see it better to mark my spot but was told the boat needs to be moving at least 3.5 mph for down imaging to work. Don't think the ole trolling motor has that kind of power so wondered if I should mount it near the drivers seat...
What boat do you own?
It a fisher marsh hawk 170
The speed at which the boat is moving is not as important as the boat moving period ...
Because imaging (DI/SI) is rendered from echo data received in a "thin slice" sonar beam ...the boat needs to be moving in order to ping a different "slice" of water each ping ...
Imaging will work stationary ...but the targets will be pinged repeatedly and painted as smears in the displayed image ...
Rickie
Ricky is right. Especially for DI, the speed can be very low but to get the pretty pics, the boat has to be moving some. The speed might have to be a little higher for SI. I get good pics at .3 mph, just match chart speed to boat speed
Thanks guys. The other thing I was thinking is that it would be easier to find and mark spots going 3-6 mph if it was mounted near the drivers seat. I just liked the idea of having it on the bow but may be a bad idea.
Got my DI unit mounted on the bow, transducer on TM .... no complaints so far. Get good images at <1mph :
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You just have to be aware of the fact that your "ping" goes out in a thin, fan shaped, side to side direction ... so any turning of the TM can skew your image momentarily, plus it's reading a different angle unless pointing straight forward.
Here's an example of what happens when you have to make a quick turn, to avoid an oncoming tree top :
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Notice how I passed over the first Cedar and got a good image, then had to swerve to miss running the TM into the next one :Doh: (which was much taller & trunk was broken off just below the waterline)
These images are from my Lowrance Elite 5 DSI/Chartplotter (now discontinued), so I'd expect newer DI units to give even better performance.
... cp :kewl
Thanks! Those are some really nice pictures.
It isn't too expensive to have two locations for one head unit. That's what I did with my first DI. I put a transom 'ducer in back and mounted the unit at the console so I would be able to see the GPS/Nav screens. Then I bought a TM 'ducer and all the stuff to just move the head to the bow whenever I stopped to fish and wanted to use DI/2D. If you go with Humminbird, all you have to do is call them and tell them you want to buy a "second station" and they will send you all the parts you need.
I use my 1199 at the front of the console and the front of the boat. I have the balls for the 11" arm and move the whole thing back and forth. I use it more by the console when pulling cranks and jigs. Then I will shift up front when bass fishing. I have my cables in a loom. Not a problem.
Don
with that boat I'd move the unit from the bow to console as needed. With my console I can simply flip the unit around and see it well enough from the bow to get by.
I have the di on the bow, transducer on the trolling motor and love it. When I put in si it will be on the console and going to arrange it so I can turn it around to see it from the bow.