Tweet
I installed three Scotty rod holders on the new Manta Ray today. Before drilling holes for my old black and white Lowrance X-96 fishfinder, I connected it to the battery and could get no juice at all. I cleaned the terminals and tried it again on both my portable battery as well as a fully charged car battery. I am getting no signal at all to the screen unit. Given that it is more than 5 years old, had been giving me intermittent problems before, and was a modest-priced unit to start with, I decided that I will get a new fishfinder.
I looked back through some of the posts on similar topics to see what advice or experience had been offered. Several commenters suggested color units and others suggested getting both sonar and GPS. Still other push for the side-scan or DSI capability.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Unlike some other MKF members, I intend to use my fishfinder primarily to know what the depth is and what the bottom contours look like where I am. I rarely make long trips in open water or fish in deep water from my kayak (I have a power boat to use when I want to go to those locations). Therefore I do not need the ability to see fish throughout the water column in any more than a gross sense.
2. I never paddle out of sight of land and therefore don't feel that I need a GPS. If I ever get carried away and want to go somewhere where I might get lost, I do have an old handheld GPS plus the GPS mapping features on my smart phone.
3. The spot on my kayak deck where I had mounted the previous fishfinder and will mount the new fishfinder is a long reach from my seat. I like it there so it is out of the way of the rods and the paddle. But as a result of that installation location, I am unlikely to push buttons very often. Typically I leave the screen in the 2X magnification view nearly all the time.
4. With my aging eyes, a 3.5"-4" screen is too small. I want a 5" screen.
5. I have owned Lowrance units over the years and am comfortable with their screens and features. I think I will stay with the Lowrance line.
That narrows down my choices. I plan to visit one or more shops to look at different Mark-5X (black and white) and Elite-5X (color) units, then decide which is the best bang for the buck within my needs categories.
After that long-winded introduction, here are two questions I pose to anyone out there who knows the answers:
A. I plan to install my transducer inside the hull, either using putty or Goop. I have heard that Lowrance does not recommend that DSI units use in-hull mounting for transducers as they do not perform well when the transducer is mounted that way -- True or False? Have any of you installed a DSI unit that way?
B. I went to the plumbing aisle in Home Depot this evening to look for duct putty. I had the impression it came in sticks (like a stick of butter). I found no product there called duct putty and nothing packaged in sticks. I did, however, find plumbers putty in small plastic tubs. Is that the same stuff as duct putty? If not, where can I find duct putty? The small tub was about the size of a yogurt container. The larger size was the size of a soft margarine tub -- is one small tub enough?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
I looked back through some of the posts on similar topics to see what advice or experience had been offered. Several commenters suggested color units and others suggested getting both sonar and GPS. Still other push for the side-scan or DSI capability.
Here are my thoughts:
1. Unlike some other MKF members, I intend to use my fishfinder primarily to know what the depth is and what the bottom contours look like where I am. I rarely make long trips in open water or fish in deep water from my kayak (I have a power boat to use when I want to go to those locations). Therefore I do not need the ability to see fish throughout the water column in any more than a gross sense.
2. I never paddle out of sight of land and therefore don't feel that I need a GPS. If I ever get carried away and want to go somewhere where I might get lost, I do have an old handheld GPS plus the GPS mapping features on my smart phone.
3. The spot on my kayak deck where I had mounted the previous fishfinder and will mount the new fishfinder is a long reach from my seat. I like it there so it is out of the way of the rods and the paddle. But as a result of that installation location, I am unlikely to push buttons very often. Typically I leave the screen in the 2X magnification view nearly all the time.
4. With my aging eyes, a 3.5"-4" screen is too small. I want a 5" screen.
5. I have owned Lowrance units over the years and am comfortable with their screens and features. I think I will stay with the Lowrance line.
That narrows down my choices. I plan to visit one or more shops to look at different Mark-5X (black and white) and Elite-5X (color) units, then decide which is the best bang for the buck within my needs categories.
After that long-winded introduction, here are two questions I pose to anyone out there who knows the answers:
A. I plan to install my transducer inside the hull, either using putty or Goop. I have heard that Lowrance does not recommend that DSI units use in-hull mounting for transducers as they do not perform well when the transducer is mounted that way -- True or False? Have any of you installed a DSI unit that way?
B. I went to the plumbing aisle in Home Depot this evening to look for duct putty. I had the impression it came in sticks (like a stick of butter). I found no product there called duct putty and nothing packaged in sticks. I did, however, find plumbers putty in small plastic tubs. Is that the same stuff as duct putty? If not, where can I find duct putty? The small tub was about the size of a yogurt container. The larger size was the size of a soft margarine tub -- is one small tub enough?
Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
). After re-thinking the mounting location for the unit, I believe I can mount it in a position near enough to my seat to reach easily. That would allow me to get a combo FF/GPS unit. Once I passed that decision threshold, I came up with another idea. I have a nice 5" color FF/GPS (Lowrance LMS 527C) unit on my center console that has performed very well for several years. I am considering relocating that to my kayak and replacing the unit on the center console with an HDS 5. That way I can upgrade the electronics on both vessels at the same time. Even better, both units use the same transducer, so I would not need to re-install the transducer on the center console -- I can just plug in the new HDS5. I have not pulled the trigger yet, but that is my latest plan.
Comment