info Garmin 550c anyone using this?? and battery types

[YaknBass]

if anyone is using a Garmin fishfinder...curious of your experience with them. also battery types... any recomondations...i'm sure this topic has been well covered...but looking for some help from your experience... my preference would be a smaller battery that could provide 8 to 10 hours of use if possiable. transducer mounts seem like a lot of are wet mounted thru hull types... is that the mose effecent mounting system? Thanks in advance for any help & info provided. all the best!! Bent Rods & Tight Lines Always!!

[mweber02]

I have the Garmin Echo 150 and it works well enough through the hull in a duct seal wet well. I'm sure there is a level of sensitivity lost or hindered by going through the hull but it seems like the safest place and keeps it out of the way so your line can't get tangled around it. Other than that you just have to give it a little time for the hull temp to adjust to the water temp.

Unfortunately I have not been able to find power draw information anywhere from Garmin, so I have no idea how much power they use. I have a 7.2ah battery from amazon that works just fine with mine. I probably got at least 10 hours out of it straight out of the box before I charged it by choice not necessity. A color model with a larger screen will draw more power but not sure how much.

[Cowpokey]

I picked up a 12 volt, 7 amp hour battery from Bass Pro for ~$25. Powers my Lowrance Elite 4 HDI for at least 14 hours on a single charge, so far that's as long as I've used it between charging.

This isn't the same one I bought, but looks to be the same size and specs.
http://www.basspro.com/RedHead-Recha...product/49382/

[john from md]

Buy any universal SLA battery on Ebay from 5 to 7 amps and you will be fine. Don't waste money on name brands as they all last several years if you keep them charged.

John

[YaknBass]

Thanks for the feed back it is appreciated and very helpfull!! the battery question is solved. now with the transducer sounds like the wet mounting thru hull vs the putty is more consistent...Any body mount the transducer on the rudder....???