DamnYankee

I got one about three weeks ago (797 combo). I ordered it from an outfit in Maine; cost $1,100. I had a Lowrance X-65 which came on the boat when I bought it 7 years ago. I guess it was time to upgrade and I wanted one with color. I did a little research and decided I wanted a new Humminbird with side imaging. The transducer is HUGE. I mounted it on the transom of my Ranger R82 Sport. It reads the bottom EXTREMELY well under 30 MPH. Once I get over 30 it sometimes looses the bottom. According to the directions it reads best between 2 - 6 MPH (side imaging). My son, grand children and I went to Lake Mitchell this past weekend and it was fantastic. Between the 4 of us we caught over 20 bass (3 were at 3 pounds or a little better), a 5 pound drum, and several bluegill. All of us caught fish (grandchildren are 8 and 9 years old and we used artifical lures). We were able to find the channel up near the dam (under the bridge) and throw to 6 foot area and drag the lures over the edge into 25 foot area. You can spot humps, submerged trees, boulders, etc. The GPS works great also. I got my unit with Navonics loaded so you can follow channels while running 60 MPH instead of watching depths. If I had to do it over I would have invested a "few" more dollars and bought the wider screen (grampa's eye's aren't what they used to be).

I recently upgraded from a Lowrance X-65 shoot through the hull depth finder to a Humminbird 797C2 combo with side image transducer. I've run the cables and wiring and am now stuck on the best way/place to mount the transducer. It has to be mounted on the transom for the side imaging to work. What I didn't count on is the two "steps" the hull makes from the bow of the boat to the transom. According to the instructions it needs to be mounted at least 15" from the motor/propeller in a low/no turbulance area. My boat is a Ranger Sport R82 model which has the rear sides angled forward from the transom which means I can't mount it too far off to the side or it wouldn't be perpendicular to a line drawn down the middle of the boat. My question is: have any of you fellow anglers run into this scenerio before and how did you resolve it?

Tacoman, like you I'm curious as to how well the quadrabeam works. I've been looking at sonars/GPS models for over a month now and decided to take a chance. I ordered the Hummingbird 787-C2 with a quadrabeam transom mount transducer. I have a Lowrance X-65 that's several years old and the last four years it hasn't worked very well. I sent it back to have it repaired but it still won't work in "auto" mode. The transducer shoots through the hull on my Lowrance. My son and grandchildren gave me a Hummingbird 535 for the front end of the boat last Christmas and I'm very pleased with it. I ordered a "wide side" transducer to put on the trolling motor to help (I hope) locate fish along the banks when I take my grandchildren fishing. They can get bored pretty quick if something isn't biting. The 787-C2 with quadrabeam transducer wasn't in stock so I back ordered it (maybe that's a sign that they are pretty good). With a little luck I'll have it mounted and on the water before the end of February. If so I'll let you know how it performed.

You'll notice this is my first post. I've been visiting the forum for a few weeks; just seeing what's here. I tow a 1997 Ranger SportR82 (my wife bought it for me on our anniversary). Boat, motor, and trailer weigh about 3,100 when loaded (8 fishing rods, enough gear to keep my grandchildren trying new lures and techniques, etc). Tow vehicle is a 2005 Dodge 3/4 ton four wheel drive with a Cummins Deisel (20 plus miles per gallon to and from work; about 18 miles per gallon towing the boat). I know it's a little overkill but I always wanted a Cummins; hard to tell the boat is back there most of the time.