ninjab Posted July 16, 2014 Posted July 16, 2014 Looking to get a fish finder for my dad, he currently has a black and white 10 yr old hb at the console that came with his ranger. What would be the most logical upgrade path? I know next to nothing about fish finders, but I'm thinking a bow mounted finder with either a trolling motor mounted side imaging or 360 imaging. I'll probably be doing the install myself as it is tough for us to get the boat out to a dealer, so simplicity of install would be an added bonus. Budget is totally up in the air, maybe around $2000, but can go higher if it is worth it. thanks for any insight Quote
Super User Wayne P. Posted July 16, 2014 Super User Posted July 16, 2014 MSRP for the bow 360 transducer is $1500 A unit to support it will be in the $1000-$2400 range--screen size is the price difference. I have a bow 360 connected to a 1198c SI Combo at my bow. The bow 360 is designed to clamp to the upper shaft of a foot control Minnkota trolling motor. Transducer Shield and Save has an adaptor for Motor Guide trolling motors that takes up the shaft diameter difference--I have that setup. Quote
ninjab Posted July 16, 2014 Author Posted July 16, 2014 MSRP for the bow 360 transducer is $1500 A unit to support it will be in the $1000-$2400 range--screen size is the price difference. I have a bow 360 connected to a 1198c SI Combo at my bow. The bow 360 is designed to clamp to the upper shaft of a foot control Minnkota trolling motor. Transducer Shield and Save has an adaptor for Motor Guide trolling motors that takes up the shaft diameter difference--I have that setup. We have a old minn Kota fortrex (think it is an 80 us2, not sure if it is 45 or 60 shaft length)Will the 360 fit on this? Looks like the street price is $1000 on it now, think it is worth it? What finder would you recommend to pair it with, and how hard is the install? Thanks Quote
Super User Wayne P. Posted July 17, 2014 Super User Posted July 17, 2014 Yes for the Fortrex The new MSRP is $999.99, but some will sell at a lower price than that. Do a web search for it. It is worth it at the original MSRP of $1499 Get the largest display model you can afford. BIGGER is always better. It is very simple to install. It comes with a Heading Sensor GPS antenna and a 20' Ethernet cable. The attachment instructions are really simple, it just clamps onto the trolling motor shaft. You adjust the transducer shaft in the clamp so the transducer pod is just above the TM prop diameter. It has two cables attached to it. One is the power cable and the other is the communication cable. The power cable has a power cord that you attach to the battery. The Ethernet cable connects the communication cable to the display. It is recommended that you put a On/Off switch on the power cord so you can turn it off when not using it. Plus add a 1A fuse/holder on the positive conductor. The purpose of the heading sensor GPS antenna is to assign waypoints on the 360 view if you want to. 1 Quote
ninjab Posted July 21, 2014 Author Posted July 21, 2014 Well my budget shrunk a bit and I decided to buy the 999 HD SI and hold off on the 360 for at least a year. Would you put the 999 at the bow or console? It will essentially be our only sonar, as the current sonar we have at the console isn't much better than a depth finder. We fish on a 45 acre private lake mainly for large mouth. Also how would you prioritize future upgrades, eventually I would like to get: Autochart, 360, 2nd sonar display, new tm with I-link. Quote
Super User Wayne P. Posted July 21, 2014 Super User Posted July 21, 2014 The best way to utilize a single SI unit is set up dual stations with a transducer on the transom and one on the trolling motor Have a power cord and cable collector at both locations. Use the RAM mount with an extral base ball at the other location. Place the display where you are on the boat. Second best is the two transducers and a transducer switch to choose which transducer to connect to the display at a single location (whichever you prefer. AutoChart would be my last choice since you can do the same with Navionics Sonar Charts for free. I would not have an electric steer trolling motor--so that would not be involved with priorities. My first choice would be a second Ethernet capable sonar unit to share data. Second choice would be a bow 360 which will not work on an electric steer motor shaft. Quote
ninjab Posted July 21, 2014 Author Posted July 21, 2014 AutoChart would be my last choice since you can do the same with Navionics Sonar Charts for free. unless I'm missing something here, Navionics Sonar Charts isn't free either, requires navionics+ or platinum? is there a free user mapping software? Quote
Super User Wayne P. Posted July 21, 2014 Super User Posted July 21, 2014 Yes, it is included with the Hotmaps Platinum, Navionics+ and Navionics Update software. You don't show your location with your avatar. Do you have map software by Lakemaster now? With the limited coverage that Lakemaster has, even if you can use Lakemaster, you will have more coverage area with Navionics. Quote
ninjab Posted July 22, 2014 Author Posted July 22, 2014 I don't have any map software, we will only be using this sonar on a private lake, which has no map data, so don't need any maps but id like to be able to map our lake at some point Quote
Super User Wayne P. Posted July 22, 2014 Super User Posted July 22, 2014 I don't have any map software, we will only be using this sonar on a private lake, which has no map data, so don't need any maps but id like to be able to map our lake at some point AutoChart is $200 MSRP Navionics+ is $180 MSRP Quote
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