Garmin Echo 551Dv

[Bass2124]

Anyone have this sonar?  I am looking to upgrade my sonar for my trolling motor.  I have a lowrance elite 4 hdi.  Not a big fan and wanted to try a Garmin.  It seems though all of the pros are using mostly Lowrance products.

[Skitterz]

The 551DV is a 550c with DV  I have a 550 and its a fantastic little unit  I say go for it  and pay no attention what the pros use pick what  works for you and enjoy

[Bluebasser86]

Lots of pros are going with Garmin anymore. Brent Chapman and Scott Martin are 2 off the top of my head. Garmin is making a huge move in the freshwater fishing department. I was so impressed with their products that I bought 2 93SVs for my boat. I love how easy they are to use and how clear the screen is. 

[Bluebasser86]

No doubt, Garmin is making a big push in freshwater now.  Regarding the pros, 7 or 8 moved to Garmin this year, and I predict a much larger migration to Garmin next year.  I also changed from Lowrance to Garmin about a month ago.  There 2015 lineup is lights-out, and their Panoptix product (forward-functioning sonar) is the most revolutionary advancement I've seen in my 15 years in the industry.

I got both my new 93SVs installed Friday, just need a chance to get them out and see how they work on the water! 

[JETSWU87]

I purchased this unit when it went on sale last year.  I'm pretty new when it comes to knowing what im looking at, the picture is pretty clear.  When i have the gas motor running i get some interference
 as i believe where i have the transducer mounted is on the wrong side of the prop.

 

If I could do it all over again I'd splurge on a larger screen.  I have good vision but figure normally wearing sun glasses and the screen is 6 feet away from your eyes when standing up....a 5 inch screen is pretty small.

 

I tried to reseach this unit before purchasing but found very little info.  Most of my lakes locally are not more then 30ft deep, probably should've went with a side scan unit.

[Bluebasser86]

I don't have my transducer mounted yet, waiting for the jack plate mount to get here Wednesday. I have the Ram installed and wires run though so I can power the unit up and scroll around. Screen is very clear and it's so easy to navigate the menu options. I have a feeling I'm really going to like these things

[roadwarrior]

Nice pic!

[JETSWU87]

I wanted to bump this thread.

 

Anyone with this unit have issues with it losing signal at speed?  My boat is slow...15mph max slow, but at those speeds I get no clear bottom reading i only get depth,  I have the scroll speed to UltraScroll, and mostly I just get thin lines running vertically at those speeds.

 

I leave the depth ranges on auto, and the gain settings on auto-high.  I really have no confidence in this fish finder from shear ignorance on how it works and believing what I'm seeing, I suppose I should just go out and play around with it more?  I just don't know if I'm wasting my time if there is an issue with it.  I'd like to reiterate getting a larger screen.

 

 

[Wayne P.]

I wanted to bump this thread.

 

Anyone with this unit have issues with it losing signal at speed?  My boat is slow...15mph max slow, but at those speeds I get no clear bottom reading i only get depth,  I have the scroll speed to UltraScroll, and mostly I just get thin lines running vertically at those speeds.

 

I leave the depth ranges on auto, and the gain settings on auto-high.  I really have no confidence in this fish finder from shear ignorance on how it works and believing what I'm seeing, I suppose I should just go out and play around with it more?  I just don't know if I'm wasting my time if there is an issue with it.  I'd like to reiterate getting a larger screen.

You have a transducer installation issue.

The transducer has to have water contact and that water has to be turbulent/air free.

 

Post a picture of your transducer installation from a few different angles to critique.

[JETSWU87]

You have a transducer installation issue.

The transducer has to have water contact and that water has to be turbulent/air free.

 

Post a picture of your transducer installation from a few different angles to critique.

 

Thanks for the reply Wayne.  Check it out below attached.

 

[Wayne P.]

Thanks for the reply Wayne.  Check it out below attached.

 

transducer.jpgtransducer1.jpg

 

You have it in one of the places to NOT put it. Inline with a hull strake.

Move it to the right about 6 inches.

[Smokinal]

^^^Wayne, would it be better on the right side of the motor as well or is the left ok? I seem to remember the right side has less prop turbulence, no?

[JETSWU87]

You have it in one of the places to NOT put it. Inline with a hull strake.

Move it to the right about 6 inches.

 

I plead ignorance, when I uninstalled the original unit on the boat i put it in the same place.  Thanks for the tip.  I was able to move it exactly 6" before I was out of mounting space.  Still has 3 screws in it.

 

I too was concerned maybe about prop wash but I hope the original tracker dealer would've put this mounting block on the correct side, all bets are off.

[Wayne P.]

Prop turbulence??????????????

 

Water has already passed over the transducer before it is affected by the prop. It is impossible to get "prop turbulence" from an outboard unless the motor is in reverse.

 

The water coming off the hull is what affects the transducer's performance.

 

Which side of the outboard makes no difference.

 

If a transducer is within the diameter of the prop, and is used for high speed depth readings, the aeration it creates can cause prop cavitation and engine cooling issues.

 

For an INBOARD type boat, yes the location will be affected by the prop turbulence.

[JETSWU87]

I see.  Well hopefully this helps, I was looking at ram mounts to get this closer to my face for travel and remembered I had a ram camera mount for my race car...turns out it was the same bolt pattern as the garmin base, who would've guessed?!

 

I'm going to mount that up tomorrow should raise the unit about 6-8inch, and maybe I'll start to get some use out of this unit.

 

I'll report back soon.

[Smokinal]

Prop turbulence??????????????

 

Water has already passed over the transducer before it is affected by the prop. It is impossible to get "prop turbulence" from an outboard unless the motor is in reverse.

 

The water coming off the hull is what affects the transducer's performance.

 

Which side of the outboard makes no difference.

 

If a transducer is within the diameter of the prop, and is used for high speed depth readings, the aeration it creates can cause prop cavitation and engine cooling issues.

 

For an INBOARD type boat, yes the location will be affected by the prop turbulence.

my mistake Wayne. I woulda swore I saw something in the installation manual when I was doing my 798 that said for a clockwise outboard you want the ducer on the right side of the boat; I could be wrong. I gotta go back and look at it now.

[Wayne P.]

my mistake Wayne. I woulda swore I saw something in the installation manual when I was doing my 798 that said for a clockwise outboard you want the ducer on the right side of the boat; I could be wrong. I gotta go back and look at it now.

You are correct, that it is stated in the Humminbird installation instructions, BUT that refers to INBOARD craft with the prop forward of the transom.

 

You did good and actually read the instructions, a lot don't.

[Smokinal]

^^^Thank you sir. You are a wealth of information when it comes to electronics.

[JETSWU87]

Well I got back out Saturday, I played with more settings and noticed after I changed the color scale from black to blue I could see a lot more on the fish finder.  I also took some screen shots of me at travel speed (15mph) to show the the finder does during these speeds.

 

If someone could shed some light on what you may or may not see in the screen shots that would be appreciated.  I turned fish ID back on as I'm still not confident in what I'm possibly seeing.

 

Details on this lake.  Man made, some areas are very stumpy.  There's anything from bass, crappie, gar, stripers, pickerel in this lake.  I will say for as many of the arches I see that appear to be trees, I can cast right back to that area and not pickup anything...Thus my distrust.

 

1.  Fish arches or tree tops?  I see this often while cruising.

 

 

2, Bait?  Also notice the lines below 10 feet, I noticed a lot of the lake like this at those depths and lower, is that the thermocline?

 

 

3.  Same as above, another example.

 

 

4,  Here's my screen shot of me traveling at top speed.  Poor return.

 

 

5.  I use to run this area over with my old graph and notice it was odd, could this be an old bridge?  I ran back over it with the DI but could've replicate the look.  I find the DI hard to read, the colors are too dark IMO.

 

 

 

 

6.  Last one, I imagine a combo of bait and fish.