Two fishfinders/transducers?

[WV_Eagle]

OK..this may be a stupid question but...

Is there any problem with mounting two fishfinders, each with their own transducer on a boat.  I have an old 14 ft aluminum that I bang around on the upper Potomac with.  Have one transom mounted transducer connected to a Humminbird Matrix 17 in the back and want to add a fishfinder up front.  I already have a trolling motor mounted transducer from another purchase.

Since both transducers are operating at the same frequencies will there be any problem with interfernce with the two?

Any info welcome...as I said, this may be a stupid question but before I drop the bucks on another fishfinder just wanted to be sure.  Thanks.

[HPBB]

I run 2 and have no problems

big boat runs a Matrix 87c and 787c

the 87c up front on the TM and the 787c on the transom. They share one GPS receiver.

on small 14 footer I run tx300 and a matrix 47 no problems there either.

[ga_hawghauler]

I run 2 on my boat as well a garmin mounted on the trolling motor and a lowrance mounted at the back with no problems.

[Guest JoshKeller]

I have 3 garmins mounted on my boat. No problems at all.

[cart7t]

I've had 2 on mine for years without a problem.

[Al Wolbach]

You can receive cross talk between two units however you would have to be in deep water for this to occur. If you fish water that is less than 50' you should not have a problem. If the water is deep enough for the cone angles to overlap the units can cross talk. There are several variables that can effect this including boat length (distance between transducers) , water depth, cone angle of the transducer and the power of the unit and probably a few I haven't remembered.

Generally speaking, if you fish water less than 50' you should not have a problem......Al

[NBR]

I think it depends on how far apart the transducers are and water depth. On my last boat a 17 footer I could not run my TM sounder and my console T at the same time except in very shallow water. My current boat is 19' and I can run both sounders at the same time through all practical depths.

On a similar note with my current boat I can get a good bottom picture at high speed until I get on to very deep water. At some high speeds and very deep water I lose bottom picture. I believe this is because the boat and therefore the transducer has moved to far to receive the echo in very deep water.

My current boat also has an in-dash flasher. I can't  run my console graph and in dash flasher at the same time. I don't know where the flasher transducer is mounted but I think it is back pretty far because it reads on plane. The console graph transducer is mounted through hull right at the transom and the two units get feed back from each other.

[Al Wolbach]

NBR, it sounds like your older boat had wide angle transducers. The wider (such as a 60 degree transducer) will have cross talk in shallower water than a 20 degree transducer. A 20 degree transducer mounted front and rear at least 12 feet apart should be ok to at least 50' of water depth.

There is a chart available that shows different cone angles and water depth. If my memory is correct a 20 degree transducer will show one square foot of bottom in twenty feet of water. As the depth increases the bottom shown will increase as well. At some point (in depth) the two cone angles will overlap, this is when cross talk begins. I don't remember where I saw this chart but I will try to locate one. Lowrance or Eagle websites may provide this info. You can figure this if you know the cone angles and the distance between the transducers..............Hope this makes sense.........Al

[Way2slow]

As Al mentioned, you may get interference between the two must if they are all the newer model LCD unit's they do a pretty good job at cancleing it out.  Your flashers line the 1240A console mounted untils will not cancle out the others and you will have to turn the others off if you run one of those.  

[R Tilson]

Funny I was just having a conversation about this topic. I do get cross-talk at 50' depths and greater. What you can do is adjust the depth reading to 50' on one and you'll be okay but will not see bottom structure on that graph. So depending on how deep your fishing or if you need both at that depth there could be cross-talk.

[WV_Eagle]

Well...it sounds like I'll be ok.  Although the bost is small, the Upper Potomac where I fish (Smallies mostly) is for the most part shallow.  However, it sounds like I don't need/want to get a dual frequency unit.  That's ok because I use it mostly for finding structure anyways.

Thanks for all the input.  It is appreciated!

p.s.  Thought I was done fishing for the winter...put the boat away...but its supposed to get over 70 degrees this weekend.  Loading it back up and I'll be out here again.  Woo hoo!     8-)