Garmin Transducer

[king fisher]

A friend is looking at a Garmin Unit that comes without the transducer, and is trying to decide which transducer to buy.  The GT 56 is almost double the cost of a GT 54. Does anyone know the difference between the GT 54 and the GT 56 transducers?  Has anyone used both?  Any opinion if the 56 is worth the extra money?  Thanks in advance.

[MN Fisher]

One guy on YouTube ran a comparison of the two using the same base-unit. There's some difference with the 56 giving a cleaner image. He took shots of his screen where it showed a sunken car

 

Top is the GT-56 at 100 and 60 feet, bottom is the GT-54 also at 100 and 60.

[12poundbass]

The GT-56 can see deeper and I believe a little further to the side, and I believe the imaging is a tad better. 
 

I have the GT-54, I’ve only had it out a couple times but I’ve been happy so far. 

[Way2slow]

I have the Echomap 7SV and 9SV, both with the GT54 transducer.  I've use the 7 one time the other night and I have no complaints.  I was told if you were not going to be fishing salt water and deeper or trying to side scan more than 40 - 50, there's very little difference.  Not having ever used the GT56 transducer, I don't know, but I was more than happy with the images I got with the GT54 transducer.  

I have the first generation Lowrance HDS 10 and 7 with side scan and I think the Garmin's images were better than it.   

[slonezp]

My opinion is are you fishing or trying to look at pretty pictures. In the pic posted above, you can tell there is cover(car) in both pics. 

The more practice you get reading the imaging, no matter which transducer, the better you will be. Pay attention to the shadows in the imaging. Shadows tell a lot.

 

[Boomstick]

I would look up comparison videos on Youtube. The biggest difference is the GT-54 has a solid image up to about 50 feet and the return fades pretty quickly after 60ft. The GT-56 has a pretty solid image all the way up to 100 feet out. The first 60 feet look pretty close.

 

Two things I will note - first, have you found a place with the GT-56 in stock? I have been trying to buy a GT-56 transducer and unable to find one and it looks like I won't until June so I gave up on that idea for this year. Most stores seem to be unable to get the units that come with the GT-56 in, let alone just the transducer, at least the ones I have checked in my area.

 

Second, you might be able to buy a discounted unit with a GT-54, use it for a while and then buy the GT-56 and have it run about as much as the unit with the GT-56 transducer, given that the units with the GT-54 are greatly discounted right now if you can still find one.