transducer question

Redfisher

Well-Known Member
Just looking at ordering a Lowrance HDS Gen 3 sounder/chartplotter. Wanting to go with an Airmar transducer.

Question...Is there any purpose to looking at a 1KW transducer (like a TM 260) or is this Lowrance model limited to 600W like a P66?
 
In a word yes.....
A better transducer will make any sounder better.
Higher wattage ducers generally have a lower Q factor making the image cleaner even when transmitted at lower power.
I have run a few 1kw airmar ducers with the lowrance HDS and noticed awesome results but I would advise against the 260 unless your only going to be bottom fishing in deep water.
The 260 has a very narrow cone angle so you get a really small window of whats under you, the 270 is a much better option for trolling salmon in the top 200'
 
best general consensus is the chirp high wide TM185C-HW transom or B175C-HW thru-hull SS175HW if tin boat
alas it cost the most but its the best for the moment ....
bang for buck the P66 takes it all day for our type of fishing
if you want and can afford the best the high wide then the med chirp from airmar forget the low its still not giving good deep results
but thats guys looking for swords down over a 1000' from comments on the THT forum ...
 
You will not find 1 kw transducers commonly in use on the westcoast with that head unit.

In terms of Multifunction Displays, the Lowrance HDS series is built for 500W mostly.

P66 is what most of everyone is running and if you want to go to a 1kw transducer (because you want that power to go deep) the Lowrance HDS will not utilize the 1kw design capabilities of the transducer. 500W is all it will do. The P66 is NON CHIRP.

The P66 will clearly show you salmon in decent water conditions of moderate depth.

Go with the P66 and call it a day.
 
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FM chirp does not need 1kw to work ....
its been explained a lot on the THT forums
and i do know a few people who are running high end 1k transducers
have personally installed on mine ss175h and 175Lwith BSM-2 plus a p66 and LSS-2 on a sonarhub
running 3 mfd's 2 nss-8 and a S2009
and will in the near future put on a high wide
but as i stated a p66 is really all thats needed...
 
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IMG_20151226_151616.jpg


FM chirp does not need 1kw to work ....
its been explained a lot on the THT forums
and i do know a few people who are running high end 1k transducers
have personally installed on mine ss175h and 175Lwith BSM-2 plus a p66 and LSS-2 on a sonarhub
running 3 mfd's 2 nss-8 and a S2009
and will in the near future put on a high wide
but as i stated a p66 is really all thats needed...

I know that about Chirp but if you have a Chirp head unit, you need a CHIRP transducer for Chirp functionality otherwise it will work conventionally. In the case of that head unit he mentioned, the best power he can hope for is 500w...even if he has a 1kw transducer. He will get marginal improvement on detail and echo target returns in shallow to medium depths ..but that's it. P66's show most everything we want to see...

No point in having a big block muscle car if the grocery store is 300 feet down the road... and most of the salmon we catch are 30-200 feet deep.
 
In a word yes.....
A better transducer will make any sounder better.
Higher wattage ducers generally have a lower Q factor making the image cleaner even when transmitted at lower power.
I have run a few 1kw airmar ducers with the lowrance HDS and noticed awesome results but I would advise against the 260 unless your only going to be bottom fishing in deep water.
The 260 has a very narrow cone angle so you get a really small window of whats under you, the 270 is a much better option for trolling salmon in the top 200'

The 270 is a great transducer if your head unit makes use of it. I ran that with a Furuno 585 for a bit....deadly.
 
I have the M260 1KW mounted inside my hull and shooting thru over 1-1/4'of glass driven by a Lowance HDS Gen 2 touch and it kills over the supplied Lowrance ducers and maintains bottom in 700-1000' at speed
 
The 270 is a great transducer if your head unit makes use of it. I ran that with a Furuno 585 for a bit....deadly.
Thats what I have it paired with now, and you right!
After a year of playing with a 7610VXS and B175C-HW combo on a buddy boat I'm sticking with my 587/270

However the 270 made the HDS shine as well.

Even though the HDS is only firing a max of 600w (with the gain turned all the way up), a transducers ability to pick up the returns is more important than its power to transmit in the sub 300' arena.

A lower end transducer rings from the ping enough to interfere with it reading the return, this is why a quality transducer will always give better imaging.

That said there is a point of diminishing returns for the dollar. hence why the majority of people recommend the P66 for this type of application.

Are the 1kw transducers worth another G note.....not to most but, the question of will it do better.....in a word, yes.
 
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A lower end transducer rings from the ping enough to interfere with it reading the return, this is why a quality transducer will always give better imaging.

That said there is a point of diminishing returns for the dollar. hence why the majority of people recommend the P66 for this type of application.

Are the 1kw transducers worth another G note.....not to most but, the question of will it do better.....in a word, yes.

And that just about sums it up!
 
Just looking at ordering a Lowrance HDS Gen 3 sounder/chartplotter. Wanting to go with an Airmar transducer.

Question...Is there any purpose to looking at a 1KW transducer (like a TM 260) or is this Lowrance model limited to 600W like a P66?

The Airmar 75H CHIRP transducer variants would be a good match with Lowrance HDS Gen 3. It is well reviewed CHIRP 600w transducer with useful 9-15 degree beam angle and not outrageously priced. It is the CHIRP version of the high band of P66.
 
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as stated by the OP he has a gen 3 which has a sonarhub built in
so he can use a chirp transducer with no need to go buy a black box
the best one at this moment in time is the TM185C-HW for transom mount or b175 high wide if thru hull
Gil on the THT has lots of info and also sells and comes highly recommended.
 
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Some people on Saltwater board best be learning how to roll a Chovy, tie a hoochie and fish gear as opposed to buying a high performance 'ducer
 
Lots of good feedback (as always) from the members but I too am out collecting a bit of data. A few things to share:
1. Emailed Airmar tech support, their answer: "The HDS Gen 3 is compatible with either the TM260 at 1000 watts or the P66 at 600 watts. The factor to consider is how much performance is required and do you have the space for the TM260"
2. Also emailed Lowrance with same question, their answer: "The HDS-12 Gen3 unit is compatible with the Airmar 1kw transducer, like their TM260 model. This is a great transducer for deep or salt water application."
3. Talked to Denise down at Harbour Chandler: They have had a number of clients combine the 1KW transducer with HDS Gen 3 units but..... a number of them had had problems. The major problem has been serious setup problem inside the unit that is toasting some of the electronics inside the unit (sorry I don't know the technical terms for what is getting cooked). This problem has been caused by selecting the "chirp 200kHz transducer setting" when fishing in deep water as opposed to just a "200 kHz transducer setting". They have had a few guides that this has been a repeated problem (like 4 units returned). She does not know if Lowrance has fixed this problem as they are aware of it but she cautioned me about pairing a 1K transducer with the unit and advised to stick to a 600W unless I was going to be the only one changing the transducer settings on the unit.
 
I should mention I am currently running a Lowrance HDS Gen 1 unit with a P66 transducer and I was looking at an upgrade for a new boat I am having built which will hopefully also chase some tuna. My current unit looses bottom when traveling and I was used to better sounders and transducers from my commercial days so was looking for better bottom and (hopefully) bait tracking when travelling. I am looking at Lowrance because I can get a fairly decent deal on a "Boat in a Box" setup which will fit in my budget. I was thinking of treating myself to a better transducer and am having 2nd thoughts now.
 
The tm260 was the only choice for a 1kw transducer for the past few years. Running this transducer on the low or medium setting was causing issues with the HDS units. The tm 260 was mainly used for very deep water targets with a very narrow cone. Pretty much useless for shallow water fishing and target recognition fishing here on the West Coast. They looked really cool hanging off the back of your boat, thats about it. Since then and Harbour Chandler should know this, Airmar has released a line of High Frequency ONLY wide beam chirp transducers with a 25 degree cone angle. Perfect for shallow water trolling, and target recognition. Like Wild thing had originally posted the AIRMAR TM 185c-HW has a high freq only setting eliminating the problems caused by the low/med chirp on the HDS units and with the constant 25 degree wide beam angle would be perfect paired up with the new HDS 3 or Carbon. Do you really need it? Probably not the p66 seems to work very well for our fishing application. Rumor has it that Airmar is working on a 6oo watt chirp transducer that would be very simmer to the p66 at about half the cost of a 1kw.
 
When there are fish around the p66 shows them well. Adjust your depth to where you are marking them and whamo! Bait is easily seen.

After a while of fishing an area, the sounder doesn't usually do much for me....I'm usually focussed on gear selection and trolling strategy and reading the area water. :) The sounder is just one of many tools. Chances are once you find them they're always at that depth then you are tubbed out which can happen awfully fast.

The thing about sounder and transducer purchasing is that everyone says "it will work and yes it's better" but the reality is that it won't blow the doors off a more suitable piece of equipment which costs less than half the money. Pretty sure a 1kw transducer starts at $1300 and it won't do too much more than a 600kw or P66 in 300' of water or less.

Electronics companies, including sounder manufacturers and transducer companies are extremely strategic in what they do and give the market just enough of what they want to extract dollars and many consumers walk away "satisfied" or at least believe they are satisfied when in fact they could have spent half the dollars and been just as happy.

If guides are running P66 transducers and filling the totes that should tell individuals something ;).

In my home waters or places I am somewhat familiar with if all I had was water depth, i wouldn't be heartbroken.... but I would be if I didn't have my preferred gear on board or butthead guest just broke off above the flasher with the second last "best" spoon which Had been slaying all others weekend.

Far too many people are sending texts, ogling their sounder screens or phoning around to their buddies instead of actually working to generate strikes. Burning gas isn't necessarily a good option either. Working social media for "where the guides are" is now a sport some participate in instead of checking your trolling speed or action on your gear.
 
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Some people on Saltwater board best be learning how to roll a Chovy, tie a hoochie and fish gear as opposed to buying a high performance 'ducer
I hear you about the chovies. However when I was fishing out of Winter Harbour 2 years ago in 250' of water (which was where the fish were for about a week, ....I know it sucked), I kept thinking that I missed a better sounder because when you could find a ball of bait...you hooked up.

I kind of think the P66 will start on this boat and go from there. They are a good transducer for the price. .....Lots of room to add more transducers/sounders in the future if I desire.
 
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