boat electronics upgrade experience

[reelfast]

so i wanted to add a 1kW transducer in order to get better sonar defintion on suspended fish. discussions here and elsewhere suggested that the Airmar SS264W in 200khz was going to be a good choice. so i attended the Seattle boat show to try and figure out the rest of the puzzle. i spoke with Furuno, Garmin and Raymarine folks, watched their demos on clarity of sonar signals and picked up the cut sheets to read a bit more.

questions arose so i sent emails to the Furuno tech support folks, 3 weeks later a response of questionable enlightenment returned. Garmin usually took 1-2 days for their tech support to respond, most offen with incorrect information. Airmar usually took a day and always had the spot on correct information along with some practical tips. Raymarine has a loggon tech site staffed by folks as apparently their full time job. 1-2 hours with detailed 'this is how you do it' complete with wiring diagrams and part numbers.

but knowing that ripping out a rock solid system and drilling a 4" hole in the bottom of my boat would undoubtely lead to issues, i kicked back and waited for the Miami boat show where new stuff is typically made public. and true to form, Ray announced a stand alone GPS/sonar unit that includes a 200khz transducer and on top of that supports chirp. unlike the previous chirp solutions which tout 6,000' accuracy, this one seems aimed at the fisherman and is focused on up to 600'.

this leaves my current network in place, adds a redundant GPS and adds chirp which i didn't think would be in the cards.

if you embark on this journey, plan on wasting a good deal of time and energy. the boat yard who will do this work related similar experiences with Furuno and Garmin so be prepared.

 

[steel_dreamin]

So you went Raymarine?

When will the system be installed? VERY interested in results.

 

[reelfast]

yes, this new Ray product has incorporated the very features i have been looking for. should be in the boat in March. i thought i was going to install the Garmin 740s but the Ray product seems more up-to-date. their doing a stand alone is a departure from their current trend which is everything networked so i was surpised.

 

[steel_dreamin]

Exact reason it is appealing - don't really need a sonar to be networked, just find fish. Yes, it's nice to drop a waypoint on areas but I assume most would have the chart plotter running concurrently.

 

[Finished Business]

Did you look into any Lowrance equipment?

 

[reelfast]

Did you look into any Lowrance equipment?

yes. they seem focused on shallow water bass folks. side scan looked interesting but i didn't see any application on JDF. transducers are low wattage, even less than the p66 so i didn't see much point in going further with them.

 

[firelight]

is that the dragonfly unit, looks pretty nice, cost?

 

[reelfast]

is that the dragonfly unit, looks pretty nice, cost?

thats the one. this is the first time i have seen Ray focus on fishing. maybe that is a target market for them coming up.

 

[firelight]

have you seen this unit yet, I just ordered one. Almost went with lowrance elite 7 dsi but this seems newer, hopefully better.

 

[Sharphooks]

hey Reelfast

I was wondering when someone on this forum would finally bust the CHIRP move. Good on you!

I just did a full Furuno upgrade (everything) so when Furuno did NOT show up in Miami with CHIRP, I ended up going with the SS264W 50 Khz (Airmar just recalled their SS264W 200 Khz transducers so that's what pushed me towards the 50 Khz)

I thought I'd post some pictures of the install. It was placed in the extreme aft of my port sponson (21 ft Arima) --that placement was determined by where the rollers were (and where you wouldn't want them to roll over the face of a transducer)

It will fire a 25 degree beam just under my port Scotty DR---I'll post some screen shots as soon as I get this package wet. The spec is---25 degree beam = 45 feet of coverage at 100 ft. There's no way I'm drilling two holes that size (to install a 200 Khz when they get the bugs out) , but I can use the 200 Khz frequency of my in-hull M260 (6 degree beam) in parallel with the SS264W

I'll post some screen shots when I get her wet.

I be VERY interested to see screen shots when you get the CHIRP installed---some of the CHIRP shots I've seen over on THT took my breath away (crystal clear target definition)

here's the mayhem I did on the boat---had to dig a pile of foam out of the transom to make sure it was placed far enough back so the roller didn't impact the face of the transducer

 

[reelfast]

sharphooks, hope to have the dragon fly in place by the middle of next month. halibut should give me time to get those screen shots and figure out how to post them here.

 

[pescador]

Very interested in seeing both your screen shots. I want to swap out my P66 connected to a Garmin 720S for a better thru hull transducer and am not getting a lot of clear information on what works best for salmon fishing (30-300 ft depth range). I don't want to drill any holes in the boat so my options may be limited. Keep info coming pls.....

 

[Homer]

SS264w recalled? Any idea why?

From what I have read the Ray Dragon units ship this week so we should see some reviews later maybe this week as well. The more I read on it it appears to be more for fresh water than salt. What I read is max 600 feet in fresh water. They are releasing the unit with a transom mount transducer and later will release other thru hull versions.

There is a heap of new CHIRP units coming to the market very soon from different manufactures.

Furuno is also releasing very soon a new GPS/FF that has the same FF unit and features as the new FCV587. It is the GP1870F 7" widescreen and GP1670F 5.7"

I have been looking to upgrade as well. I have the TM270W 25 degree on both 50 and 200 connected to an LCX37C with LBS1 and looking for a dedicated FF and have been debating the Furuno 585 or 587. Anyone running the FCV587 have any opinions? I will not go to CHIRP as just new to the market and lots coming up and the fact of having to get a new transducer to support it. I may just swap out my LMS525 with the new Furuno GPS/FF connected to the TM270 and run the LCX37c/LBS1 on the B60 thru hull


/fishon

 

[reelfast]

optomising chirp technology requires matching transducers. what Ray has done is bring the depth up to a fishable 600' thereby making this an attractive solution for blue water FISHING. the chirp units that hit the market first were touting extreme depths, 2000' with very narrow cone angles, which for fishing JDF made no sense whatsoever. Ray coming up with a stand alone, small unit, is also quite surprising as their primary mission seemed to be networked systems. they must be watching Lowarance and Hummingbird trying to crack that market.

given my experience trying to pry info from Furono, i would never consider them for any solution. Garmin was difficult to talk with and the information they provided had to be corrected by Airmar. both of these companies seem to have older technology which is not keeping up with developments. i do believe that garmin is focused on the small hand held consumer items along with their emphais on avionics, 50% market share. as usual, YMMV.

 

[Sharphooks]

Hey homer_trophy

I heard it was just the SS264W 200 kHz transducer that was recalled---heard it was a "wiring issue"...

I'm running the Furuno 587---I have not fired it up with the SS264W 50 kHz transducer yet, but here are screen shots of it fired by a 600 W P66

I had a Furuno 620 before that---nice to have a bigger screen that's viewable in just about any light situation. Unfortunately, the 587's claim to fame (bottom discrimination) will not be operable because it requires two different transducer frequencies---I'm not going to drop another thru-hull transducer into my boat