Colour Sounders

[dicko1980]

I am about to purchase a colour sounder for reef and bluewater fishing off Townsville and have narrowed the choice down to a Furuno 582, JRC FF50 or Raymarine DS600X. I am leaning towards the Raymarine unit because of its new digital technology and its size. Does anyone have experience with these products?

Cheers
/me :D

[philip_thomson]

i have the Raymarine Ds500X and love it. very easy to use and gives a great picture.

cheers phil

[banshee]

I run the 582 and can't fault it,I have used it out to a thousand feet with good results.I have also heard(could be spindoctoring) that the Raymarine units are digital capable but you will need to spend a bit on them to make them a true digital unit.

[Thunderbird]

I'd be leaning towards the ff 50
I've got the koden cvs-832

[revs57]

I'm with Phil, Dicko...the DS500x is brilliant and I understand the DS600x runs all the same stuff, just has a bigger screen...very happy with the unit...I'm putting a 1kw thru hull transducer in the new rig - I'm told this will really bring out the best the unit has to offer...an addition of $250ish...but reckon you get quality images at cruising speed

cheers

Rhys

[nevd]

I am about to purchase a colour sounder for reef and bluewater fishing off Townsville and have narrowed the choice down to a Furuno 582, JRC FF50 or Raymarine DS600X. I am leaning towards the Raymarine unit because of its new digital technology and its size. Does anyone have experience with these products?

Cheers
/me :D

You will be disappointed with the Raymarine unit if you need to do any navigation in shallow Cleveland Bay water as it can't find the bottom in less than 2 m of water unless in manual range and gain. When you turn it off, it looses the settings and you have to go through the same complicated menu again. Even in deep water, I doubt the Raymarine is in the race with the other 2 top class units you have nominated.

[hoga]

i got ff50 easy to use the people who sold it also sold furno was good to try both inshop side by side jrc won hoga

[SundownMarine]

We use a Raymarine DS600X on the boat we fish from off Cape Moreton.
We have seen the 600 at 25 knots over the Pearl Banks in 1.5m of water keep up the bottom with no problem.

We have every unit mentioned in this string in the store to have a look at.
They are all very good units but are all suited to different individuals and circumstances.

Sundown Marine

[Smithy]

Go the JRC. Don't like that digital stuff on the Raymarine. Used a C120 out on the shelf in the Moreton Canyons and even running it in manual how I prefer to run stuff it seemed to keep adjusting the gain and clearing the picture up on me even though I was struggling to see bottom and pumping the power up all the time. Mate has 2xE120s in his boat but I am yet to see how it goes out on the shelf but it paints a pretty picture in close. When you get your JRC make the hardest colour white. Jim Carlson from Trymax suggested that to me and I love looking at the JRC that way. Any life on the bottom gives iteself away as blue/greens sitting on the white - good colour contrasts.

[nevd]

We use a Raymarine DS600X on the boat we fish from off Cape Moreton.
We have seen the 600 at 25 knots over the Pearl Banks in 1.5m of water keep up the bottom with no problem.

We have every unit mentioned in this string in the store to have a look at.
They are all very good units but are all suited to different individuals and circumstances.

Sundown Marine




Oceantalk have checked my unit and transducer and say nothing is wrong. They tell me it has to be in manual range and gain in shallow water and can't tell me what to do to stop the manual settings being lost as soon as I turn the sounder off. Apparently the earlier DS 400, 500 and 600 X sounders would hold the manual settings, but the later ones loose it when sounder is turned off.

Do you have some knowledge which the sounder importers don't have on how to make a Raymarine DS 600X work in shallow water? Some sounders have hidden menus and if this applied to Raymarine, it may help resolve the problem.

[SundownMarine]

Nevd,

We have not experienced that problem with any Raymarine unit we have here nor have we had the problem you describe come back to us from customers that we have sold those units to,this includes both the C and E series 80's and 120's in the bigger boats some of our customers have.

We would suggest you change the frequency to 200kz if not allready and try that ,if you are in 50 kz it would most definately not work properly in 1m of water however at 200 it should be ok.

If you happen to have a Sundown Marine reciept for that unit and bring it to us we will happily give you another unit to try and fix the problem.

SundownMarine.

[nevd]

Nevd,

We have not experienced that problem with any Raymarine unit we have here nor have we had the problem you describe come back to us from customers that we have sold those units to,this includes both the C and E series 80's and 120's in the bigger boats some of our customers have.

We would suggest you change the frequency to 200kz if not allready and try that ,if you are in 50 kz it would most definately not work properly in 1m of water however at 200 it should be ok.

If you happen to have a Sundown Marine reciept for that unit and bring it to us we will happily give you another unit to try and fix the problem.

SundownMarine.




No, the unit did not come from Sundown and yes it is used in 200khz - particularly in shallow water. Oceantalk comments to me indicate the problem is very well known to them.

[dicko1980]

Ended up purchasing a JRC PLOT 500F. Won the bidding on US ebay and will be getting the unit delivered to my door for $1014. I like buying locally but when your quoted $2600-$2800, you haven't got much choice but to shop elsewhere.

Cheers /me :D

[cheno]

Dicko,

Did that price include transducer and GPS aerial?

Cheno

[dicko1980]

Price included GPS aerial, but no transducer. Can easily source transducer for this unit locally or the States. The seller on ebay was Surplusware. If you have trouble finding the seller, just search for JRC PLOT 500. There were still a few units left.

Cheers
/me

[cheno]

Thanks mate

Cheno