Furuno 620 50 Htz or 200 Htz ?

[paulp]

New owner of a Furuno 620 just confused more I read on it the more so

It shows that 50 KHZ has a wide beam of 45deg and the 200 KHZ as a narrow beam of 11deg but yet what I can understand is that 50 is good for deeper water and 200 for shallow

Why wouldnt the wider beam (50KHZ) be more suitable in the shallow water ?

Or am i just totaly confused

[russ81]

Hows it going mate

The 200khz is better in shallow water as there is more signal being sent out (more info being returned) but it has less penetrating capability where as with the 50khz there is less signal being sent out (less info being returned) but has a far greater penetrating capability.

As to why the 200khz is better in shallow water its because there is a greater amount of info being returned which equates to a lot greater detail on your screen.


Hope this has helped and not confused you more

Russ

[Foxy4]

Agree with what Russ has stated. You can do what i do and run both at the same time and see what you think.

[finding_time]

If it's the standard supplied transducer with your 620 , just run the unit in 200khz the transducer is not up to 50khz . It's not sensitive enough and will clutter the screen unless you are going very slowly or stopped with the engine at idle or stopped.

Ian

[sjp2]

50 htz is looking out the window and seeing your neighbour hanging out the washing 3 houses down and the clothes basket next to her
200htz is seeing that she has hairy armpits and the colour of the clothes peg but the baskets not in the picture

[paulp]

Thanks for all the info
The transducer supplied was a P66 from Airmar
What I am understanding is that the 50Khz would show a lot more area under the boat but the detail would not be that good
Where as 200Khz would be great detail but the area scanned is a lot less then the 50khz as per table below

Meters ........200KHZ (11deg)......... 50KHZ (45deg)
5...................... 1 ..............................4.1
10.................... 1.9............................8.3
15.................... 2.9........................... 12.4
20.................... 3.9............................16.6


So if you where to use in shallow water between 5mt and 10mt in 200Khz it would be a very small footprint under the boat
More comments welcomed

[paulp]

[finding_time]

Basically if your hunting new ground 50khz is the freq. to use! But and it's a big but, if your transducer is not up to the task dont bother!!! 50 khz is very sensitive and has great punch ( i can find fish schools in 550m of water with mine) but is also effected buy any engine noise and most transom mounts are not sensitive enough to pick up a return signal clearly unless the boat is stopped or going very slowly with the engine just in idle( not great for searching)

The p66 is a entry level transducer and although it works well in 200khz it's very poor in 50khz. I run a Airmar 260 1 kw transducer and the main reason i run this sounder is not it's extra punch but it's extra sensitivity!!! The 260 according to Airmar is 13 times more sensitive than the p66 in 200khz and a massive 50 times more sensitive in 50 khz it's little wonder thaty i can run at wot and not get interferance with this unit in 50 khz but this transducer did cost $1300 as opposed to a p66 at around $100. With the 620 and the p66 combo stick to the 200khz and you'll be very happy, and if by chance 50khz works well on your rig, great run it on duel but i think you'll find that side of the screen will clutter out.

Ian

[snapperback]

hey paul, i bought the furuno fcv 620 at the sydney boat show a few weeks ago.only had it out once so far but compared the the shitty old humminbord i had the difference is amazing. to be honest i dont really know that much about sounders and how they work i have alot of playing around to do yet so if u have any tips on using ur 620 let me know. happy fishing