Report on Furuno FCV620

[ozscott]

Hi all,

Took Nine Mile to the bay yesterday and tested the new sounder...wow...what a difference from the Garmin 178C. I tried both side by side by shutting off one sounder then the other etc and I tuned both to the conditions...didnt need to test them side by side though because I know from experience of the Garmin what I can get out of it and the Furuno is just so far ahead its not funny. Drifting over Harry's if fish were on the sounder the placcies were getting hit or nugged, if they were not on the sounder we got no loving at all. Same over on the rainbow channel - a drop off showing one decent fish - nice arch at 30-40 feet down. I dropped down a Zoom and worked it over that drop off and within 30 seconds I had a foot long Moses Perch in the boat.

(Did I mention that I love this sounder....).

The one thing I am not sure about is the utility of the shift function and the TVG set up. I had TVG on medium and applied about 8.5 on the gain (manual) and turned declutter up to full and back off the light colour returns slightly and found that small adjustments of the gain were all that was required to keep things very nice...

Lot of confidence now with the sounder on board in terms of plastic fishing. I couldnt see my fishing line down there, but I dont know that inner bay water is clear enough for that or maybee thin braid does not show up!

Read the bottom nicely at 62kph flat out.

Cheers!

PS. I have not had the Vagabond out since Sept last year. I had the Yammy 115 serviced recently - impellor, plugs and carby clean. Got it too the ramp, primed, and started straight away and then ran like a dream the whole day. It is a 93 motor. There is still a lot to be said for old tech motor for infrequent use situations.

[scuttlebutt]

Hmmm, I've got a 178C and am pondering over getting a 620 to do the same thing (ie dedicated quality sounder and use the 178C as a GPS). Your not making it easy to resist.

[Cheech]

This is something Spaniard King posted a while ago. I set mine up like that and it works great. (Garry, I hope you don't mind me reproducing this)

I have had a 620 and now have a 585.

I recommend the following settings.

chart speed 1/1
Colour erase %10
Clutter 20-30%

Interference - Auto
TVG- Medium (very important when running in manual)
smoothing - AUto

Program the function biutton to - shift (if you use manual ranging)

Adjust gain untill you get what looks like noise on the screen then back off... will obviously take some fiddling.

For peak performance you should have the transducer cable running down the oposite side of the boat to the wiring and run direct power to the sounder from a battery away from the rest of your electrics [IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/cgrendon/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]
cheers

Garry

[MajesticMarine]

this is why they were voted best fish finder 2009

[ozscott]

This is something Spaniard King posted a while ago. I set mine up like that and it works great. (Garry, I hope you don't mind me reproducing this)

I have had a 620 and now have a 585.

I recommend the following settings.

chart speed 1/1
Colour erase %10
Clutter 20-30%

Interference - Auto
TVG- Medium (very important when running in manual)
smoothing - AUto

Program the function biutton to - shift (if you use manual ranging)

Adjust gain untill you get what looks like noise on the screen then back off... will obviously take some fiddling.

For peak performance you should have the transducer cable running down the oposite side of the boat to the wiring and run direct power to the sounder from a battery away from the rest of your electrics [IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/cgrendon/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]
cheers

Garry

Thanks Cheech...I will have to play with the shift cause in manual mode it just seems to send the bottom up towards the top of the screen....

I have set the transducer cable to run on the port side which is by itself.

I seem to be running it pretty much as above except I used higher gain and lower interference level. Thanks for your help Cheech and Garry.

Majestic - yep it really is a great bit of kit mate.

Cheers

[MajesticMarine]

what transducers are you all using?

[ozscott]

The 600w transom mount P66 Airmar for me.

Cheers

[Cheech]

what transducers are you all using?

I use an airmar shoot through hull.

[DAZMC1]

This is something Spaniard King posted a while ago. I set mine up like that and it works great. (Garry, I hope you don't mind me reproducing this)

I have had a 620 and now have a 585.

I recommend the following settings.

chart speed 1/1
Colour erase %10
Clutter 20-30%

Interference - Auto
TVG- Medium (very important when running in manual)
smoothing - AUto

Program the function biutton to - shift (if you use manual ranging)

Adjust gain untill you get what looks like noise on the screen then back off... will obviously take some fiddling.

For peak performance you should have the transducer cable running down the oposite side of the boat to the wiring and run direct power to the sounder from a battery away from the rest of your electrics [IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/cgrendon/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]

cheers

Garry

I have a 585 with 600w through hull with the same adjustments as Garry and I get a lot of clutter if I go any higher than about 3.0 on my gain in around 20-30 meters of water. I see in pics that everybody is up around 8.0 or so. How do I fix this.

[Robbo_Townsville]

I have a 585 with 600w through hull with the same adjustments as Garry and I get a lot of clutter if I go any higher than about 3.0 on my gain in around 20-30 meters of water. I see in pics that everybody is up around 8.0 or so. How do I fix this.

U

Tuning Furuno Sounders for optimal performance

Furuno sounders have been designed with the best in processing technology, meaning even the weakest signals are able to be displayed giving users real control on the picture quality in all depths the sounder is capable of. With over 50 years experience in building commercial grade performance and reliability into sounders and sonars, we will now show you how to make the most of it.

Firstly the sounder will have to be taken out of Auto mode, as we want to now control the gain, clutter and other processing features available. Here is a list of the features and a short description of their purpose that will be used to provide the best picture.

· Range

Range and Shift are the tools required to see depths on the screen. Essentially as depth changes the range must be increased or decreased to suit. Shift will allow movement within selected range scales. As with Furuno sounders range scales are adjustable, it is preferable to change them if necessary to suit common bottom fishing depths.


· Gain

This is the primary adjustment for sensitivity of the receiver. As a general rule the greater the depth the higher the gain setting and visa versa for shallower depths. If gain is set too low targets will be missed; too high and the screen will be cluttered and illegible. It is important to note that increasing gain will not generally increase output power to the transducer. Most sounders output the same power regardless of depth.

· Clutter

Found in the menu, clutter will make the most of Gain settings by eliminating the blue/yellow interference on the screen caused by our dense salty waters and turbid estuaries. It allows Furuno sounders to increase gain well past that of its competitors whilst maintaining a clean crisp screen with the best ability to show fish. The higher the number, the higher the degree of suppression.

• Colour Erase

Depending on the model this will be in the menu for Greyscale, FCV-620 and FCV-585 models and on the keypad for FCV-600L and FCV-582L models. Similar in effect to clutter however it removes a level of signal from the processor so it is not displayed. Particularly useful for erasing weak echoes that are not required, Colour sounders have 16 or 8 levels depending on Hue choice whilst Greyscale have 4.

· TVG (Time Varied Gain)

In Greyscale sounders this is referred to as Deep Gain, and is under the menu key. FCV-600L and FCV-582L sounders have the TVG adjustment in the setup menu, whilst the FCV-1100L has it via the rotary knob on the keypad. The plotter/sounder combo’s have it in the sounder setup menu’s. TVG compensates for propagation attenuation of the sound waves reflected. Essentially it will equalize echo presentation throughout the water column so that targets of the same size appear in the same density in both shallow and deep water. It also reduces the effects of surface noise on the screen.

UTuning Guidelines

So how do the Commercial/Charter and Sport fishing communities get the best out of their Furuno sounders, we will give up the process involved keeping in mind it is applicable to all Furuno sounders.


1. Travel out to a common fishing ground and once drifting or anchored take the unit out of AUTO mode and have the display in Normal mode on 200 kHz. Now adjust range scale to get the bottom echo in the lower 2/3rds of the screen. As discussed if this is not possible due to the gap in a preset ranges adjust them to suit. Settings will more than likely be less than appropriate so don’t worry too much about the picture quality.
2. Now bring the Clutter and Signal level/Colour Erase back to their lowest setting or OFF for the Greyscale units. Notice the picture is still viewable on the right hand side of the screen to observe adjustments. At this point the advantages of Clutter and Signal level/Colour Erase are not being employed and essentially the quality of picture is directly related to the Gain level selected.

3. Adjust gain now back to its lowest setting and notice how weak the picture is (Even a powerful 600W RMS unit will demonstrate just how much amplification is involved in producing an ideal picture)! Increase it now to the point where clutter begins to occupy the screen. This is the point we want to focus on tuning, NOT reducing the Gain as with our competitors. Furuno’s processing technology will now remove the unwanted interference whilst providing superior target detection and deep water performance with the next steps.

4. Access CLUTTER through the menu and increase it incrementally observing changes in the picture on the right of screen. For the majority of bottom fisherman the point at which to stop is when the interference is all but cleared except for a light scattering of the weakest levels of signal.

5. Now increase the SIGNAL LEVEL/COLOUR ERASE in the same manner to clear the light scattering of interference and produce a perfectly tuned picture for that depth. Note: Increasing signal level/Colour Erase will make detection of prawn/cuttlefish etc difficult as they fall in the weaker signal groups.

6. So with the tuning done it is simply a case of changing range scales and increasing or decreasing gain to suit depth. Now that fish and fish schools are easy to identify experiment with the TVG or DEEP GAIN settings increasing them to observe changes in the upper water column on the screen.

The Furuno colour LCD sounders will respond best to tuning however good results can be achieved with the Greyscale range. Especially when operating at the limits of their respective fish finding ranges this process will show more targets and allow deeper performance capability.

Combined with Furuno’s SALT water designed transmit/receive circuitry and ability to sustain RMS output power in deep water this is why Furuno have won more awards for sounders and sonar than any other company in the market place today.

[whiteman]

I don't quite get the concept of RANGE - it's in the system menu so set up once?

Can someone explain how this should be set up and used? My typical fishing is over reefs in 15-30m for bombies then the 40-50m bottom drift for reds.

Also, does anyone increase WHITE LINE from 0%?

[stue2]

I don't quite get the concept of RANGE - it's in the system menu so set up once?

Can someone explain how this should be set up and used? My typical fishing is over reefs in 15-30m for bombies then the 40-50m bottom drift for reds.

Also, does anyone increase WHITE LINE from 0%?

not sure if i have done this right. a first timer.
range is basicaly the depth indicators in 1 meter, 2m, 5m increments or how ever your sounder displays them
shift hides the top meters so you are only looking at the selected area on the sounder. it keeps the same perstective as normal view and doesnt zoom in.
set your sounder up to show from 10m to 25m. if it becomes deeper shift down to 35m and the sounder will show from 20m to 35m.
i have worn the colour off these buttons.
my old sounder isnt good at white line but looked at the 7000f and the 295. the 295 was excellent

be a good idea to print Robbo-Townsvilles description for the boat. read very well to me

cheers, Stu

[ozscott]

Stu - your virginal post is a corker - Cheers.

As for the white line I have tried mine a few times and dont see any real difference in discrimination of targets right on the floor and I dont in fact really like the white, which also interferes with the colour of returns of fish etc.

Cheers

[whiteman]

I guess my dumb questions are because I've yet to get a break in the wind to take this thing offshore. And also when fishing the reef drop offs, the sounder is bouncing between 10m and 50m. That's why I couldn't work out why Range was useful as I'd be forever hitting shift. But having a play using the demos, I can see it could be very good for drifting over shoals.

[stue2]

a mate uses white line to read the bottom or search for cracks to set pots on.
his is a 292 and the white line is called white edge. i havent had much of a look yet but he likes it.
just got myself a seafarer vagabond. twin etec 90. not over sure how this will all go. talked to a few guys that run 115s and luv em
it has a 600l. my old girl was the original crt job, cant remember what number it was - 655 or 625 maybe.
it was trick when i bought it but turned into that big thing on the dash