inherited boat electronics

[-Henno-]

I just got some great news from my brother. He has won lotto and is giving me his boat! Woohoo! It is a quintrex 420 top ender CV which I believe is pretty close to a wide body dory which is what I wanted anyway. This comes as a great Christmas pressie as otherwise our family news has been pretty grim with a very sick brother in law.

Anyway long story short it has a Lowrance X51 sounder on it which I know nothing about. I gather from Sundown marine's post in here re there chrissy specials that the X52 is an entry level model and I gather it replaced the X51? Are these assumptions correct?

The sounder I am running is a Humminbird Legend 3005 Deep and as much as I know most people poo poo humminbirds on here this was quite a flash unit with a big screen and lots of pixels. It was around the 1500 dollar mark when it first came out I think. Can I therefore assume it would be a better unit than the X51 I am inheriting?

Of course the dream is to sell my little dehav now and get a Furuno 620........mmmmmm

[finga64]

Well done matey
Can't argue about price can ya eh.
Have you got the manual for the X51 (gees I feel like Maxwell Smart when I type stuff like that )
If not http://www.lowrance.com/Manuals/File...951_092002.pdf
Humminbird are just another sounder. Some people like them some hate them.
If your happy with the 'bird' stick with it.
But I had a 2005 deep and it was a pain in the butt. Bloody thing was trouble from the word go.
But BIA, to their credit, replaced it with a brand spanking 727 after my 3rd trip to them to get the 2005 repaired under warantee.
Still playing with the 727 getting it set up but if I had a choice I'd rather have my old Furuno LS4100 that's in the other boat.
The main problem with the Legend series is the rotory knobs. The seals let go and let water in. Once they're gone no point in fixing as the brass shafts on the knobs are stuffed too.
I had an old Humminbird wide one as a first sounder and the bloody wouldn't die even if I hit it with a stick. I think the durablity of it spoilt me for life.
The main difference between the two you'll have a choice of is the screen size (both physical size and resolution), the 'bird' is a dual frequency transducer and the X51 is most likely a single frequency transducer. And of course the 'bird' will have more power. Hoo, Hoo, Hoo and temp and speed as well.

[-Henno-]

Thanks for that finga.

Actually my humminbird turns itself on whenever the power plug is in so when I am not using it the plug has to come out. I was wondering if it was the actually power on/off button on the head. Was that one of the things that played up on ya 2005? Otherwise my 3005 is fine.

It's funny coz the rotary knobs were one of the things that sold me on that model. I just felt I had more feel with them and could do adjustments faster than with push buttons only. Oh well, what a goose I turned out to be.

[finga64]

Thanks for that finga.

Actually my humminbird turns itself on whenever the power plug is in so when I am not using it the plug has to come out. I was wondering if it was the actually power on/off button on the head. Was that one of the things that played up on ya 2005? Otherwise my 3005 is fine.

It's funny coz the rotary knobs were one of the things that sold me on that model. I just felt I had more feel with them and could do adjustments faster than with push buttons only. Oh well, what a goose I turned out to be.

I'd say it's the power button/knob.
I made mine a bit easier with some inox but that's another story.
Mate in my words I'm a gobble gobble too (that's aturkey but close enough )
1st thing to go bung was the power supply board, then the seals etc then friggin' thing stayed on for awhile then lied (said 256m when I could touch the bottom then it'll stop wholedest boldest. friggin' thing >
Personally, I'd be bunging on ebay and mention the power setup and buy something else. Or use it til it dies
Got any pictures of the new boat yet??

[-Henno-]

no pics yet mate, i am seriously considering trading my old boat for either a Furuno or a bigger donk for it. It is only running a 25 merc and i've always wanted to put a 40 yam on a 420 dory.

I may start another post to see if somebody wants a holiday up here if they tow it from brisbane for me!

[Smithy]

The Zercoms/Legends are great units till the seals in the knobs go and they start to fog up. Think they have been well and truely superceded by some of the colour stuff coming out but they are top of the tree for B&W IMHO. I would be selling the Lowrance and putting the Legend in. Yep the knobs are a great feature - pity they couldn't come up with a better seal design. Yep use it till it dies and they go and shout yourself a colour unit.

[Lucky_Phill]

Mark, I am running the X51 on Skanky Hoe, and it'll definatley do the job for you there. I had a X28, but lacked bottom definition at 30mtrs.

4.2 will get you to spot X.

Have you got the gps mark for that one ??

Phill