Well defined Sounder in Colour

[Smelly]

Hi Team!

What is a good sounder - colour - with optimal resolution for under $600?

And, why is the unit you recommend - a good sounder?

What criteria should one look for when buying a new sounder - used in PPB for snapper mainly?

Smelly

[New_fisher]

cant go past raymarine ds400x, its a runout model, so u may have to shop around, but it is well worth is costs 629 so fantastic, its a digital sounder as well, just fantastic

[Pointyfish]

The above sounder is 500 watts RMS. I have a similar sounder ( garmin 250d b/w 500w ). The watts is the amount of power at which your sounder is sending its echo out of the transducer to read the bottom etc. From personal experience 500w is good to about 240m of water , and then you start losing picture. 500w will detect schools of snapper etc on the bottom plus low bottom structure acurately to about 100m's.
If your planning on fishing deeper than this go a 1kw unit or if your planning to fish less than 30m you can get away with a 350w. A 100w sounder is for inshore and estuary use.
Look to get around 240x240 pixels for your resolution minium.

[Smelly]

Pointy - how does the garmin 250d b/w 500w and raymarine ds400x comapre to the Furuno 600?

Smelly

[Glen.m]

I run a JRC FF50 and don't know many of the cheaper models but whatever you get, make sure it has:

1. High Vertical Pixel Count
2. Simple functionality and access to features (It's a lot harder on water)
3. Good Visibility in direct sunlight.

Regards
Glen

[2rods]

Save up $250 more and get a Lowrance x102c or x102df.... you only get what you pay for. I wish I had purchased the lowrance a few years ago..

[bay_firey]

Glen

What do you call a "high" vert pixe; count ??

[Kendall249]

a high vertical pixel count is 480 or better