I want one!!!

Saw this new ff a few days ago for the first time, nice unit and an amazing price for the combo in color...

http://planetgps.net/hmm4065401.html

Considering the color GPS I was looking at is $400 it is not a bad price at all.

Been using one since June. Very highly recommended. But make sure your battery is nice and fresh. You don't want to have your FF drain all the juice, and then be left in the fog without a GPS.

Scott

That one is nice, but I really want a Humminbird 987c SI combo.   It has a GPS, dual beam sonar as well as a sidescan sonar.  Okay, the one thing it doesn't have is a sweet price, it costs $2K and is kind of big, but look at these sidescan images....









Here's the link to more info..
http://humminbird.com/products.asp?ID=621


Brian

What any enterprising kayak fisherman needs:  http://www.portup.com/~dfount/sidescan.htm

What we need to do, is to put one of the above, a GPS, and a data logger on Bluekayaks boat, without him becoming the wiser


Scott

Wouldn't do me much good. I am color blind.

Wow those sidescan images are amazing!

I want Blue Kayaks opinion on this.....

I have been wondering about the existence of better displays (non chart, more 3D).

being a 3D graphics computer guy I was sure you could have displays like that.

I'd like to know about how the sensors are set up and how it works.

the little 2D (time/depth) display we get now is still pretty primative,  I'm sure a dolphin sees
things much like the sidescan images. nothing a little signal processing can't get you.

J

jmairey,

Have I got a link for you...
http://www.portup.com/~dfount/sidescan.htm

This link does a decent job explaining side scan sonar.
However, it does one better, the author makes a functional sidescan sonar out of 4 regular fish finder transducers!

Brian

Brian - The irony is killing me.

Scott

The irony is killing me.

Yeah , the Fish Nerd schooling the 3D Computer Graphics guy on electronic fields and sound wave physics and technology 
He didn't win that buckle cuz he wasn't smart he-he  just kidding JM 

Side note: I found this nugget while I was reading he construction details fo the 4-transducer side-scan sonar towfish: " I now realize that the impedance of the individual elements is so high that this is really not necessary, so I'll just be hooking them up in parallel in my next array." So the impedance of the transducers is very high compared to the cable which means shortening the cable length probalby has no noticeable effect. This was a topic of concern in another thread sometime ago.

I want Blue Kayaks opinion on this.....

He's out trolling at Dux probably.

He's out trolling at Dux probably.

Happily groping his way through unkown depths.

that's okay, I like to let the folks without the ph.d's raise their hands first sometimes,  .

and if you believe that, I'll tell you I let him win those two fishing contests too...

cool link! whenever I think I'm crazy, there is always somebody out there crazier...

I was thinking more along the lines of a transducer at the bow, one at the stern, with 15 feet of separation you should be able to resolve some stereo scopic depth images down to 80 feet or so. this might allow you to get pretty good 3D images of the bottom, and presented on the screen like you would see with your eyes and a search light mounted on the bottom of the boat.
The "depth" would have to be some kind of matrix depth or an average or something. you'd want something that corrects for wave movement too.

J

I think it might make sense then to put the transducers on servos so they kept the proper angle as the depth changes.

My Humminbird X-ducer is a quad channel and gies me a side sonar. I haven't foudn it much use yet though I haven't used it that much either. It did alert me to the wahle the buzzed me in Moneterey Bay comign right up under me then cirlcing around (side sonar saw him) and back under me again. wihtou side sonar I wouldn't ahve seen that movement and only saw him when he was under me.

Happily groping his way through unkown depths.

I think he watched Master and Commander and now uses a sounding line marked in fathoms--its 18th century technology but no batteries to mess with