Marine Electronics Forum - Best Lowrance Transducer- Fresh & Salt

I am looking at purchasing a 24' bay boat for use in fresh water lakes and near shore and inshore fishing. I am thinking of installing a Lowrance HDS-10 with structure scan....

My question is what transducer would work best in both fresh water and salt water? I see stock skimmer types that are 50/200 or 83/200.....the 50 seems to be the choice for salt water but the 83 for fresh water (i think)...I plan to fish more in fresh water (right now)...than salt. Is there a down side of using the 50 in fresh water? Can I mount both and switch between them?

Second question....transom mount or thru hull mount?

Thank you....

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My question is what transducer would work best in both fresh water and salt water? I see stock skimmer types that are 50/200 or 83/200.....the 50 seems to be the choice for salt water but the 83 for fresh water (i think)...I plan to fish more in fresh water (right now)...than salt. Is there a down side of using the 50 in fresh water? Can I mount both and switch between them?

Second question....transom mount or thru hull mount?



1) To answer the question about what works best in both fresh and salt.

Regardless if you are fishing salt or fresh water ... the higher the quality of the transducer the greater the sonars capability. The frequency range and cone angle are a consideration for ones fishing conditions but the benefits of a improved signal to noise ratio and a lower Q rating are what most experienced fisherman are looking for when selecting a transducer.

Garmin & Lowrance OEM transducers are adequate for general fishing conditions and are of only moderate quality...if someone fishes only a few times a summer more than acceptable.

For sonars 600 watts and less the P66/B60 is one of the more popular choices for both fresh and salt water.

A down side to running 50 K in fresh water?
Why not utilize both....
I like using both the 50k and 200 k in shallow water so as to take advantage of the wider 50k cone angles.

http://imageshack.us/a/img807/6358/dsc0219go.jpg

Many experienced fisherman run dual screen at times during their run......the best of both worlds.


2) Second question...transom or thru hull.

Equal element transducers will always have the advantage in a thru hull mounting due to the fact that it will be running in cleaner water conditions.
Add to that ...the thru hull units are of higher case construction quality than their transom mount counterparts.




http://imageshack.us/a/img88/8048/transducercutawaylabele.jpg



Every step you take to improve the transducers quality and proper mounting will pay dividends.

Thanks guys some great information here and I appreciate the direction! Doing research to rig this boat is starting to be part time job!

I thought that to use the Structure Scan feature you had to use the specific transducer for that....think it's called the LSS 2? Won't you need to two transducers for an HDS 10 with structure scan...one for the regular sonar and one for the structure scan?

I thought that to use the Structure Scan feature you had to use the specific transducer for that....think it's called the LSS 2? Won't you need to two transducers for an HDS 10 with structure scan...one for the regular sonar and one for the structure scan?

Yes, you are correct. The LSS transducer comes with the LSS-2, if you buy the packaged deal. If you are installing a new HD- series MFD at the same time, you will need to install a normal transducer as well. That one can be anything that is compatible with the HD sonar unit.. transom mount; thru-hull; many types. They will need to be mounted fairly close to each other for the LSS image to properly overlay the HD sonar image.