Good shallow water Finders?

[simba7171]

I just got a 20' pathfinder and it allows for flush mount electronics. I have a furuno 600l but its pretty big compared to newer versions. Id hate to cut that hole, the unit fail and now I cant fill that big hole.

So, I will probably buy a new one, that unit is 4 years old anyway. I will fish 80% of the time in the river and while looking for fish is not very important knowing the depth is. This is one thinig the furuno wasnt very good at anyway it seemed. Under 2-3 feet, just went blank.

Whats a good affordable color FF that can do the job I am looking for and use offshore every blue moon?

[lakebiker]

My exact same problem a couple years ago.
Contact Airmar @ http://www.airmar.com and tell them what you got and what you need. They fixed me up a P66 unit with a "low Q" value and on my Carolina Skiff, you can read bottom till you hit it. Down side on the Skiff, won't NOTHING work over 24-25 MPH. I'm using a Garmin 240 and keep it on salt water readings all the time. Other than the speed issue, I'm very happy with them both. +/- $100 for the ducer. Can't help on the FF. I'm trying to make up my mind on a new color unit myself but, If you go Garmin, don't go BLUE nothing. It's too strong for the shallows.

[Pimpbot76]

Typically the 600-1000 watts sounder won't be very good in shallow waters like 3-4" and below. Sometimes you might be able to get a reading if you lower gain but it's never a guarantee. Most of the time if you want a simple depth reading in shallow water you can go with a small dash mount instrument that operates at a lower power like 100-250watts. Or better yet just get a NMEA transducer and feed it to a separate display or your current sounder if it allows that. The NMEA sensors are low watts and also operate at 235kHz which won't interfere with other sounders you have on the boat which commonly operate at 50/200khz. Just my 2 cents.

[sandyda]

Do you have a recommended manufacturer and model for that NMEA transducer?

[Pimpbot76]

AIRMAR. You can buy directly from Gemeco Marine Accessories. 843-210-7000.