When choosing a fishfinder for your fishing needs, it's essential to consider a few key factors to ensure you make the right choice. One crucial aspect is the type of transducer the fishfinder uses. The transducer is responsible for sending and receiving sonar signals, providing information about underwater structures and fish.
Here are some of the things you need to know about them.
Between Screens vs. Color Screens
Color displays have become a standard in electronics, not just fish finders. They can deliver up to millions of colors and lots of detail, while black-and-white displays only have 265 shades of gray. With a color display, the information displayed by the power adapter will be easier to read and understand. With more colors, you can better see what's happening. Additionally, black-and-white displays are difficult to read in direct sunlight. During dark or cloudy weather, the displays get stuck in black and white again with limited readability.
Black and white fishfinder displays only also have their place, and various models are still in production. If you can't fit a color display into your budget, it's best to start with a simpler display. Once you get used to the simpler model, you can upgrade.
Dual, Single and Multiple Frequencies
Most dual frequency transducers have 60 and 20 degree cones. Frequencies are one of the biggest factors for power converters. Transducers usually come with frequencies of 200, 192, 83 or 50 kHz. Conic angles are directly related to it.
For shallow water, your best option is high frequencies, such as 192 and 200 kHz. For professional and commercial deep water use, 50 kHz transducers work best. The important thing to remember is that a higher frequency gives more details on your screen. The higher the frequency, the more sonar waves the transducer will transmit and receive. Some fish finders can reach as high as 400 kHz or more while using different frequencies. These images display in incredible detail, and allow switching between wider and narrower views.
Power
Before you pull the trigger on any unit, you should consider the power of the fish finder you are looking at. If you want the unit to have faster, deeper readings, you want a unit with a high wattage. Lower wattage devices will be much slower and better in shallow water. This happens because the fish finder is converting the sonar waves from its transducer. When there is less energy, the waves are slower and the reading is more unreliable. When there is greater energy, the waves are much faster and the reading is more accurate.
In conclusion, if you intend to fish in shallow water, you won't need a lot of power. If you want to fish in a deep lake or saltwater, you should get a fish finder with as much power as possible.
Important Note:
Per 100 watts of power at 50 kHz, your fish finder will show depth readings up to 400 feet.
For every 100 watts of power at 200 kHz, the fish finder will show a reading as deep as 100 feet.
Most detectors operate in the mid-range at dual frequencies. This way you can see the readings from every frequency through split screen mode.
Water Resistant
Finally, there is another even more important consideration. If you will be mounting your unit on a smaller, open container, water resistance will be crucial. You should always check JIS or IPX ratings. These are roughly the same, but each specifies a specific unit level of water resistance.
A rating of 4 means that a particular device is safe from splashing water, so it wouldn't do well, on a kayak, for example. A JIS/IPX rating of five or six means the fish finder can stand up to low and high pressure water jets? With a seven rating, you can submerge your unit up to 10 feet for 30 minutes. Finally, the Rating 8 can be underwater for extended periods of time. The rating makes a huge difference and determines how and where you will use your fish finder.
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