Just finished installing and testing a new Lowrance Hook-4 w/GPS, and it's the best I've ever had, hands down. It took it out all day on what are, at least for me and my area, the most challenging areas for a depthfinder... soft mucky bottoms and steep drop offs. Did not lose bottom contact once, at any speed. I was kind of surprised at how well it did.
In the past, with every previous FF on every previous boat, on the same waters, it would often lose the depth at speed, heck, sometimes at trolling speed. Granted, this water is infamous for that, there are areas where the silt is very gradual and many feet thick, it's like a thick soup. A lot of divers have lost their lives because they get disoriented. So it's especially hard for depthfinders. Anyway, I always tried adjusting the transducer until I got the best results, but it was never completely reliable, especially at speed on plane. The one that came with my CD22 was a Navman 4150, and a stock Uniden DF, and both of those were the worst I'd ever had. I tried all kinds of transducer adjustments, even ones I knew wouldn't work. Never could get either to work very well, at any speed.
I also installed a starboard block (thanks to Bob Austin for his outstanding tutorial!). I went with 1" thick because I found a couple articles/posts saying the further back the less turbulence, and Sternsaver has a nice explanation of how the flow actually rises as it leaves the keel, so you want to have the transducer back and UP in that pocket. Don't know how much of that is marketing, but I figured it can't hurt to try... that's the whole point of the starboard.
So I angled it at the bottom edge with a table saw for a smooth, straight keel line, filled the joint with the keel with a little 5200 and smoothed it fair, and I attribute a lot of the transducer performance to that and the 1" starboard. I kept the Uniden, and even that performed much, much better than before. So there's definitely something to putting it back and up. Many have had good luck with 3/4" too, I can't speak to that. I also mounted both transducers a bit on the high side as a starting point, about even with the keel for the Lowrance and about 3/16" below the keel for the Uniden.
I also like the detail on the fishfinder functions, the downscan and CHIRP is all new to me and I'm still learning, but what I've seen so far is pretty impressive. And the Navionics USA charts that came with it are quite good... better than the $200 specific Navionics charts I got years ago for the lakes in my region.
BTW, I guess this is starting to sound spam-like, so I'll have to post some negatives. Hmmmm... the transducer bracket could be a little beefier. And in the multi-screen view, I wish you could select which of the screens you want to adust, without going to a different page first.
Now I just have to go catch some fish with the darn thing!
In the past, with every previous FF on every previous boat, on the same waters, it would often lose the depth at speed, heck, sometimes at trolling speed. Granted, this water is infamous for that, there are areas where the silt is very gradual and many feet thick, it's like a thick soup. A lot of divers have lost their lives because they get disoriented. So it's especially hard for depthfinders. Anyway, I always tried adjusting the transducer until I got the best results, but it was never completely reliable, especially at speed on plane. The one that came with my CD22 was a Navman 4150, and a stock Uniden DF, and both of those were the worst I'd ever had. I tried all kinds of transducer adjustments, even ones I knew wouldn't work. Never could get either to work very well, at any speed.
I also installed a starboard block (thanks to Bob Austin for his outstanding tutorial!). I went with 1" thick because I found a couple articles/posts saying the further back the less turbulence, and Sternsaver has a nice explanation of how the flow actually rises as it leaves the keel, so you want to have the transducer back and UP in that pocket. Don't know how much of that is marketing, but I figured it can't hurt to try... that's the whole point of the starboard.
So I angled it at the bottom edge with a table saw for a smooth, straight keel line, filled the joint with the keel with a little 5200 and smoothed it fair, and I attribute a lot of the transducer performance to that and the 1" starboard. I kept the Uniden, and even that performed much, much better than before. So there's definitely something to putting it back and up. Many have had good luck with 3/4" too, I can't speak to that. I also mounted both transducers a bit on the high side as a starting point, about even with the keel for the Lowrance and about 3/16" below the keel for the Uniden.
I also like the detail on the fishfinder functions, the downscan and CHIRP is all new to me and I'm still learning, but what I've seen so far is pretty impressive. And the Navionics USA charts that came with it are quite good... better than the $200 specific Navionics charts I got years ago for the lakes in my region.
BTW, I guess this is starting to sound spam-like, so I'll have to post some negatives. Hmmmm... the transducer bracket could be a little beefier. And in the multi-screen view, I wish you could select which of the screens you want to adust, without going to a different page first.
Now I just have to go catch some fish with the darn thing!