Fish Finder suggestions and advice

[TheGreatestGoat]

Do yourselves a favour and find out what all the Victorian charter operators are using. They need to find fish for clients. 90% use only 1 brand of sounder.

Only problem though, going the absolute cheapest in their range (fcv-628 with p66) doesn't give much change out of $1500. And is no where near performance of a 588 with better transducer and not even in the ballpark of an 1150. The charter blokes spend more on their transducer alone than the ops original budget. Even then, a sh*t wiring job, a garbage transducer placement and even the most expensive of setups becomes basically worthless

The commercial grade Furuno/Simrad/Raymarines are great when you can afford them and have the justification. The prosumer/consumer Lowrance/Garmin/Raymarines are more than adequate for the budget conscious when properly setup

Pretty sure the 628 and 588 are just the same head unit except for size. Could be wrong though. The 588 though has the ability to run the 1kw+ transducers, which is why there is a performance difference rather than the head unit itself.

Having said that, most of the charter guys run dual transducers and actually use the el cheapo p66 in western port for low frequency sounding.

I was in the same position last a while back, started with a budget of around $800 but saved up for longer and got a Furuno. I couldn't be happier with it to be honest. Worth every penny and probably would have spent the money on beer anyway

[smile0784]

Do yourselves a favour and find out what all the Victorian charter operators are using. They need to find fish for clients. 90% use only 1 brand of sounder.

Only problem though, going the absolute cheapest in their range (fcv-628 with p66) doesn't give much change out of $1500. And is no where near performance of a 588 with better transducer and not even in the ballpark of an 1150. The charter blokes spend more on their transducer alone than the ops original budget. Even then, a sh*t wiring job, a garbage transducer placement and even the most expensive of setups becomes basically worthless

The commercial grade Furuno/Simrad/Raymarines are great when you can afford them and have the justification. The prosumer/consumer Lowrance/Garmin/Raymarines are more than adequate for the budget conscious when properly setup

Pretty sure the 628 and 588 are just the same head unit except for size. Could be wrong though. The 588 though has the ability to run the 1kw+ transducers, which is why there is a performance difference rather than the head unit itself.

Having said that, most of the charter guys run dual transducers and actually use the el cheapo p66 in western port for low frequency sounding.

I was in the same position last a while back, started with a budget of around $800 but saved up for longer and got a Furuno. I couldn't be happier with it to be honest. Worth every penny and probably would have spent the money on beer anyway

Beer vs good sounder
I know what would win

[slinga]

Do yourselves a favour and find out what all the Victorian charter operators are using. They need to find fish for clients. 90% use only 1 brand of sounder.

Only problem though, going the absolute cheapest in their range (fcv-628 with p66) doesn't give much change out of $1500. And is no where near performance of a 588 with better transducer and not even in the ballpark of an 1150. The charter blokes spend more on their transducer alone than the ops original budget. Even then, a sh*t wiring job, a garbage transducer placement and even the most expensive of setups becomes basically worthless

The commercial grade Furuno/Simrad/Raymarines are great when you can afford them and have the justification. The prosumer/consumer Lowrance/Garmin/Raymarines are more than adequate for the budget conscious when properly setup

Pretty sure the 628 and 588 are just the same head unit except for size. Could be wrong though. The 588 though has the ability to run the 1kw+ transducers, which is why there is a performance difference rather than the head unit itself.

Having said that, most of the charter guys run dual transducers and actually use the el cheapo p66 in western port for low frequency sounding.

I was in the same position last a while back, started with a budget of around $800 but saved up for longer and got a Furuno. I couldn't be happier with it to be honest. Worth every penny and probably would have spent the money on beer anyway

Money well spent. The P66 is more than adequate.