CyberAngler

I'm planning on replacing my fish finder and am seriously considering one of the two side scan types, Lowrance or Humminbird. I would like to hear from those who have either. I don't mind spending the money if the feature is really useful. I spend most of my fishing in the Tampa Bay area, bay and flats fishing. I suspect there are many others that would like reviews from owners, especially professional guides. Thanks in advance.

bucstreak wrote:I'm planning on replacing my fish finder and am seriously considering one of the two side scan types, Lowrance or Humminbird. I would like to hear from those who have either. I don't mind spending the money if the feature is really useful. I spend most of my fishing in the Tampa Bay area, bay and flats fishing. I suspect there are many others that would like reviews from owners, especially professional guides. Thanks in advance.

I run out in Costa Rica and I have had enormous good fortune with the Furuno FCV585. I just put this on the boat with a really nice 1kw Airmar transducer with the fairing and a separate speed sensor.

I know this isn't the side scanning unit which you wanted, but I talk alot with other pro fishing guides and everyone said this blows away anything hummingbird and I think they are right. My bottom fishing has gone through the roof. This thing gives me a measurement in inches of the fish below the boat at 200' and it's pretty close. I also like the mark feature, where you can mark stuff on the screen and it sends it to the GPS. With the fairing, I get a clear picture all the way to top speed. So while I'm running out, I have it running and I mark stuff I find and I can circle back right to the same spot. Make a couple of circles to hone in on the spot and I've got it nailed. It may only scan down, but you are getting a super high quality scan which is worth more.

I have heard that side scan doesn't work well over 100' feet. I have seen fish on the bottom with mine at 600 feet and can see bottom at 1800'

The speed sensor also helps a ton because I used to have to find the current and check the current speed and then guess/calculate my trolling speed./ With the speed sensor, I am troling the right speed within seconds of running out and we are fishing quicker. i also think it gives me better accuracy in my trolling and since I have put the speed sensor on, I have a better chance of targeting stuff. If I go 5.5-6.5 knots for YF Tuna, 6.5-7 knots I hit sailfish but I can push it up 7.5-8.5 for more Marlin action. 9-10 for Wahoo. It's hard to estimate speed without current using just a GPS so I think this was an awesome option as well. I think the added accuracy has taken one variable out of the fishing for me and that's been pretty effective.

The only thing I don't like is the screen is super sensitive to scratching, but if someone had told me this I would have bought a protective plastic covering I now have on it. Buy one off of eBay for 5 bucks and put it on the screen before you even put it on the boat!

The only thing I have heard that works better than this is the searchlights by Furuno, but those are 15K and take forever to install.

Hope this helps!