1kw Transducer... which one?

[Maniac]

Hi all, my first post in a while.. was hoping someone would be able to help with some transducer advice (transom mount). I'm going to purchase the simrad NSS7 evo 3 and a 1kw transducer, so many different choices its a bit overwhelming. Ill be chasing jewfish, snapper & kings inshore and also occasionally game fishing out to the shelf. 

I'm from the Illawarra and the places that sell Simrad down here have been no help... 

[Tunastrike11]

I run the Airmar tm265 1kw chirp on my boat and does what i want it to do but they are around 2 grand not cheap but there are others you can run what the difference is not really sure.

[bobthelob2341]

I’ve got the airmar tm275lhw and it suits my needs perfectly doing similar things to what you’re wanting to do, I chose the tm275 because it has a wider cone making it easier to mark bait when trolling and travelling between spots etc. I’ve marked kings in 120m travelling 20kts not sure if I’d be able to do that with another transducer. I’m also running a Simrad nss evo16s. 

[Rebel]

If you can get to the Boat show. I am sure there will be some one there to help you.

[JonD]

Ive got an Airmar 175hw which holds bottom in 400m but these are designed for shallower water, where they excel. There's a 165 airmar which is also a wide cone angle and very good, to the point I can't see any difference between it and the 175 (check out YouTube comparisons ).

Chassing jews and snapper in shallow water can be very good using sidescan transducers if you are willing to learn how to use them properly. Anyone who says they are gimmicky and no good, simply don't understand how to use them. Again plenty of tutorials on YouTube.

I have an Evo3 as well as Garmin in my boat and would rank my Garmin well above the simrad in just about every function. If my simrad sells on the marketplace I will add a second Garmin to my console.

[Maniac]

On 7/23/2022 at 12:56 PM, bobthelob2341 said:

I’ve got the airmar tm275lhw and it suits my needs perfectly doing similar things to what you’re wanting to do, I chose the tm275 because it has a wider cone making it easier to mark bait when trolling and travelling between spots etc. I’ve marked kings in 120m travelling 20kts not sure if I’d be able to do that with another transducer. I’m also running a Simrad nss evo16s. 

Thanks mate, this was the transducer I had in mind!  

[essjay]

On 7/24/2022 at 11:31 PM, JonD said:

Ive got an Airmar 175hw which holds bottom in 400m but these are designed for shallower water, where they excel. There's a 165 airmar which is also a wide cone angle and very good, to the point I can't see any difference between it and the 175 (check out YouTube comparisons ).

Chassing jews and snapper in shallow water can be very good using sidescan transducers if you are willing to learn how to use them properly. Anyone who says they are gimmicky and no good, simply don't understand how to use them. Again plenty of tutorials on YouTube.

I have an Evo3 as well as Garmin in my boat and would rank my Garmin well above the simrad in just about every function. If my simrad sells on the marketplace I will add a second Garmin to my console.

What makes the garmin so much better? Asking as I just bought a evo3s myself.

[JonD]

21 hours ago, essjay said:

What makes the garmin so much better? Asking as I just bought a evo3s myself.

My simrad shuts down if I hit waves slightly hard and then takes a fair while to boot back up. The commercial abb boat I skipper had an 16 evo doing the same thing so was replaced under warranty. The replacement went off after hitting waves in an Edencraft and failed to come back on. There were no replacement 16 evo's so a 12 was fitted which also has regular shutting off issues in rough conditions. It also has issues where touch screen stops responding and needs turning off and on to get back to working. That same 12 now only transmits low chirp, which could be either the head unit or the transducer. Being able to only transmit low frequency means I have to remember to turn off the transducer each the divers get in the water as they are diving shallow water and the pulse is very annoying for them.

A good friend I may of mentioned on here a month or so ago bought a new 6m Edencraft, again this one was fitted with an evo16. This one had issues where it agains wouldn't respond to touch from the owners fingers but did with mine. He only used that boat three times and sold it as there were so many things he didn't like about it. He has since bought another boat and fitted an evo16 which has been working well. 

Another issue Ive had with simrad (and lowrances) which other have had too is that they can struggle in deep water. When they loose bottom they seem to have hissy fit. If Im offshore in depths where I cant see bottom, I can simply set my depth on the Garmin at say 80m to show any fish within that depth range and it does so perfectly without it having a hissy fit telling me Im about run aground etc. The friend who now has the new 16evo is very disappointed with its deepwater performance given he has two airmar 265 transducers. If he sets a max depth of 80m his screen stops moving and has long pixelated rainbow stripes down the screen. Shallow water is great.

[essjay]

3 hours ago, JonD said:

My simrad shuts down if I hit waves slightly hard and then takes a fair while to boot back up. The commercial abb boat I skipper had an 16 evo doing the same thing so was replaced under warranty. The replacement went off after hitting waves in an Edencraft and failed to come back on. There were no replacement 16 evo's so a 12 was fitted which also has regular shutting off issues in rough conditions. It also has issues where touch screen stops responding and needs turning off and on to get back to working. That same 12 now only transmits low chirp, which could be either the head unit or the transducer. Being able to only transmit low frequency means I have to remember to turn off the transducer each the divers get in the water as they are diving shallow water and the pulse is very annoying for them.

A good friend I may of mentioned on here a month or so ago bought a new 6m Edencraft, again this one was fitted with an evo16. This one had issues where it agains wouldn't respond to touch from the owners fingers but did with mine. He only used that boat three times and sold it as there were so many things he didn't like about it. He has since bought another boat and fitted an evo16 which has been working well. 

Another issue Ive had with simrad (and lowrances) which other have had too is that they can struggle in deep water. When they loose bottom they seem to have hissy fit. If Im offshore in depths where I cant see bottom, I can simply set my depth on the Garmin at say 80m to show any fish within that depth range and it does so perfectly without it having a hissy fit telling me Im about run aground etc. The friend who now has the new 16evo is very disappointed with its deepwater performance given he has two airmar 265 transducers. If he sets a max depth of 80m his screen stops moving and has long pixelated rainbow stripes down the screen. Shallow water is great.

Sounds like something was faulty with the original evo3 range if you got multiple issues across multiple devices. This may also explain why they came out with the evo3s so quickly. The unit I got is using a 3 in 1 Lowrance transducer and I am still tweaking settings to give me clear pictures with downscan or sonar ( one of the two is not tuned right yet) side scan is unbelievably clear though and I love how fast the unit is to response to my commands compared to the old lowrance 7ti elite the boat had previously. Thank you for sharing the real world feedback with me, I am still very much a novice and stumbling my way through this wonderful world of fishing in 2022.

[JonD]

On 7/23/2022 at 12:56 PM, bobthelob2341 said:

I’ve got the airmar tm275lhw and it suits my needs perfectly doing similar things to what you’re wanting to do, I chose the tm275 because it has a wider cone making it easier to mark bait when trolling and travelling between spots etc. I’ve marked kings in 120m travelling 20kts not sure if I’d be able to do that with another transducer. I’m also running a Simrad nss evo16s. 

Don't get me wrong but I would be extremely disappointed if that's the results you are getting from a 275. Those vertical lines that appear both above and bellow the bottom seem very odd from a wide cone angle. the bait fish look weak in their signal and even the larger predators look to have those same vertical breaks through the arches. The arches are long because of the amount of time they are under the transducer which equates to the boat speed you are doing of 1.2kts. 

This is very simular to how the screens have looked when used in water where the transducer can't reach bottom. Those vertical lines appear and even though the depth may be set to a maximum of 80m the head unit still seems to over power and create even worse vertical lines because of the added power its using. The lines become so bad that you simply wouldn't see tuna if they were sat directly under the boat, we know that as I had one under the boat for 1.30mins two weeks ago and never saw it at all. I had the same problem with the lowrances Ive had in deep water too.

There may be something deep in the menu to compensate for deep water and removing those lines bit they seem to be an issue one very simrad Ive seen. Simrad tec will have have you re-routing cables away from others etc but Ive tried that for no benefit. 

[JonD]

Well I was expecting (hoping) to see several people say that their Simrads (Navico) are working perfectly without any issues what so ever, even offshore targeting game or deep dropping etc. 
 

[essjay]

On 7/23/2022 at 12:56 PM, bobthelob2341 said:

I’ve got the airmar tm275lhw and it suits my needs perfectly doing similar things to what you’re wanting to do, I chose the tm275 because it has a wider cone making it easier to mark bait when trolling and travelling between spots etc. I’ve marked kings in 120m travelling 20kts not sure if I’d be able to do that with another transducer. I’m also running a Simrad nss evo16s. 

This might help tune your setup. I think I have an issue with mine alone the same lines. I have not tried this yet as I only just found it while looking for tuning help. TVG and Gain are what I will be adjusting when I need hit the water.

 

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by essjay

[JonD]

3 hours ago, essjay said:

This might help tune your setup. I think I have an issue with mine alone the same lines. I have not tried this yet as I only just found it while looking for tuning help. TVG and Gain are what I will be adjusting when I need hit the water.

 

 

Ive used tvg but you loose falling jigs and baits, where I do like seeing them fall from the surface. 

[bobthelob2341]

On 8/12/2022 at 9:02 AM, JonD said:

Don't get me wrong but I would be extremely disappointed if that's the results you are getting from a 275. Those vertical lines that appear both above and bellow the bottom seem very odd from a wide cone angle. the bait fish look weak in their signal and even the larger predators look to have those same vertical breaks through the arches. The arches are long because of the amount of time they are under the transducer which equates to the boat speed you are doing of 1.2kts. 

This is very simular to how the screens have looked when used in water where the transducer can't reach bottom. Those vertical lines appear and even though the depth may be set to a maximum of 80m the head unit still seems to over power and create even worse vertical lines because of the added power its using. The lines become so bad that you simply wouldn't see tuna if they were sat directly under the boat, we know that as I had one under the boat for 1.30mins two weeks ago and never saw it at all. I had the same problem with the lowrances Ive had in deep water too.

There may be something deep in the menu to compensate for deep water and removing those lines bit they seem to be an issue one very simrad Ive seen. Simrad tec will have have you re-routing cables away from others etc but Ive tried that for no benefit. 

 

4 hours ago, essjay said:

This might help tune your setup. I think I have an issue with mine alone the same lines. I have not tried this yet as I only just found it while looking for tuning help. TVG and Gain are what I will be adjusting when I need hit the water.

 

 

Interesting to read, here I was thinking I was getting some pretty good readings. Cheers for the advice I will tinker some more with the settings and see if I can get any better readings. 

[essjay]

1 hour ago, bobthelob2341 said:

 

Interesting to read, here I was thinking I was getting some pretty good readings. Cheers for the advice I will tinker some more with the settings and see if I can get any better readings. 

Here is part one of another series I started watching

 

 

[essjay]

On 8/14/2022 at 7:19 PM, bobthelob2341 said:

 

Interesting to read, here I was thinking I was getting some pretty good readings. Cheers for the advice I will tinker some more with the settings and see if I can get any better readings. 

It fixed my echo screen issues today after some trial and error. No more lines down the screen!!!!!!

First thing I did was disable down scan overlay in the echo screen because trying to trouble shoot two screen feeds at the same time is the devils work. then adjusted my gain so i was seeing the correct data on the screen, using manual settings. I also backed off TVG by 1. Gain for me using an 3 in 1 transducer needed to be around 72-77 depending on the depth I was in. Once that was dialled in, I turned down scan overlay back on and the data feed is crystal clear. Total game changer for me.

 

hope this helps the OP and anyone else struggling to dial their simrad unit in