quick summation, going to post some pics as soon as i get them uploaded.
although cruising around birdsong creek, i did not find a single bluegill bed, but this thing will show fish as a white hot return IF you set the contrast high enough. most people dont play with contrast and sensitivity enough to get good results. im thinking that it will show bedded bluegill as a white hot dot.
this unit WILL keep settings after power down, EXCEPT for manual depth which defaults to 50 ft BUT there is a quick +'and minus key that quickly sets depth on the fly. whoever the guy was that posted on reviews that it will not keep settings was either lying and didnt actually own the unit or he was not hitting the save button(checkmark key).
i was planning on getting to the north of the lake, where i bluegill fish, but i am still playing with the transducer position on the transom. my wife came up with an ingenius way of temporarily mounting the transducer with industrial velcro and waterproof HVAC tape. it worked like am harm.
the keys and menus are very intuitive and you can quickly move from menu to menu while trolling and scanning. the color pallete has many options but i like the inverse grey with the contrast jacked up to 70-80% and the fish seem to jump out. the blue color is also good for those settings.
the downscan and 2d chirp are excellent, about as good as lowrance and it should be because the same engineers designed it thus causing the lawsuits. the side scan technology is liscensed from hummingbird according to court documents.
now for the conclusion, at $499 and with sidescan for a 7 inch screen, IMHO its worth the money. the newer model echomap 73sv or 93sv would be good choices as well since they put out 500 watts to the transducer and they have better processors to compute the sonar data with less compression.(i believe this is the reason that the 800 khz doesnt look quit as good as the 455 khz mode). that said, 2 things kind of bother me, 1. no software updates or any way to install them and 2. this unit has an internal battery that can be used without a 12v battery as in ice fishing or in kayaks. but with a 2 year warranty and pretty good customer service im not really worried that much because if it lasts 4 years, then that averages to less than what i pay for tackle and bait every year.
if you have plenty of cash to spend go with hummingbird 10 inch units or better and 360 transducer on the bow. i saw one that was scanning bluegill beds in real time and you could see the fish on the move in protect mode on the beds, but you gonna pay for it.
bass under birdsong bridge, i know they were bass be ause they were feeding top water because several thousands swallows were dropping stuff into the water from their nests above.
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one final comment, the transducer in this 7sv and the newer model 73sv and 93sv share the same TG52 transducer. the older model 73sv that is selling at reduced prices has the older transducer that did not show fish returns well, if at all, but shows structure a little clearer. these newer models show structure and fish returns. this is info from a GARMIN tech guru.
although cruising around birdsong creek, i did not find a single bluegill bed, but this thing will show fish as a white hot return IF you set the contrast high enough. most people dont play with contrast and sensitivity enough to get good results. im thinking that it will show bedded bluegill as a white hot dot.
this unit WILL keep settings after power down, EXCEPT for manual depth which defaults to 50 ft BUT there is a quick +'and minus key that quickly sets depth on the fly. whoever the guy was that posted on reviews that it will not keep settings was either lying and didnt actually own the unit or he was not hitting the save button(checkmark key).
i was planning on getting to the north of the lake, where i bluegill fish, but i am still playing with the transducer position on the transom. my wife came up with an ingenius way of temporarily mounting the transducer with industrial velcro and waterproof HVAC tape. it worked like am harm.
the keys and menus are very intuitive and you can quickly move from menu to menu while trolling and scanning. the color pallete has many options but i like the inverse grey with the contrast jacked up to 70-80% and the fish seem to jump out. the blue color is also good for those settings.
the downscan and 2d chirp are excellent, about as good as lowrance and it should be because the same engineers designed it thus causing the lawsuits. the side scan technology is liscensed from hummingbird according to court documents.
now for the conclusion, at $499 and with sidescan for a 7 inch screen, IMHO its worth the money. the newer model echomap 73sv or 93sv would be good choices as well since they put out 500 watts to the transducer and they have better processors to compute the sonar data with less compression.(i believe this is the reason that the 800 khz doesnt look quit as good as the 455 khz mode). that said, 2 things kind of bother me, 1. no software updates or any way to install them and 2. this unit has an internal battery that can be used without a 12v battery as in ice fishing or in kayaks. but with a 2 year warranty and pretty good customer service im not really worried that much because if it lasts 4 years, then that averages to less than what i pay for tackle and bait every year.
if you have plenty of cash to spend go with hummingbird 10 inch units or better and 360 transducer on the bow. i saw one that was scanning bluegill beds in real time and you could see the fish on the move in protect mode on the beds, but you gonna pay for it.
bass under birdsong bridge, i know they were bass be ause they were feeding top water because several thousands swallows were dropping stuff into the water from their nests above.
one final comment, the transducer in this 7sv and the newer model 73sv and 93sv share the same TG52 transducer. the older model 73sv that is selling at reduced prices has the older transducer that did not show fish returns well, if at all, but shows structure a little clearer. these newer models show structure and fish returns. this is info from a GARMIN tech guru.
