Buying a fishfinder

Are you confused about which fishfinder to purchase among the 100's available from all the different makes and manufacturers?

Here are are a few things to consider that will give good idea of which models would work best for you.

Where will you be fishing - Will you be fishing from the shore? from a boat? in deep or in shallow water?

• If you are fishing from the shoreline, you might think that you can not use a fish finder, but this is not true. There are fishfinders that use a Radio Frequency (RF) radio signal. You attach a little transducer that looks like a bobber to a fishing line and cast the transducer out on to the water using a rod and reel. Then, using the display that is affixed to your wrist in the form a watch, or attached to your fishing pole, you can see what is directly under the bobber that you cast out on to the water. These types of fishfinders are made by humminbird. Here is the rf line of fishfinders.:
• If you are fishing from a boat, you can use any and every fishfinder made. Answering the following questions will give you additional information to decide which will work best for you.
• If you are fishing in shallow water, you will not need very much power
• If you are fishing in deep water, make sure to check the power output of the device and check the box to see how deep the signal will penetrate.

Screen Size - There are many screen sizes. The RF series by humminbird use a 2 inch screen. This is really difficult to interpret, but it is usable. There are screen sizes up to and including 10 inches. Of course they will be quite expensive and if you want your screen to display in color, that will cost also.

Color or Mono Screen - A color screen will cost much more than a mono black and white/gray shade display on the fishfinder. These are available for most makes and models.

Single or dual frequency/single or dual beam Transducer

• A single frequency /single beam transducer uses a constant power output and the ping extends out from the transducer at a specific degree.
• A dual frequency/dual beam transducer allows you to switch between 2 frequencies and 2 different beam sizes. Imagine trolling along at the low setting with the wide beam. You see something interesting and you flip the fishfinder into the high frequency narrow beam setting to get a much clearer image of what you were seeing with the low frequency/beam setting.

Side Imager - Side imaging is new technology that actually scans the water from side to side using a razor thin beam all the way to the waterline providing an unprecedented view of what is under your boat. Side imagers cost allot of money compared to the traditional fish finder sonar.

Down Imager - A down imager uses the side imaging technology, but only provides a view of what is directly under the boat rather that all the way up the side to the water line like the side imager. It uses the same razor thin bam that provides an incredible view almost video like of what is under your boat.