Software can help, but a practised operator will get more from it than a novice. From the computer, you can output VGA or DVI to a screen, or go through a converter for composite or S-video.Like the 2D models, the picture is colour-coded to aid spotting the difference between shallow and deep water. Of course you would, and so would every other sailor in the world.

We tried looking at a range of features, including solid piling, bridge piers, gently shelving beaches and mooring chains, as well as using the units to find our way down a narrow channel of soft mud.The only unit tested with a dedicated display, the FLS 2D comes with a choice of transducers. Attach the Perspective Mode Mount to your trolling motor, and easily adjust the transducer between LiveScope Forward, LiveScope Down and Perspective view.Provides a more live-video look that shows fish swimming and moving toward or away from the boat. Our range test picked up the wall at about 90m and, like the FLS 2D, it tended to show spurious depths in soft, shallow channels. However, unlike the Echopilot, which shows a picture all the time, RealVü scans, building the image from left to right.A piece of rail marking a channel edge, viewed at 8mThis conclusion was borne out by a test we tried in the shallow waters of Poole’s Holes Bay, looking at a channel mark made from a piece of old railway rail. On this are plotted the echoes received by the transducer, using colours graded from blue to red to show the strength of the echo (red being the stronger). For a little extra cost, if you already have a plotter the Platinum Engine offered best performance across a range of conditions.Whatever you choose, it’s important to remember that they aren’t infallible, and are affected strongly by the surface at which they are looking. ForwardScan ® is a powerful defense against running aground, and an invaluable tool for locating secure sites to drop anchor.. Designed to give skippers more confidence and peace of mind when navigating unfamiliar waters, the new phased-array multi-beam transducer incorporates Panoptix FrontVü forward-looking sonar. Compare this to a traditional sonar. He’s right, and like radar, forward sonar needs interpretation. With LiveVü Down, see small baitfish and large target fish swimming around and pinpoint their distance left or right - and their depths.Gives you a wealth of sonar data. The standard transducer is sold as suitable for smaller boats, has plastic encapsulation and uses a 45mm through-hull fitting. Data points not used in the rendering are overlaid to give an indication whether any features have been ignored.If RealVü could work faster and under way, it would make a great tool for exploring narrow channels.If you’re looking to avoid collision, rather than carry out a close-range survey of the seabed, we have to discount the Garmin from the running. Both LiveScope Forward and LiveScope Down modes are included in one transducer and are available with either transom or trolling motor mounts.LiveScope Down allows you to see live scanning sonar images of structure and swimming fish in incredible detail below your boat – up to 200' – even while your boat is stationary. However, you will still need an interface box (SonarHub) to connect the transducer to the plotter. Product Overview. Soft mud and shallow water confused them all to a greater or lesser extent, as is only to be expected when you fire a sonar beam obliquely into a soft medium.

Its limited range and intolerance to turbulence make it unsuitable for use at anything more than trolling speeds, but if Garmin can produce a through-hull transducer that deals with these problems, its impressive level of detail makes it a product to keep an eye on in the future.The Echopilot FLS 3D is best suited to larger boats, not least because of its size and cost. Essentially, this is a line of best fit – the data points can be overlaid if you wish, either both above and below the line, or just above. The wall was clearly visible at ranges just over 100m, which was the width of the channel in which we were working. For example, a mooring chain or stake will give a vertical line of strong, red returns with some weaker echoes either side. A full 3D view of the area under the boat is constructed, showing bottom contour changes, fish and structure, even while stationary.Copyright © 1996-2020 Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries Unsupported Browser Detected – For best results, please update your browser.

It operates at a lower frequency, usually 50kHz and 200kHz. When a school of fish swims below your boat, you’ll see a red blob, and you can interpret that image, based on water temperature and location, and guess that you’re looking at a s… The Professional transducer adds detail but is bulkier and heavier, with a greater protrusion below the hull. It also proved useful to be able to display the data alongside the chart, especially when moving along a channel edge.In soft mud, the line of best fit fails, but data points still show trendsRealVü scans from left to right to build a realistic image of the seabed. Bottom contours and fish pop in vivid color in three dimensions.Digitally scans the area below the boat from front to back and side to side. Both the Echopilot and Navico products showed this as a collection of a few echoes, while the Garmin showed a clear vertical obstacle at about 8m.In RealVü mode, the range is reduced compared with LiveVü by the rendering facility – as you move away from a feature, the image begins to fragment as the quality of the data reduces. Navico, the parent company to Simrad, B&G and Lowrance, recently announced a forward sonar transducer and updated software for their SonarHub module and plotters, while Garmin have developed a version of their high-definition Panoptix fishfinder designed to look ahead. Would you like to be able to spot an obstacle before your boat hits it? Once done, and with your software updated to suit, a new option will appear on the menu: ForwardScan. Garmin says this new transducer and technology will display the bottom up to 300ft (90m) ahead of the boat at 8-10 times the current water depth. By default, the unit is set to choose a range automatically, but the user can override this.The user interface is not immediately intuitive, but once the unit is set up the most you are likely to need is to change the range, achieved simply enough using the ‘Up’ and ‘Down’ softkeys. See your lure.