Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Know How a Fish Finder Works Before You Buy

Understanding a little about how fish finders work will help you in purchasing and using a fish finder.

Understanding a little about how fish finders work will help you in purchasing and using a fish finder.

Single beam Fish Finders

The beam that is sent out from the fish finders transducer can be thought of as a beam from a flashlight. As the beam moves further from the transducer it gets wider. When it hits a target the beam is reflected back to the transducer, which in turn sends a signal to the fish finder display which computes the signals distance and shape. The distance and shape is then represented on the screen as either a Fish Symbol or an arch depending upon the fish finder and the model.

The type of beam that is sent out varies with the model and type of fish finder you purchase. Some of the fish finders or sonar's as they are sometimes called, are single beam and some have more than one beam.

Single beam units are best for lakes and shallow coastal waters. Multiple beam units work well for deeper waters. One of the beams will be a lower frequency that will produce a better picture on the bottom. The other beam will be a high frequency beam that will provide the location of fish.

Dual Beam Fish Finders



Dual beams would seem at first glance to be better for shallow water. However the beam cones for the high frequency beam are narrow on dual beam finders so they can get a better picture of deeper fish. The low frequency cones are wide angle to get better pictures of the bottom.

Some people miss this subtle difference and purchase dual frequency fish finders for use in shallow waters just to find out they do not get good coverage.

Buy the right finder for the job by checking the cone angles and understanding how they work beforehand. See the links below to find out more about how fish finders work.

How Fish Finders Work
Nice overview of how fish finders work and sonar coverage patterns.

Humminbird Website
Check out the different models of fish finders

Lowrance
Lowrance Fish Finders

Garmin
Garmin Fish Finders

Eagle
Eagle Fish Finders

Topic Tags: depth finder, dual frequency transducer, fish finder, fish finder review, how fish finder works, sonar

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