The Eagle Fishmark 320 is a favorite amongst NYBassers. From what I remember of your initial post, a protable unit would serve you well. It is a great value for the cost (~$250) and a top notch sonar unit.
The sonar unit reads a cone under the transducer that can be different sizes based on the setting on the unit and the depth you are reading. Imagine how a flashlight looks when you point it straight down. The higher up it is (farther away from the ground) the larger the area that is lit up. Some lights allow you to focus the beam to a wider or narrower, and some sonar units allow you to do the same.
Master: keep tuned to this board as one of our professional members, MIKEY D will soon be offering a DVD about sonar that will perfectly explain your question!
The Eagle Fish Mark 320 is a very good unit. I purchased one from Bass Pro for 199.00 on sale a couple of month's ago.
I put the unit on the front of my Ranger, mounting the Transducer on the Trolling motor (Minn-Kota 74). The give you a oval egg shape transducer, but it adapts well with a little imagination.
Transducer's are built with a cone of 8 degree's. you can purchase them with 20, but I don't recommend it for 0-50ft of water. Too much cluter and to much for the screen to hold in such a small area.
Eagle is made by Lowrance, like Mercury and Mariner, Evindrude and Johnson.......It's called Market share.
Compare the Casing of the Eagle to the Lowrance using youpr computor and you can judge from there.
Cabela's has a nice portable 320 setup - a hard plastic tray with handle, 6 volt batter and charger, the displays mounts to the plastic tray and comes with screen cover too.
It also came with a soft zip up carry bag - your choice on which to use.
JohnG is the real master of this unit. Search the posts.
BTW Sonar reflets off of bubbles in the water. Each fish has a hollow air filled cavity along the spine. This is what reflects the sonar back to the unit and shows up as "fish archs".
I have one of the bottom line fishing buddy sonar units and was considering getting the portable eagle 320 unit but was unsure how it would work with a reservoir rowboat. If anyone has an eagle unit and uses it on a reservoir could you explain how you mount the sonar to the bottom of the boat without destroying it?
The 320 portable setup I got came with a suction cup attachment - so you can stick it to the transom of the boat.
Or - for the brave of heart ONLY, cut a spmall 3x2 inch openeing in the bottom of your boat, mix up some marine epoxy, and patch the opening with fiberglas cloth and epoxy being careful not to get any air bubbles in the epoxy and saturate the glass cloth, should use several layers overlaping the aluminum by a couple of inches inside and out.
Now attach the transduce to the fiberglas patch with more epoxy - careful no bubbles - for shoot through the hull installation.
Wandy: I have made a portable holder for the transducer that you can use on any boat and works great...much better than suction cup, because on certain surfaces , they tend to slide off.....
I will try to take a digital photo of it and then post it on the board later tonight....very easy to make and very solid......
Thanks John. I knew someone must have figured a portable solution out for mounting the transducer. I would like to use a good sonar unit on difft reservoir but could not figure out anything other than the bottom line unit. nice idea but not as good as a full featured sonar. looking forward to seeing the picture. i am sure other reservoir fisherman will appreciate this.
so simple: a 1 by 3 piece of wood, approximately , 2 and half feet.....a simple clamp, screwed into place.....wrap most of the line around the wood, attach the transducer, which of course, you can adjust the angle according to the boat you are on....
clamp it on and attach the leads to your sonar.....totally transportable...this thing does not move or fall off, like the suction cups do sometimes.....easily move it from boat to boat without worrying if the surface is right for the suction cup transducer.......
Kensico Area 8 near the bridge is my preference, or the Rye Lake side. It should be a real test of my fledgling angling abilities.
I have received my order of epoxy and other materials this week. I still need to get the marine plywood. Maybe get it this weekend. I plan to start the build Jan 3rd. This one will have shoot through the hull transducer.
I have had good luck near the Great Island, and points east of the bridge - (only three times on that water). I hope to cover a lot of water this year:beerchug:
Wandy,
I have a couple of reservoir boats and I've been using the Tite Lok 5698 Transducer Holder to transfer my Lowrance unit between them.
IMHO there is nothing better or more convenient than this product for portable application. If possible, avoid using the suction cup that is sold with portable units. They have a tendency to constantly fall off, especially when rowing over weeds.
the tite lock looks fabulous, indeed but 2 problems only:
one, is cost, 50 dollars whereas my little invention will cost you less than 5 dollars to make!!!!!
second: the adjusting screw of the tite lock extends inside your boat more, something else to get something caught on, my device extends zero INTO the boat.....
however: that being said, that tite lock sure looks sexier! LOL.......
i only have one boat, its a 12-foot plastic pelican...should i get the portable or not?
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