Adjusting/Setting up Your Fishfinder

[shkbilly]

I'm starting to realize now that our fishfinder is either too weak, or just not properly setup. The problem I'm having is the screen is sometimes just full of clutter and its hard to make out fish, bait, etc.

I'm only realizing this after spending alot of time on a freinds boat and reading his fishfinder. Structure, bait, fish are all easily identified on his screen. Granted his Furuno unit has a 1KW shoot-thru transducer, my screen doesn't even come close to looking anything like his... ever.

The unit in question is a Garmin 160C. Its transducer is a 150W transom mount. We have it set on auto gain and wide beam. I tried tuning back the gain and it cleans up somewhat, but then has trouble finding the bottom. I tried zooming in and its just a closer view of the clutter.

I remember once last year I switched it to narrow beam, and the only thing I remember is when we came back in the inlet, it lose the bottom until I switched back to wide.

I'm almost considering upgrading the unit, but wanted to check and see if theres something I can do.

Also I wanted to get a concencus of what fishfinders you guys are running on your boats along with what wattage transducer. I'm not looking to spend a million bucks here and I know you get what you pay for, just trying to get some more info like I should have done before I bought this one. 

The one I'm looking it is the Garmin 400C with a 500W transducer.

Thanks for the help guys!

[sealife]

I have a raytheon with a 600 watt transducer and it has not problem reading the bottom or fish. A few boats back I had a transducer in a bubble inside the hull and that never really worked right.  Mounting of the TD is important because if it gets air bubbles under it they will all lose the bottom. 

[IrishAyes]

As Dave said, check the mounting of the transducer to make sure you are running it in clean water.

Also, check the transducer wire to make sure it is not run along side other wires. This could cause interference and a highly cluttered screen. If the transducer wire is running alongside other wires re-run the wire and see if it helps any. Does the screen look the same with the motor off as it does with the motor on when you are running?

[Fightin Irish]

its all in your buddys 1kw transducer thats why his is so clear with detail.it like compairing apples and oranges

[Hotrod]

Default / Auto Setting is usually a good start, unless you know what settings your screwing with.

[shkbilly]

I don't think its so much an install problem so much as it is in the setup or just the plain lack of power the unit has.

It doesn't seem to change with the engine on or off, the wires are by themselves on the opposite side of the boat as the harness. The unit maintains the bottom and bottom contour while running up on plane and everything.

The best I can do is to say its extremely pixelated and fuzzy.

[IrishAyes]

Have Maritime Matt hook you up with a new unit. 

[shkbilly]

I think I'm on to something. I switched to narrow beam once out front. I was able to read fish, bait, and the bottom contour a bit better. Also alot less clutter when running. The pixels even got smaller like someone changed the resolution on the screen.  It seems to be working better so I'm going to hold off on an upgrade.