Smart troll, X4D or DR?

[BRsnow]

If money wasn’t an issue, which of these 3 would you go with?  Thanks.

[HB2]

I had an X4 for a few years and liked it . Although it started to send crazy temps once in a while . Then I sold the boat with it . But I liked it .it had both surface and down speed and temp . 

 

Bought a new to me boat and it came with a Cannon Speed and Temp . Depth Raider technology . I liked it but it started to not work intermittent. 

 

After some research, I  bought a Depth Raider this June . It has worked flawless since I got it . Other than the fact at 85 ft of cable some of the insulation came off the cable maybe rubbing in itself.  A few coats of Liquid electrical tape and it is fine. 

549$ compared to 1400$ . And the probe is a lot less than the X4D probe . 

 

If money no object , maybe the X4D . But my depth Raider tells me everything I need to know . Down speed and temp . I don't need blue tooth or how deep my ball is actually running . That's kind of irrelevant to me . 

[fisherman21]

If you want a fish hawk X4, I have one listed in classified. I was going to buy a new boat, so I had bought the fish hawk to go on the new boat. While I was waiting on the new boat, an awesome deal came up on a used boat and it already had a fish hawk with it. 
Anyway, everything is brand new in the box except for the probe. The probe works as it should though. 

[Yankee Troller]

Fish Hawk X4. They just work. If you have Cannon Optimum downriggers I'd push the X4D, but realize the X4 updates info quicker since it's updating less data (no depth data). If they updated the X4D at the same rate it would go through batteries quicker. 

Edited August 16, 2023 by Yankee Troller

[ChrisS]

I splurged and got the X4D with bluetooth.  It's handy, I have my one boat app and the Fish Hawk app on my ipad, it's nice extra screen for that stuff.  This was my first fish hawk and I did have some issues setting it up and getting working right. I was getting all sorts of wild numbers or blank screens, thought it was the probe moving in and out of the cone of the transducer at first, but I'm running 12 lb balls in 50 FOW, blow back isn't that bad at 2mph.  I fiddled with the transducer angle and that helped some, but it would still be weird numbers. 

 

Let my ignorance be a help to other people down the road who are searching for answers.  Two BIG things: 1) make sure the probe is right side up (I'm an idiot) so it's shooting the beam back to the boat and not to the bottom of the lake.  2) there is a gain setting in the display that should be 15 as the default and mine was set at 5, which was too weak of a signal.

[guffins fisherman]

I bought a used X4D from the classifieds on this forum a couple years ago. It hasn’t ever worked right. I have tried everything short of sending the probe back. Finally I just gave up on the whole thing part way through this season. Lo and behold, my catch rate went up. I think that is due to just paying better attention to my rigs and fishing my program by using common sense and what I am seeing on the graph.  I agree, if I was fishing temp in several hundred FOW all the time, a FH would be useful. Fishing structure in 160 FOW or less, the FH is just overkill and something else to distract me. Moral of the story?  Be prepared to fiddle with it and be distracted by it, and ask yourself if you really need it. If so, great tool. If not….

[fisherman21]

1 hour ago, guffins fisherman said:

I bought a used X4D from the classifieds on this forum a couple years ago. It hasn’t ever worked right. I have tried everything short of sending the probe back. Finally I just gave up on the whole thing part way through this season. Lo and behold, my catch rate went up. I think that is due to just paying better attention to my rigs and fishing my program by using common sense and what I am seeing on the graph.  I agree, if I was fishing temp in several hundred FOW all the time, a FH would be useful. Fishing structure in 160 FOW or less, the FH is just overkill and something else to distract me. Moral of the story?  Be prepared to fiddle with it and be distracted by it, and ask yourself if you really need it. If so, great tool. If not….

What about the days when the current is greater than a 1mph difference at the ball than at the surface? Is your catch rate the same? On average, how many fish were you catching with it, and on average how many are you catching now?

 

I definitely agree you should be paying attentions to your rigs, and little changes can make a huge difference in having a good day or bad day. I also agree on not always fishing temp, but fishing the marks.

 

Still to me it’s a no brainer to run some kind of speed and temp probe at the ball. Wether it be a fishhawk, depth raider, or smart troll……you will put more fish in the boat. I can’t personally speak for anything other than the fish hawk x4, as that is what I run, but it keeps me at the speed and temp I want at all times and undoubtedly puts more fish in the boat. And I’ve never had to fiddle with mine or had it distract me. Once you dial your speed in, your are good to go 🤷🏼‍♂️

Edited August 17, 2023 by fisherman21

[Fishaddict454]

I just sold my 4xd and got a smart troll system and it's awesome can't beat getting depth and temp on your dipsy divers don't even need a line counter anymore