Livescope/Megalive/Activetarget - Trolling setup

[tyler.woodard04]

I've seen a few videos of people trolling and seeing the spread behind the boat with these units.  Thinking of investing at some point and wanted to know if there is anything that needs done outside of the recommended configuration with other equipment or mounting.  Also what settings are working for those that run these.  Never seen one in person.  Thank you 

[chowder]

I have had the PS 30/ PanOptix setup for 2 years . I see things on it I don’t see on my Lowrance HDS/ Airmar and vice versa. Thus far it has not been a ‘game changer’ for me but frankly I probably need to figure out why others claim it is. 

[Yankee Troller]

It's cool technology, but I think it's overhyped for what we do. Unless you put these transducers on a turret system you will only be monitoring a few downriggers. Lets say a typical spread is 2 riggers, 2 divers, and 2 junk lines. You're spending a lot of money to see what fish are doing in 33% of your spread. When you go to a boat who is running 3 riggers, 4 divers, and 3 junk lines now you're looking at 30% of your spread. My honest opinion is if you have the money to spend it may help you understand fish behavior day to day. Other than that it's a novelty item. However, I have heard what chowder mentioned above where it will show fish in your spread the traditional transducer isn't showing.

 

That being said, if you want to splurge the PS30 is the way to go on the transom. I sell a lot of them, so reach out if you want one.

[13owhunter]

I have been second guessing getting a PS30 in favor of a LVS32/34 to give me the ability to "aim" it.  Knowing that the PS30 is preferred for trolling, will the LVS32 still give me the ability to see what is going on with one or two riggers on a 19ft boat? I see bass pro has them on sale for $999 right now.  If this give me most of the ability of the PS30 and has the flexibility to aim it in other scenarios this may be the one for me.  If I could point it at a diver instead of the riggers that would be even better. Any reason I cant hack off the motor on an old transom mount trolling motor and use that to mount the transducer on so I can aim it and stow when under power?  Seems like that would be sturdy and I have one laying around.

 

Thank you!

 

 

[Yankee Troller]

3 minutes ago, 13owhunter said:

I have been second guessing getting a PS30 in favor of a LVS32/34 to give me the ability to "aim" it.  Knowing that the PS30 is preferred for trolling, will the LVS32 still give me the ability to see what is going on with one or two riggers on a 19ft boat? I see bass pro has them on sale for $999 right now.  If this give me most of the ability of the PS30 and has the flexibility to aim it in other scenarios this may be the one for me.  If I could point it at a diver instead of the riggers that would be even better. Any reason I cant hack off the motor on an old transom mount trolling motor and use that to mount the transducer on so I can aim it and stow when under power?  Seems like that would be sturdy and I have one laying around.

 

Thank you!

 

 

 

If you're gonna put one on a turret I'd 100% recommend the "saltwater" version which has greater distance

[13owhunter]

Is that that "XR" model or a different flavor of the lvs32?  The XR one is pricy...

 

Does anyone on here have any firsthand experience with an lvs32 on a turret?

 

To answer the OP - the PS30 is the transom mount transducer that most folks are using for dedicated trolling applications.  Its easy to setup as far as I understand.  Bolt it on, run the power cable and hookup ethernet to your compatible garmin graph.

[Yankee Troller]

Yes, and there are a couple guys on the North shore using the XR on a turret system. They can see divers with it