Speed & temp indicators

[Huntfrisco]

I'm considering pruchasing a spped & temp indicator (Fishhawk 840). I would like to hear coments on this unit or others and the necessity of reading speed and tempature at the ball.

:arrow: These units are a bit pricey so I hope you guys can give me some good information before I purchase one.

Ken

[L&M]

Hunt: you might want to watch this tread. http://fishing.lakeontariounited.com/vi ... .php?t=718

It's covering the same topic your asking about.

[gpiatt]

I have a Cannon SNT and a Depth Raider, out of the 2 I like the Depth Raider the best. It gives me better reading than the Cannon. Also there is less blow back with the Depth Raider. I use the Cannon on my small 16 foot Starcraft and Depth Raider on my 22 foot Sea Ray. The small screen of the Depth Raider is nice as I don't have alot of room for mounting. The numbers are very big for such a small monitor. My Cannon seems to work well and haven't had the issue that others on this board have seen. I can't speak to the other models out there but when my Cannon goes bad I will replace with another Depth Raider. Also the people at Depth Raider have been great to deal with, I needed a bigger spring coil for the pickup on my scotty downriggers. I called into Depth Raider and he said he would ship me one out at no charge. I got it about 3 days later. Let us know how you make out, and what you ended up getting.

Gregg

[rail bird]

I like the fish hawk but you need real good akaline batteries. The cheap heavy duty ones do not put out enough current. Also you must mount the transducer away from the fish finder. The signal of the FF can make your readings bounce all over the place.

[Huntfrisco]

What a great site for information.

Rail Bird, when you stated about interference from the FF transducer, how close is too close? Would mounting it on the opposite side of the boat solve the issue.

I'm new to this unit so I'm assuming that the signal comes from the device on the ball to the transducer then to the display. I take it that there isn't a promblem with the screen being close to the FF screen

Because I have a kicker on the side opposite from the FF, I wonder how the unit would work close to the outboard?

Ken

[L&M]

I kn I'll ruffle some feathers. But after using the Hawk for 15 years or so every day I switched over to the Raider. Do yourself a favor and look into Depth-Raider or Sub-Troll. A lot less problem's all the way around as well as good support if you should have a question or problem.

[rail bird]

HuntFrisco,

My story is this. I purchased a used fishawk and put it on the boat at the begining of last season. I liked the fishhawk because I only use downtemp when I am not marking fish, so I only put the probe out when I need it. I mounted the transducer right next to the one for my fishfinder because the boat that was sitting on a trailer next to mine had one set up that way. I guess I should have asked how it worked because my down speed and temp were bouncing. I have a humminbird dual frequency fish finder and tried both frequencies but still had the problem. I discovered when I turned off my fish finder the fish hawk worked fine.

Tim Brommund had a good suggestion, which is to mount the fish hawk transducer at an angle which should minimize interference with the fish finder. I will probably remount my transducer this spring. Sorry I don't have an exact answer but maybe someone else will jump in.

[IRISH56]

HF - another strong recommendation for the Depth Raider - no complaints and/or issues.

As far as the necessity of having a speed/temp unit is concerned there are a couple of trains of thought. Some guys use the blowback on the rigger cable, bend in the dipsy rod and a thumper rod (if you're running one) to gauge speed, some guys just adjust speed until they start catching fish, some use GPS or fishfinder speed and some use a speed/temp unit at the ball.

Personally I think speed and temp are critical to catching fish consistently and trying to judge speed 100' below the surface is pretty tough unless you've got a lot of hours on the water watching blowback etc.. It's especially critical if you have strong underwater currents.

Hope this helps. DAN

[Legacy]

hey huntfrisco

if you ran a poll i know sub troll and fish hawk would be #1 and #2.

personally i bought a subtroll

1. the company is out of buffalo so if i ever need repairs, service, or replacement

i know i would get it back a little sooner.

2. by far the most inexpensive unit on the market (online @ cabelas)

3. i can read both temp and speed while rigging-huge tach like speed indicator and

pretty standard digital temp read out

4. really easy to install- you dont need to take the boat out of the water to install.

it took me a couple of hours to install with the majority of the time spent fishing wires.

5. it just works. i have absolutely nothing bad to say about the unit.

i constantly run the unit when im out and i believe im on my second battery

6. buy a subtroll and spend the $200-300 left over on some more equipment or some more spoons

[Legacy]

cabelas fishhawk link

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... &noImage=0

cabelas subtroll link

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... &noImage=0

[L&M]

Depth Raider

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... &noImage=0

[times two]

I had the fishhawk for 5 seasons. Liked it but it LOVED the batteries.

Bought the depth raider last year.....very happy. Do yourself a favor

and get the raider.

john

[L&M]

[Ray]

I purchased the sub-troll and love it. I bought at marine general....best price and the company is great.

http://www.marinegeneral.com/cgi-bin/sh ... ml%23a1557

Today the price is 399.99

[MANIAC]

Bushwacker, here's some pics of an alternate connection method for the Cannon probe that I came up with. The plate is made of stainless steel. When I want to remove the rigger from the boat I unwind the spring antenna from around the cable. Only takes a few seconds.

Eric

[jimski2]

I'd like to get a temperature at the ball unit and a dissolved oxygen level monitor at the ball. My speed I like to determine by the angle of the cables. Any ideas out there?

[ray koziatek]

Yup check your fishfinder fish usually wont be where they cant breath :shock: cept in the cooler , oxgen analizer,ph.tester,color,temp,speed,current,camera,undewater lighting,sound sensors , oh yea and a release,i think Smith Hobart Collage has a rig you could borrow..or the navy geeze man give those fish a chance .. But Hey if you find one give me a call I'd like to borrow it

[MANIAC]

Bushwacker, Sent you a pm. Eric

[Stonefly]

Something that no one has mentioned -

Does everyone change there rigger cable out for the coated ones? I think running a stock cable is good for up to 100' and the ones that come with the temp units go deeper with less error. I really don't want to replace the cable, is it hard to get a good crimp on the new cables? I have Scotty's..