Matthew

At the downrigger spool, unstrand about 2 inches of the cable. Then pull out the center conductor and tape the end of the centre conductor. Then re-strand the stainless cable with the center conductor sticking out. Crimp on the Stainless Steel strands only, and you are done.

After collecting a ton of data from our customers, we had found that 50% have great success with the Torpedo Speed and Temperature cable and 50% could not get it to work. After further investigation, it was discovered that the successful customers did not crimp the cable when initially attaching the cable to the downrigger spool while the other 50% did crimp. Excessive force when crimping the cable causes the stainless steel to compromise the nylon coating surrounding the copper wire and the stainless wire to come in contact with the copper wire, causing a short. Every customer that corrected the crimping problem no longer had any signal issues. All packaging now states not to crimp the Torpedo Speed and Temp cable at any juncture. Thank you for your assistance.

I am talking down speed at my rigger. I am not certain why this happens but my best guess is the prob wants to travel in the direction that provides the greatest resistance. Since most of the time the greatest resistance is the direction the boat is traveling I would think the probe is also pointing in that same direction. Cross currents likely don't get registered properly by my rigger probe because of the above reason. I am starting to think that if I am going directly with the current or directly against the current then my down speed is likely accurate, any other current direction I am doubtful. In any case if the fish are biting 75 feet down according to my diver probe then the speed is likely good, so as long as I keep my diver at that depth no matter which way I am traveling the speed seems perfect. I think if you talk to others that have used the product over a season they will all tell you the same thing, in fact I was talking to Mark Chmura who also field tested the product last year and he told me a very similar story. I know that last year all field testers had to sign a non disclosure agreement until the patent was taken care of. That is likely why this was kept so quiet.

I have used the Smart Troll during the testing process last year and you can take away my fishfinder but don't touch my Smart Troll. You won't lose a single probe if you connect it using an OR16 clip with a snap swivel safety. Drag from the probe not even noticable. There are many things I noticed using the Smart Troll unit but I will tell you a story of an incident that happens almost every time I am on the lake. Trolling one direction and my divers were down 75 feet, trolling the opposite direction and my divers were down 105 feet. Both directions my speed and temp units (yes I run 2 down other down speed and temp units beside the Smart Troll) registered the same speed in both directions. I was catching fish down 75, if I relied on my other S&T units I would only catch fish going one way. With the Smart Troll I adjusted my speed until my divers were back at 75 feet down and caught fish going both ways.

When you are looking at a Fishhawk X4D which is the only unit you can compare this to ( well not really because of the probe size ) Fishhawk X4D is listed on their website at $795.00 but you do get a screen. The X4D probe is listed on their website $269.00. If you lost the probe you will likely buy a break away cannon ball lead for $11.00 A Smart Troll Speed Depth Temp unit is listed on the website for $650.00 or $145 dollars less then the Fishhawk X4D but you need a screen. You can buy a large 7" tablet at Wally World for $60. Total cost for a Smart Troll with a larger screen is $710.00 Replace speed depth temp probe cost is $200. Personally I will be using the depth-temp probe for my rods but will be using speed depth temp on my downrigger. A FishHawk TD probe costs $155.00, this is not live feedback, you must retrieve the setup to find out what depth it was running at, and in fact you don't know where your bait was running at because when you let out a rod setup it drops a lot more then the actual running depth. A Smart Troll probe that gives live speed and temp costs $150. Maybe I am missing something but to me it seems you are getting a more efficient system at a lower cost.