Sub -Troll Tips part II

[Billy V]

I want to assure everyone reading these forums my intention here is to assist current customers with any issues they might have, and to provide factual and background information about our product, for those considering adding a Speed and Temp unit to their boat. Of course I would like to see everyone choose the ST-900 but any recommendation from me would surely be biased, and I make no attempt to conceal that fact. We believe in promoting our products through paid advertisements. That being said anyone considering purchasing a speed and temp unit certainly should welcome the recommendations of others, but also consider the source. If a recommendation comes from a person who has experience using all the products considered or from a retailer who sells them all, it can be considered unbiased in nature and helpful. However one should be aware that often times recommendations come from individuals such as Pro Staffers who are often compensated with free or discounted equipment, and or others somehow connected with the manufacturer. Be aware that any recommendations from such "cheerleader" posters may indeed be very biased in nature.

Finally, I would like to reply to a few recent posts comparing the SUB-TROLL 900 to the recently introduced Depth Raider from Kell Labs. In my opinion these posts go a little overboard promoting the Depth Raider while putting down the SUB-TROLL. I have to wonder if such "cheerleading" comments are truly unbiased in nature, or perhaps the poster(s) may have some connection to Kell Labs. Again this is just my opinion, and other readers should draw their own opinion based on the content of the posts. Although I respect the posters right to their opinions, some of the things stated are simply untrue or misleading, and I would like to respond with some facts and clarifications.

1. ST-900 "Large Probe=more blowback": The Depth Raider probe is slightly shorter than the SUB-TROLL 900 probe, however the cross section diameter profile is virtually the same. Drag resistance through the water is much more dependent on this cross section profile than it is by length. We recently tested both probes side by side on Lake Ontario and observed no distinctive difference in blowback.

2. ST-900 "Single O-Ring seal": The single O-Ring seal on the ST-900 was designed for us by an O-ring/seal manufacturing company with 30+ years experience. At 200 ft. of depth the water pressure is only about 100 psi. According to the seal designer; "This type of seal design could withstand pressures as high as 1500 psi. The pressures present 200 ft underwater are virtually nothing for this type of seal." Every probe we manufacture is pressure tested for a full 24 hrs. So, is a double O-Ring seal better? Maybe, but certainly it should not be required with a properly designed and installed seal for this application.

3. ST-900 "Cheap Radio Shack battery connector": I assure you that the battery connector we use in our probe is neither cheap or from Radio Shack. In fact it is one of the highest quality snap on style connectors we’ve been able to find, and has performed fine in the field for 18 years. It has a molded hard plastic housing with 6 prong snaps, unlike the cheap soft vinyl types with 4 prong snaps you might find at Radio Shack.

4. ST-900 "Large analog display for speed, gobbles up dash space": Large? Yes we like to think our display is large enough to be easily read at a glance from practically anywhere on the boat. Many of our customers have told us that they consider our highly visible speed display a positive feature of the SUB-TROLL 900. My 19" computer monitor sure gobbles up space on my desk but I wouldn't consider anything smaller. It's easy to read! If dash space on your boat is truly at a premium, then a smaller display may be a good choice. However based on the thousands of ST-900's currently in use in the field, apparently many are willing to sacrifice a little extra dash space for the benefit of our large easy to read display. Also note that our display head can be either surface mounted using the supplied gimbal mount pod and bracket, or flush mounted directly in a dash or instrument panel. The gimbal mount can be on a horizontal, vertical, or even an overhead surface. One benefit a digital speed display might have is cost. Digital LCD displays are relatively inexpensive, when compared to the analog movements and the required dial faces used in our speedometers. These meter movements are highly sensitive, precision devices custom manufactured to our specifications. The meter movement alone accounts for about 1/3 of the total material cost of the SUB-TROLL 900 display head. In today’s market a suitable LCD for a digital speed display would probably cost about as much our dial face card alone. Obviously we don’t prefer analog due to cost concerns.

Moor did originally manufacture a line of trolling speedometers with digital speed displays. In fact the numbers in our older digital speed displays were even larger than those on the current Depth Raider display. We discontinued them some time ago simply because we found that most serious anglers preferred the analog displays. Below is a little info on the whole analog vs. digital issue. Bear with me here, it’s a little long but I feel its good information worth considering.

Digital information requires conscious attention, whereas analog information can be processed at a glance without conscious attention. Clearly this can be of great benefit on an active boat deck during busy fishing activities. With analog speed meters you get two main advantages. You can visualize the ends of the scale in a clear way, and you get feedback on acceleration or deceleration which is easier to read and interpret than with fast flipping digital numbers. Digital displays do not easily offer rate of change indication, which can be very helpful when making throttle adjustments to maintain a fixed trolling speed. Another advantage with an analog gauge is that you can see the general position and rate of change of the indicator with peripheral vision, while digital requires a direct look to read. When conditions are changing analog displays can tell you at a glance if you are within your allowable limits, but a digital display requires that you do a mental check against the minimum and maximum allowable limits. In other words digital numbers need to be converted in your head before being put to use. In general its been found that when it comes to human beings very few kinds of numeric data are better displayed digitally than in analog form. Look at the automotive, aviation, and marine instrument panels, they are largely analog even though digital display technology has been around for quite some time and is very economical today. Some auto manufactures have offered digital speedometers in the past, but the trend never caught on. It it’s no accident that today nearly all new vehicles still come with analog gauges.

Digital displays are useful in applications where the range of the data is too great to be put on an analog display, or when an absolute reading is required. Temperature is one such application and for this reason we have always used digital displays for water temperature.

5. ST-900 “Obsolete, 80’s Technologyâ€: Obsolete is defined as “no longer in useâ€. Well right now most of my shop is busy producing ST-900’s, and we are shipping out units almost daily. Surely someone must be using them. We also continue to provide parts and service for older units dating as far back as 1988 when the product was first introduced.

The SUB-TROLL 900 system was originally designed in the late 1980’s. Since then we have made numerous upgrades and improvements to both the product and the manufacturing process to further improve its performance and reliability.

For nearly two decades our product has proven to be a valuable tool for thousands of satisfied downrigger fisherman. Over that same time several other manufactures have introduced speed and temp products using various other technologies which have come and gone, never living up to their customers expectations. Moor Electronics was the first to use a radio frequency (RF) signal. Today we continue to use this “80’s†technology for one simple reason. IT WOKS! In fact it works so well that it is now being copied by at least two other manufactures. Cannon abandoned its original sonar technology based Speed N Temp in the early 1990’s after only a couple years on the market with poor performance. A few years later they introduced a new Speed N Temp unit using our “80’s†RF technology. It caught my eye at a trade show when I noticed their spring style antenna pickup was virtually a copy of ours.

The more recently introduced Depth Raider from Kell Labs interestingly enough also features an antenna pickup which is nearly identical to the “80’s technology†antenna we’ve always used in our SUB-TROLL 900. Although the Kell unit does offer an alternative all digital display format, it is our “80’s RF technologyâ€, copied again, that provides the basis upon which their Depth Raider system operates. Having had the opportunity to further examine a Depth Raider unit, I was not too surprised to find that its receiver circuit was virtually a component for component copy of the same circuit we designed and have been using in the ST-900 since ….. You guessed it “the 80’sâ€. It was also no surprise to find that most of the text in the Depth Raider installation manual as well as their promotional literature was either directly copied from our ST-900 manual and literature and or a paraphrased version of the tips and support information we often provide by phone to customers who call our technical support department.

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