Speed/temp probe

[cliftp]

I have been trying to figure out what would work best for a speed/temp probe. My boat is an 18 foot Lund, set up with Big Jon Down Riggers. I've been doing some reading and research and listening to you guys on the importance of speed at the ball. Yesterday I read the post about the vast difference in speed on the surface, vs at the ball, and even a large difference depending on direction of the boat, eg, north troll vs south troll.

Seems to be a large price swing so was wondering what would work the best?

Thanks for any advise.

Paul C.

PS, perching out of South Haven yesterday. Only got 30 for 3 of us. Waves were awful. Couldn't hold the boat.

[mriversinco]

I've got an 18' lund and use a depth raider and it works very well. I would stay away from the older fishhawk and cannon, but other than that they'll all work fine for you. Heck, find a used one that works well and go with it.

[scubastew]

Go with the FishHawk. We currently have a Depth Raider and it often can have trouble reading speed and temp down deeper than 100 feet. Plus the coated downrigger cable that must be used is just an added pain in the ass. FishHawk is wireless so no need for that!!

[hornets nest]

I second the fishhawk. We have the x4 and it has worked flawlessly for us. No coated cable to deal with is a huge advantage. It is a little more pricey but I feel its worth it.

[cliftp]

Thanks for the responses so far. Just looked, the X-4 is $600 plus. Something to save for!

Paul C.

[Hooked Up]

another vote for the Fish Hawk...plus EXCELLENT customer service.

I broke a bracket for the transducer, e-mailed them on July 4th holiday (Mon), got a response that day and mailed me the part no charge. Had it Thursday of the same week!

[LongLine]

I run a moor sub-T on my 18 ft'r & haven't had any problems. (knock on wood) but am hearing a lot of good things about the new fishhawk.

[pikeman8]

I installed the Fishhawk X4 last winter and have been impressed all season with it. IMO the coated cable is a royal PITA and after replacing it a couple times you are better off cost wise just getting the X4 and dropping the cable. I have had it down past 120' and it still worked fine. Can run it on any off my riggers and the triducer still picks it up. Cant say anything bad about it yet. Only thing that I question is the speed at the surface it gives. It always reads about .4-.5 higher than my GPS. It could be due to my mounting location as well but its not a big deal to me. All I am concerned about is at the speed/temp at the ball and gps speed anyway.

[adrenalin]

Depth Raider all the way. Talking about customer service, we had an issue with interference with our auto pilot. So yesterday the owner of depth raider came out on our boat to personally correct the problem, wasn't his products fault, but the auto pilots and he went above and beyond to correct the issue. Another plus is all depth raiders are calibrated to the exact same speed and temp, so if you ever loose your probe you wont have to try to find that sweet spot all over again.

[tltorrice]

Paul, what ever one you go with it is a bit pricey. I can tell you since I started using a Depth Raider several years ago my catch rate went way up. It will help you to eliminate unproductive water. The Fishhawk X4 is a newer unit. I don't think you can go wrong either way.

[kingfish123]

I found my fishhawk 4x online for around $540 plus shipping and have loved it no problems, I have been using the same set of batteries that I started with last year just turn it on hook it up and read the speed/temp easy as cake

[tbromund]

I had an old Fish Hawk 840 and the numbers jumped around so much I had no confidence in the data I was receiving, plus I was replacing the 9v prove battery every trip, so I yanked it off and replaced it with a Depth Raider. Far Far superior unit IMO. Easy to read display from the back of the boat and stable numbers, plus I use 1 probe battery a season.

I really haven't found the coated cable to be much of an issue. I replaced the coated cable on my probe rigger with a 300' spool this spring. The old coated cable I took off, was the original cable that came with my DR 6 years ago. I've had the probe down as deep as 160' and never lost signal. I also don't have much problem with the coating getting chewed up. I think that issue may depend on the riggers you have, some of the front pulleys at the end of the boom are harder on the cable than others. My Scotty riggers don't damage the cable at all.

From what I hear, FH fixed all the issues I hated about the 840 with the new X4, but quite honestly, my previous experience left such a bad taste in my mouth that I'll never own another FH product again. For years they were just about the only game in town and they would have been perfectly happy putting out the same POS forever if they wouldn't have lost so much market share to competitors superior products (both the Subtroll and Depth Raider) that they HAD to upgrade their unit.

Besides, I really don't want to drill any more new holes below the waterline to mount another transducer to receive the Fish Hawk signal. i just got all the old holes filled in and sealed a couple years ago when I had the bottom epoxy barrier coated and bottom painted. I'd rather deal with some really negligible coated cable issues.

Don't let the coated cable scare you away from the other units, it is not nearly the horror story some make it out to be.

Tim

[jatc]

I had an old Fish Hawk 840 and the numbers jumped around so much I had no confidence in the data I was receiving, plus I was replacing the 9v prove battery every trip, so I yanked it off and replaced it with a Depth Raider. Far Far superior unit IMO. Easy to read display from the back of the boat and stable numbers, plus I use 1 probe battery a season.

I really haven't found the coated cable to be much of an issue. I replaced the coated cable on my probe rigger with a 300' spool this spring. The old coated cable I took off, was the original cable that came with my DR 6 years ago. I've had the probe down as deep as 160' and never lost signal. I also don't have much problem with the coating getting chewed up. I think that issue may depend on the riggers you have, some of the front pulleys at the end of the boom are harder on the cable than others. My Scotty riggers don't damage the cable at all.

From what I hear, FH fixed all the issues I hated about the 840 with the new X4, but quite honestly, my previous experience left such a bad taste in my mouth that I'll never own another FH product again. For years they were just about the only game in town and they would have been perfectly happy putting out the same POS forever if they wouldn't have lost so much market share to competitors superior products (both the Subtroll and Depth Raider) that they HAD to upgrade their unit.

Besides, I really don't want to drill any more new holes below the waterline to mount another transducer to receive the Fish Hawk signal. i just got all the old holes filled in and sealed a couple years ago when I had the bottom epoxy barrier coated and bottom painted. I'd rather deal with some really negligible coated cable issues.

Don't let the coated cable scare you away from the other units, it is not nearly the horror story some make it out to be.

Tim

Fish Hawk is now owned by Trevor Sumption and things have changed over there. Customer service is awesome if you run into a problem. I really like the X-4 setup they have out these days, and the old issues of screwy readings and battery life of the 840 has been fixed. I've heard good things about the Depth Raider as well.

[Fake Bait]

I have the older Fishhawk display/triducer with the new probe. Had problems with the old probe, but with the new one works perfect. I will second their customer service. Very good.

Do I catch more fish now that I have it.... not really, but it is something fun to play with and I feel like I am being more tactical with my fishing.

[Rascal Trophy Fishing]

I've got a new X-4 and luv it too, the depth raider sounds productive and good too. I like adrenalin's post, with that kind of customer service, it's surprising and refreshing in this age for sure. Thanks for the posts guys.

[cliftp]

Thank you all for the great info. Going to need to do some saving though.

Really appreciated!

Paul C.