fish finders

[Larry3215]

LOL! We started keeping a box of surgical gloves on the boat a couple of years ago just to try to stop that. Thing is, I think we have remembered to actually use them maybe twice!

[sickbayer]

ha ha I too always had them on my tub, wasn't too fond of some of the scents ive tried. Although one of the not so funny times was when a mate used the Berkley night crawler spray bottle with the wind blowing my way!

[Larry3215]

LOL!! You sure that wasnt my younger brother on the boat with you?

[Larry3215]

Im a little surprised some other folks havent jumped in with their favorite suggestions.

On most of the other forums Ive been reading lately, a question like yours would have started a spirited debate on the merits of different brands and which one does what better. Along the lines of Fords are faster vrs Chevy's are cooler vrs Dodge is dandy etc.

[sickbayer]

Lol ya true. I've only had three fish finders and they have all be lowrance. I fancied a change and was gobsmacked at the sheer number of units. Even lowrance has brought a unit out called ' hook' lol. Ya glad it didn't get in to a cock fight which is bigger or better.

[Larry3215]

I dont mind at all if someone else has a difference of opinion - as long as they are not being jerks about it. Most folks on this board are very good about that sort of thing. Actually, most of the boards I hang out on are pretty civil with one major exception where it seems to be ok to be a jerk.

[high country]

I have the garmin 7610 and last week I was able to watch my 3/4 oz jig bounce on the bottom and get grabbed by a burbot......pretty amazing piece of gear.

[sickbayer]

that's pretty neat.

[high country]

one other thing about the 7610 that is really cool is that it is wifi compatible with up to 5 devices. I can have the same display and be in control of it from my phone or ipad anywhere around my boat. if you add tr1 into this it becomes super handy.

[Larry3215]

Our 7610 is due in tomorrow. Im looking forward to playing with the wifi thing once we get it installed. Im thinking I wont tell my brothers that I can control the unit from my phone. They dont believe in RTFM. Then when they are playing with it at the helm, I will go to the back of the boat and mess with them :D

What transducer did you get with yours high country? Do you have Panoptix as well?

[high country]

I dont have the panoptix as I only have a kicker and no bow mount. I have the gt50tm IIRC. it is a very big improvement over my old lowrance. I actually catch fish now.

[Larry3215]

WooHoo! Its here! I spent the afternoon playing with it in my shop running off a power supply so I could get it setup. I got the NMEA wireing done to the VHF so the DSC functions will all work. Havent quite figured out all the menu options but its not that hard. Ive only had to RTFM a couple of times

Got to play with the Garmin Helm app on my phone for a bit too. Man that is one awesome thing!

I'll start the install tomorrow. If all goes well and the weather cooperates we might get some on the water testing done later this week.

Wont get the Panoptix transducer until early Feb unfortunately.

We did get the GT51M chirp transducer - man that thing is huge!

[high country]

Larry, not sure if you have tr1 gold now, but if not, I would suggest running the wires for the compass now. The compass has to land front of center and away from electric sources in your boat. Mine sits under my rod locker. Once you get all the wires tidied up its not gonna be fun to do it over.

[Larry3215]

We dont have a TR1 and probably wont get one. We dont do much cruising where it would be all that useful for the expense involved. If we had a larger boat maybe. Sure would be fun to have one though!

I wouldn't mind having just a digital compass/heading indicator to connect to the plotter if I could find one that was more reasonably priced. I think Garmin wants around $700 for theirs. IIRC Lawrence makes the Point 1 GPS/compass thats NMEA2000 for around $200? Im installing a NMEA 2000 network so I can show my Yamaha engine info and fuel burn on the plotter screen.

My brother hates it when the boat icon on the screen isnt pointing in the right direction, so we might get one of those Point 1 units. It doesnt bother me though. Its more important to know COG than heading. Plus we have our old magnetic compass and 3 cell phones on the boat if the electronics goes out.

Gonna go pull the Humminbird later today and start putting this thing in

[Larry3215]

one other thing about the 7610 that is really cool is that it is wifi compatible with up to 5 devices. I can have the same display and be in control of it from my phone or ipad anywhere around my boat. if you add tr1 into this it becomes super handy.

Are you using an IPhone or Android phone with Garmin Helm?

Im on Android and there doesnt seem to be any way to record the screen image to the phone like there is with an IPhone.

Garmin customer service seems to think it should work, but I cant find any record button and so far, the only two people Ive found with an Android phone say the same thing - no recording.

If that true, I am really bummed.

Still waiting for customer service to get back to me after I sent them screen shots.

[Larry3215]

I just got off the phone with Garmin support. They were surprised to learn that recording is no longer an option on Android phones. The tech on the phone got her personal Android phone out and tried it while we were talking. Then when she couldnt get it to work, went up the line and got some others in the office to try it as well. They told me it used to work but seems to have stopped since the last up-date to the app.

They are going to report the problem to the engineers in charge of the app. Hopefully a new up-date will be out at some point that will allow us to record with an Android phone.

I was very impressed with the Garmin customer support people. Very nice experience even though Im still disapointed the app doesnt have that feature any more.

[Larry3215]

Well, after the disappointment with the phone app I decided to see if I could get engine data from my Yamaha F115 to show up on the Garmin and it worked! Im all better now

Turns out that for my motor - 2012 mfg date Yamaha F115 - all you need is a Garmin NMEA 2000 starter kit and a plug to fit the Yamaha NMEA 2000 connector in the engine compartment. Total cost about $80 and about 20 minutes wiring up the plug and hooking things up.

Im jazzed! Now I just need to be willing to say out in the cold and damp for a couple of more hours to finish installing everything so I can get out on the water. Its getting too late today, so maybe tomorrow.....

[high country]

I have an Ipad at the rear and two androids. I just screenshot on my android. I actually haven't tried recording with the Ipad.

[Larry3215]

Someone suggested I try another app to capture the screen while Helm is running. Its not as convenient as being able to record in the app itself, but it turned out ok. This is the 7610 running in simulator mode.

https://vimeo.com/151977165" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Larry3215]

I have an Ipad at the rear and two androids. I just screenshot on my android. I actually haven't tried recording with the Ipad.

Be prepared for big files if you do. This video was just over 3 minutes and started out at 160 megs before I edited it down.

Fun stuff though