Transducer options for Lowrance HDS

[DeanMac]

They list a 83/200 and a 50/200 option or none at all.

The 83 comes standard with the lake insight maps and the 50 with the nautic insight maps.

From what I could find the 50/200 is designed for water over 900 feet deep. Since I hope I am never in water that deep should I go with the 83/200 instead of the 50/200. Or will it really make that much difference.

I will mainly be going out of Carrabelle.

Thanks for your help

[SHOWBOAT]

probably won't make a difference if you're playing in 10' and less. If you want to look for strucuture in 20' plus range the 83 will make a difference.

[rosco]

[rosco]

[DeanMac]

So I am hearing you say the 83 will show more detail in 20 plus feet of water rather than the 50.

[CHUM III]

The 200 will give the best detail. I have the 5 inch HDS with gps and actually used a 50/200 transducer that was already on the boat. I also have the LSS which is great but works best in shalow water less than 50 ft unless you are looking for big structure like ship wrecks.

[tin can]

The difference in the two frequencies is the cone angle. The lower the frequency the wider the cone angle. I'm guessing, without checking, that the 50 and 83 are both around 45 degree cone angle. If that's the case, you're looking at a 50' circle of bottom in 60' of water. What you see on the display could be anywhere in that 50' circle. Whereas the 200 side is going to be between a 12 and 20 degree cone. Lets go worst case and say 20 degrees. You would be looking at a 21' circle of bottom. That said, what you see on your unit as the bottom is the shallowest solid object the signal is hitting. It might be a barge or it might be 1 rock sticking up. If you're using the lower frequency in shallow water that rock could be any where in a 25' radius of your transducer. With the higher frequency it's within a 10.5' radius of your transducer. The higher frequency also gives you much more detail. On most units the higher frequency works well to about 600'. Iwould think, fishing out of Carrabelle, I would set it on 200 and leave it there.

[DeanMac]

Thanks for the replies and the details Tin Can, I think I now better understand, for my application it really want matter going out in the gulf.