3D sonar on chart plotters .... are 3D pictures of the bottom worth having or just a gimmick? (I don't fish)

[Baggywrinkle]

I am finalising my shoping list for an electronics re-fit and wondering if it is worth getting a foreward scan, side scan sonar .... might be useful for anchoring or maybe not ,,,, I've managed with a simple depth sounder for decades.

Anyone got any experience of cruising using 3D bottom scanners?

 

[Chiara’s slave]

No experience, but being Garmin based, am also interested. Anchoring is one use, finding your way up a shoreline against the tide is another.

 

[Roberto]

I use a cheap Garmin Striker with their "Contour Draw" function, or whatever they name it, usually battery powered from the dinghy first for places without charts, then used on the boat.
It can be useful but has a lot of caveats/warning points you realise while you are doing it; try and draw your contours once, then you'll scrap any other user-contributed Sonar charts.

 

[Sandy]

Only seen it on a sailing boat where the skipper was a keen fisherman.

Personally, a waste of time unless you were visiting coral atolls.

 

[Gustywinds]

It was one of the things (Panoptix?) the guy who installed out gear demo'd to me and it was very impressive (Ive seen 3D multibeam sonars that are used for surveying and the image quality was as good) but I just couldn't see a need for it when we woudl be spedning most of our time in river and canals where depth is often less than its minimum range

 

[Irish Rover]

That type of Sonar is absolutely essential in order to get full value from a shiny s/s anchor and chain. I mean, how else would you be able to admire it while it's on the bottom.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

It was one of the things (Panoptix?) the guy who installed out gear demo'd to me and it was very impressive (Ive seen 3D multibeam sonars that are used for surveying and the image quality was as good) but I just couldn't see a need for it when we woudl be spedning most of our time in river and canals where depth is often less than its minimum range

Wasn't aware it had a minimum range, how deep is minimum? .... makes sense .... one of the things I might have a use for is to detect the concrete blocks and other crud lying on the bottom in some Croatian anchorages which might foul the anchor ... but most of the time the water is so clear you can see them anyway.

Will see what the Raymarine salesman has to say on Friday. After much deliberation, I'm going to get this checked and costed, but it's a never ending saga and keeps getting more expensive ... need to prioritise and do it all in phases.

 

[ChromeDome]

I have a mobo with Navionics' various display options, including two chart layers (standard and SonarChart) and six overlay settings (Satellite Imagery, Relief shading, Sonar imagery Satellite Bing, and Terrain).

Playing around with overlays is fun, but definitely more nice than necessary. I do perfectly fine with a Clipper sounder showing depth in digits, combined with the chart layers views. The sounder's primary purpose is to remain at safe depths.

On a trolling boat where I regularly spend time, multiple displays are connected to several transducers, producing forward and side view views in addition to all usual fishfinder views. Everything is interconnected, and the hierarchy mystery always prompts us to question where the signals are being shared from.

Impressive but confusing, it's an overload of information that distracts you from real-life happenings like reeling in fish.


In summary, for my needs, 3D is a waste of money.

 

[ashtead]

You might also compare the cost of the transducers required for respective brands . We had an old Garmin 760 I think it was which had a basic version and did use occasionally on 1.8m keelboat but I haven’t really missed as don’t have on current e series plotter and the transducer seems a lot for raymarine.

 

[Irish Rover]

I've had Sonar on my boats as far back as I remember, but I don't on my present one, and truthfully I haven't missed it. Looking back I'm not sure I used it since I stopped serious fishing 6/7 years ago.

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I use a cheap Garmin Striker with their "Contour Draw" function, or whatever they name it, usually battery powered from the dinghy first for places without charts, then used on the boat.
It can be useful but has a lot of caveats/warning points you realise while you are doing it; try and draw your contours once, then you'll scrap any other user-contributed Sonar charts.

When I needed a new echo sounder I went with the Garmin Striker too. Very pretty screen with lots of things to play with. I can dry out with a lift keel. Best bit for me are the different colour bottoms which reflect the nature of mud, sand, rock etc. Only about £160. Downside is the transducer cannot be inside the boat. Transom bracket only unless others have found a way.

 

[lustyd]

When you consider the way they each work, the real question is what use is a normal depth sounder? Knowing the depth under your boat offers very little real value; you're either aground or you're not. Knowing the depth of water you're about to enter offers huge value since you can decide not to proceed before going aground.

We use standard depth gauges because they were better than lead lines and became the standard, not because they offer any additional value.

So ultimately the question comes down to cost and water resistance. The forward facing kind are very expensive and standard depth is good enough for most well charted locations, so most will go with the standard. Arguably for well charted locations the standard depth gauge is unnecessary with the advent of very accurate GPS, but let's not go down that rabbit hole again

 

[Roberto]

When I needed a new echo sounder I went with the Garmin Striker too. Very pretty screen with lots of things to play with. I can dry out with a lift keel. Best bit for me are the different colour bottoms which reflect the nature of mud, sand, rock etc. Only about £160. Downside is the transducer cannot be inside the boat. Transom bracket only unless others have found a way.

I use the transducer tied to the extremity of this clamp (I think it's sold for people fishing from those sort of inflatable floating chairs, kayaks etc), it can be attached to the dinghy or to the boat swimming platform. Beside the display with its homemade "battery case"


Example of home made contours inside a port (Palais, Belle Ile), motored everywhere inside it at high water (and pestering everyone around), then corrected the depths for height of tide and set colours to indicate drying areas (red), green is for areas with 2m at LAT (my draft), yellow for intermediate areas. Nice toy

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I use the transducer tied to the extremity of this clamp (I think it's sold for people fishing from those sort of inflatable floating chairs, kayaks etc), it can be attached to the dinghy or to the boat swimming platform. Beside the display with its homemade "battery case"
View attachment 184513

Example of home made contours inside a port (Palais, Belle Ile), motored everywhere inside it at high water (and pestering everyone around), then corrected the depths for height of tide and set colours to indicate drying areas (red), green is for areas with 2m at LAT (my draft), yellow for intermediate areas. Nice toy
View attachment 184512

That's nice.
I have an outboard well where the transducer goes. I didn't think it would work properly being so close to outboard. Surprisingly, it works fine even when the motor is on. As you know, it is also a gps which works as well as a hand held Garmin GPS. I have made screens using various fields that are available. My default screen is depth and SOG numerals only. You can also choose nice big numbers and letters.

 

[NormanS]

For anchoring, I strongly recommend a Fish Finder. Mine is one of the screen options on my plotter. It's brilliant for finding clear patches in weed etc.