bythor
New member
I'm considering a forward looking sonar. I see the Echopilot has been around for some time, and I'd be interested to hear any feedback from current users?
forward looking sonars
- Thread starter bythor
- Start date
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
bythor
New member
great thanks I'll check them out
jonic
Well-known member
Here's something I posted on here back in 2009......and I am just about to fit one to my next boat.
"I have very strong feelings on this.
I have no idea why this is not standard equipment on today's boats. I have had two fitted to two different boats and have covered some 20,000 miles with them. (Both echopilot bronze.) They have been faultless. I have found them especially useful in the shallows of the Bahamas, the French Canals and the ICW in America.
A conventional sounder is often giving delayed information, sometimes up to 30 seconds late. Great for seeing how shallow the sand bar was you just hit! Whereas the echopilot is much closer to real-time and it shows you what is ahead. There is no contest.
I have inched my way through very shallow, shifting cuts in the Bahamas, with literally inches to spare. I find it great for "sweeping" an uneven anchorage to find the shoals or wreck that I would otherwise swing into.
It's like having underwater radar. I can travel through a narrow inland waterway cut knowing exactly where the edge of the dredged channel is.
Several times I have sounded with a leadline to test it's accuracy and it has been 100%. Interestingly this year in the Turks and Caicos I was travelling with a boat that had an Interphase unit. We kept on disagreeing on depths, it's very shallow there and you have to pick your way through, so we dived and measured from each boats transducer. The echopilot was 100% spot on and the Interphase was up to half a meter out.
My Hydrovane and my echopilot are two items of kit I would never be without.
No connection to the company, just very very happy with it."
"I have very strong feelings on this.
I have no idea why this is not standard equipment on today's boats. I have had two fitted to two different boats and have covered some 20,000 miles with them. (Both echopilot bronze.) They have been faultless. I have found them especially useful in the shallows of the Bahamas, the French Canals and the ICW in America.
A conventional sounder is often giving delayed information, sometimes up to 30 seconds late. Great for seeing how shallow the sand bar was you just hit! Whereas the echopilot is much closer to real-time and it shows you what is ahead. There is no contest.
I have inched my way through very shallow, shifting cuts in the Bahamas, with literally inches to spare. I find it great for "sweeping" an uneven anchorage to find the shoals or wreck that I would otherwise swing into.
It's like having underwater radar. I can travel through a narrow inland waterway cut knowing exactly where the edge of the dredged channel is.
Several times I have sounded with a leadline to test it's accuracy and it has been 100%. Interestingly this year in the Turks and Caicos I was travelling with a boat that had an Interphase unit. We kept on disagreeing on depths, it's very shallow there and you have to pick your way through, so we dived and measured from each boats transducer. The echopilot was 100% spot on and the Interphase was up to half a meter out.
My Hydrovane and my echopilot are two items of kit I would never be without.
No connection to the company, just very very happy with it."
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
Obviously, Jonic has direct experience and I don't. However, I am expert in remote sensing systems using similar methods, and there are drawbacks to this kind of sensor.
First of all, it can't see round corners, so a nearby shallow area will mask any features behind it.
Second, it will always range to the closest point within the sonar beam. That means that it will often show water shallower than it actually is, and it CAN fail to detect a narrow deep channel entirely.
Third, it may have substantial errors in places where there is stratification of the water column, either through temperature or salinity. Jonic appears to have used it primarily in waters where this isn't likely to be a problem, but others have highlighted this in areas like the Baltic or where there is substantial fresh-water input.
Finally, the range is not enormous; a few hundred metres at best.
I'd suggest that in the hands of an experienced operator it will be useful, but like radar, it may well take experience and skill to interpret the picture it shows.
First of all, it can't see round corners, so a nearby shallow area will mask any features behind it.
Second, it will always range to the closest point within the sonar beam. That means that it will often show water shallower than it actually is, and it CAN fail to detect a narrow deep channel entirely.
Third, it may have substantial errors in places where there is stratification of the water column, either through temperature or salinity. Jonic appears to have used it primarily in waters where this isn't likely to be a problem, but others have highlighted this in areas like the Baltic or where there is substantial fresh-water input.
Finally, the range is not enormous; a few hundred metres at best.
I'd suggest that in the hands of an experienced operator it will be useful, but like radar, it may well take experience and skill to interpret the picture it shows.
Gordonmc
Active member
I am light on electronics but one thing I elected to spend on was an Echopilot.
Now in its fourth season I have found it a very useful bit of kit. The depth range is not as great as with my old Triducer on the previous boat, but that's not an issue. Its only the top 40 metres or so that I am interested in.
Reading isolated obstacles becomes intuitive after a while as the screen shows a shadow cast behind any object.
Although the blurb says the Echopilot is not a fish-finder it is possible to pick out mid-water objects.
One unexpected bonus was experienced when I was trying to find my mooring in the dark with rain scatter making my spotlight useless.
By slowly turning the boat in alternate directions I could use the screen to home in on my weed covered riser.
I now have solas reflective tape stuck on the top of the bouy, lesson learned.
Now in its fourth season I have found it a very useful bit of kit. The depth range is not as great as with my old Triducer on the previous boat, but that's not an issue. Its only the top 40 metres or so that I am interested in.
Reading isolated obstacles becomes intuitive after a while as the screen shows a shadow cast behind any object.
Although the blurb says the Echopilot is not a fish-finder it is possible to pick out mid-water objects.
One unexpected bonus was experienced when I was trying to find my mooring in the dark with rain scatter making my spotlight useless.
By slowly turning the boat in alternate directions I could use the screen to home in on my weed covered riser.
I now have solas reflective tape stuck on the top of the bouy, lesson learned.
