Fish finders have brought modern technology to the world of fishing. They are used on boats to mark the location of fish underwater. Fish finders are able to accurately do that thanks to the same mechanism that sonars use. Traditionally used only by the biggest boats in the fishing industry, many models are now being produced with amateur and hobbyist fishermen in mind. Nowadays, anyone can help themselves with a fish finder if they wish to do so.
Still, they are relatively new devices and not everyone knows how they operate and what to look out for when purchasing one. You can check out the best fish finder by FishermansTips.com, but remember to only buy the one that will be useful to you. Here are just some things to watch out for when browsing through the wide array of fish finders available to us today:
Durability
This is a device that is going to be with you on the boat in possibly very harsh conditions. It needs to be durable to withstand them. Every fish finder consists of two main parts – the transducer and the display. The transducer is placed underwater where it sends out sonar waves to locate the fish. It then transmits that signal to the display so that you can observe what is happening underwater. Always check the water resistance rating on your device to make sure that it will not break down even when there is severe splashing on deck.
Screen
The part that you are going to be looking at when using a fish finder is the screen. The cheapest options are in greyscale with the more advanced ones using color for more depth. But you can successfully use a greyscale fish finder with almost no problems in most situations, as long as the screen resolution is big enough. Bigger resolution means more pixels per inch, which in turn indicated how detailed the displayed image is, no matter if it’s black and white or in color. The last thing to consider is the display size itself which indicates the actual physical measurements of the screen. You want to have something that will fit comfortably in your fishing bag. Remember that even if the display size is on the larger side, it won’t allow you to see much if the resolution is small.
Sonar frequency
Depending on where you plan to use it, you should get a fish finder with either low or high sonar frequency. The higher the frequency, the more sonar waves are being produced by the transducer in the fish finder. Higher frequencies, like 192 or 200 kHz, create high-quality images on your screen so they work great if you are in shallow water that has small fish in it – higher quality images will allow you to notice those fish. If you’d rather aim for bigger fish, low-frequency fish finders work better in deep water. Some fish finders even have dual frequencies, meaning that you can switch between different settings depending on what you want to achieve.