silverfish

Happy Birthday Kev, Hope you have a good one Rob

Thanks Guys.

Guys, I see that the new Sonarcharts from Navionics can be viewed through their Webapp on their website for free now ( http://www.navionics.com/en/webapp ), may prove useful for those searching out new marks. These Sonarcharts are updated through people submitting sonar logs so in theory they should keep getting better and better. Rob

Many thanks, Brian, Yes thats me.

Hi, I have been struck off aswell, paid via paypal. Thanks Rob

Yeah I totally agree, if only if there was a 'duffer' it would make my choice easier. It absolutely will make me smile, and I cant wait. Cheers Rob

Thanks for your comments guys most appreciated. Part of me would like to gamble on the Mercury, the thought of a supercharged 4 stroke sounds cool, but there is a niggling doubt in my mind for some reason, actually just got a price for a 755 with a Verado and when fully spec'd out the price is the same as another dealer is offering the same spec with a Yamaha fitted when comparing the change in price they have offered for my Beneteau Antares 6, the good reports I have seen may just sway me towards the Yam Thanks for your point Dave, good suggestion to check out the location of the service dealers. Think I will make some calls and check around. Thanks again Rob

Hi Guys, We are looking at getting the new Jeanneau MF 755. The question is which outboard? It will be a 150HP but which make would people opt for. I have had a number of different quotes from different dealers and the options are Yamaha, Suzuki, Etec or Mercury Verado. The best Price deal that I have recieved including the trade in for my current boat is for a 755 with an ETec. I have done a search on the forum and know their are lots of Etec owners in the club. Im interested to know if people are still happy with their performance, reliability, fuel efficiency etc. I can see the attraction of the benefits the Etec would bring ie service interval, torque etc but my concern is whether it will keep its value as well as the 4 strokes? also whether its life expectancy would be of a concern as I have read several comments on the web about them not being expected to last the test of time, anyone got any views on this? I have had a 4 stroke Suzuki before and it didnt miss a beat and I have seen many glowing reports about the Yamaha, so I think I would be happy with either of these but both these will be the more expensive option but as it will be used alot as a family boat to cruise as well as fish the quietness of the 4 strokes is an attraction. The other option is a Mercury Verado. Has anyone had any experience with this engine? I can only find old reviews on the web which suggest that fuel efficiency was an issue, but I have read that they have been redesigned in recent years and this has greatly improved. I would be very grateful if anyone had any views/advice on any of the engines. Many thanks Rob

I did the same, I knew there was going to be a couple of days when it would be closed, but probably saw it was a week day when I looked at the notice and didnt take it in as I rarely get the chance to go out mid week, only problem was that I decided to take the day off and the chance of it being closed didnt really register, until it was too late. I would have expected something to be up at Cobbs but I didnt noticed anything about it. I picked up a buoy for half an hour for a cup of tea before heading back in and there were at least 6 other boats all trying to get out only to be dissappointed an turned back, so we werent the only ones.

Done Rob

Possibly some sort of Anchovy? the mouth looks similar to the Anchovy picture in this link http://www.fish.washington.edu/classes/fis...ad_pictures.htm Rob

I think if I had the chance to buy a new unit I would seriously consider the Lowrance. Heres a couple of images, taken with my Humminbird. [/img] [/img] Rob

Colin, I wouldnt rule the Lowrance out completely, as it does have alot of attractive features that the Humminbird doesnt like HD sonar and the ability to add HD radar these look really good. Also from the little that I have played around with Lowrance it does seem a little easier to use than the Humminbird. I dont see what they would do if Humminbird wins its legal case as there are units already out there, personally I think humminbird will probably allow them to make them and take a cut of their sales for the technology. If the Lowrance is well tuned from the off it shouldnt really matter that much that there potentially wont be any updates. One thing I would say about Humminbird though is the level of support with software upgrades is first class, they are always sending out free software improvements which include new features like the down imaging. There is also a large forum networks, that a couple of guys from humminbird regularly answer, and take note of new ideas for future upgrades. I got mine from Johnson outdoors UK. I have the 997 and I love it, but I believe there is a upgraded model out soon if not already the 998, which has a faster processor, the ability to display AIS radar and a serial connector at the back so you could run the image on a larger laptop screen I havent looked at the prices for a long time though. Rob

Dan, The line in the middle of the scan is the water surface, so if it was a conventional 2d sonar this would be at the top of the screen.If you take the left side of the line down the middle, The dark colour is the water column, so from the water surface (where the transducer is positioned) to the sea bed when the image changes to a lighter colour this is the sea bed. The part of the image closest to the dark blue (water column) is whats under the boat and the further left on the image is whats to the left of the boat and the same applys to the right side of the image. Basically an easy way to get your head around it is to print the image, fold it in the middle and then fold it the other way where the dark turns into light blue. The last image, that of the tree has a traditional side image on the right, but the image on the left is from the new downimaging feature that humminbird released as a free software update recently after Lowrance relased their downscan. This is basically a more detailed version of a traditional 2d sonar and should be viewed in the same way as you would a normal fish finder. Rob

Guys, I have a Humminbird 997c side scanner which I adore, I must admit I was looking at the Lowrance recently, and did like what I saw, especially as the Lowrance could do down scanning and the humminbird couldnt, However Humminbird have just released a free software update which allows this to be performed on the humminbird. The reason why im going on about humminbird is that I recently heard that Humminbird actually won the patent for the side imaging and they have actually filed a patent infringement against lowrance. http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/ar...127&id=11063125 If they win I dont know where this would leave the lowrance side imaging. I guess it would result in there being limited support and updates for the unit.