The Garman Fishfinder 300 C
A portable fishfinder is one of two general categories of fishfinder. As the name implies, a portable fishfinder can be carried from one boat to another or be used to fish off the dock. More complex fishfinder units are built-in, and cannot easily be removed from the boat. This is pretty much analogous to built-in GPS units that come with an automobile purchase, and buying a GPS unit that you attach to the dashboard, and can be removed and put in your pocket.
Some of you may wonder what a portable fishfinder is and what it does. While its primary purpose is just as the name suggests, it is a device used to find fish. It essentially an active sonar device, which simply means that it generates an electrical impulse which is translated into sound by a device called a transducer, and that sound is transmitted through the water and reflected back and received by the fishfinder and translated into a picture of whatever reflected the signal.
Now I was raised in a time period, where many of the movies I saw in the theater dealt with stories about submarines and
The Hummingbird Smartcast RF35 Fishfinder
sonar. Movies like sink the Bismarck, or Run Silent Run Deep made sonar a primary part of the plot. At the time I never thought we would be using sonar to “hunt fish”. I was surprised to learn that in the very beginning of this technology, hunting fish was the motivating factor.
It is actually interesting, that the original use of the concept of sonar actually was for fishing. However, the basic concepts of sonar were first developed in the early 1900s. Just in time for a couple of world wars, and so early uses of sonar and the early advances in technology came primarily from its military use. The full data on this will be presented in an article on the history of the fishfinder.
A portable fishfinder has many advantages over its fixed counterpart. They can be moved from boat to
the Hummingbird 110
boat and of course they are less expensive. On the other hand, they tend to be less powerful than built-in models. We will be reviewing primarily portable fishfinders, although we may review some built-in models.
Some of the models we will be reviewing include:
- the Garmin fishfinder 140
- the Humminbird 161
- the Garmin fishfinder 90
- the Humminbird PiranhaMAX 160
- the Garmin fishfinder 160 C
- the Garmin fishfinder 300 C
- the Garmin fishfinder 400 C
- the Humminbird smart cast
- the Humminbird PiranhaMAX 230 PT
the Hummingbird PiranhaMAX 230 PT
Now these reviews will be including some actual user reviews, and it is suggested that you look these
over in order to find out what other users have had to say. It is usually true that people only write reviews for their very happy or very unhappy with the product. By looking at both the pros and cons you will get a more accurate picture of whether or not the particular model of portable fishfinder is right for you.
Sometimes negative reviews are more about customer service than an actual problem with the model, but this is also important because you wouldn’t want to buy something that came with terrible customer service if anything goes wrong. Please feel free to contact us if there’s a particular model you like reviewed or if you have any data about a particular model you’d like to contribute. We hope you get something out of it.
