Transfixed by Transducers
Posted by Pete Robbins on Jan 4th 2021
Numerous pros now run a mix-n-match scheme of up to five electronics units, purchased with their own cash, and powered by Lithium batteries, potentially bringing the total package cost up above fifteen grand. Of course, a depthfinder without a transducer is the functional equivalent of a cell phone without a service plan, nothing but an expensive anchor.
It also seems a shame to mount just a regular factory transducer to one of these space-age setups. That’s why I was not surprised (as I looked online for a bargain replacement transducer of my own) to discover that there are both factory and aftermarket transducers for which you can pay a pretty penny. Humminbird, for example, offers several bronze thru-hull models that cost nearly $400 apiece, and at one online shop I found some from Airmar that cost up to $1,168.95. That’s about 10 times the price of the console graph on the first used boat I bought in 1995.
Given the increased importance of electronics these days – both on tour and for us weekend warriors – surely someone out there is running one (or five). Are they worth the extra cash, or do they eventually crap out like every other one (of just about every brand) I’ve used over the past 25 years?
