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Innovative side-scan sonar broadens your view of the underwater realm.
Click through the images above to see units by a number of manufacturers.
In the current arena of integrated and networked marine electronics, a place still exists for stand-alone instruments. Maybe you need a big, dedicated sonar, so a reliable fish finder is a constant; maybe you want to be sure that after a long run to the canyons, or the deep Gulf, if something goes on the blink, you can keep fishing. Or maybe you run a bay boat or skiff, and depth is seldom a concern, but you need a plotter, a set of electronic charts sitting atop your console. Stand-alones are in demand for several reasons, and manufacturers continue to provide anglers what they need.
Most traditional perhaps is a dedicated fish finder augmenting a networked helm. Recognizing this option, Furuno has rolled out two new stand-alones, the 5.7-inch FCV627 ($995) and the 8.4-inch FCV587 ($1,695). “These finders are a great fit on center consoles,” says Furuno’s Jeff Kauzlaric. “But we’ve
put them on everything from 20-foot trailer boats to the 50-footers, as both backups and primary sounders.”
Fishermen have preferences and budgets, he says. “If they are going to fit something in a budget and can’t afford all Furuno, they go with a less expensive chart plotter and a Furuno fish finder. There are still people out there who want to have separate units or who want to mix and match manufacturers.”
Si-Tex Marine Electronics has built a loyal following on stand-alones. “We are one of the few companies that still has dedicated stand-alone products,” says Si-Tex vice president Allen Schneider. The success of the stand-alones, he says, is based on redundancy, simplicity and economy. “The first advantage of stand-alones is the simplicity of setting it up and forgetting it. The second benefit is redundancy. With a stand-alone, if one display goes out, you have lost only a portion of the data you need. On a network-based MFD system, if the display goes out, you have lost everything.”
Another consideration is upgrading particular elements of the system, which is simplified with single-purpose machines. “If new technology comes along and you want to upgrade one piece of your system, you do not have to scrap the entire package to take advantage of the technology — just replace that portion of the package,” says Schneider. Si-Tex’s newest introduction is the 7-inch SNS-700 plotter ($1,199), which comes loaded with C-Map Max cartography, and is also available with a built-in-sonar option.
