Posts: 1764
Location: Ogden, Ut | Here is how the situation was relayed to me:
The 'universal' transducer in the MinnKota products is designed to run at about 195 (maybe it's 196) kHz. Older Lowrance units ran at 192 kHz, and newer ones at 200 kHz. (Aside form the dual frequency units that run at 50/200). I'm not familiar w/ other brands, but most are right in that area. A transducer has a sending/receiving capability of relatively accurately reading +/- 3 kHz away from it's designed specifications. So to cover the bases and call it universal, MinnKota stuck the optimal operating range of their transducer in the middle to account for the +/- slop on both ends of the frequency spectrum. It works, but it usually will not give you the resolution of the proper transducer for your machine. Why use it? Convenience. You give up some of the resolution for the convenience of having it housed in one unit and no exposed transducer cable. Operator's choice - each must decide what's most important to them.
I have used mine w/ my Vexilar unit and whereas it seems to find bottom and obvious structure elements real easily, I have some misgivings about it's sensitivity w/ regard to smaller suspended fish. On the other hand, I've never cut my transducer cable like I did once on my old one!
S. |
