Transducer (s) for 330 Express

fedja

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Express 330
I have allways been impressed with the knowlege and thought of the members and greatly appreciate all the advice I have been given. Thank you all in advance.

I am looking to upgrade my transducer on on 2017 330 Express. Currently I have an Airmar B60. Reads water temperarture and depth just fine but very inadequate for fishing. I am primarily fishing near shore and out to 500 ft in Dept. Targeting bottom fish but also Tuna and Yellowtail of shore. I have brand new Twin Simrad Evo 3S displays. Would you suggest keeping the B60 and adding additional tranducers or just replacing it? Would I need the Sonar 3100 module as well?
 
each NSS evo3s has two sonar ports. It can run the old B60 but the B60 is "traditional "CW sonar 50/200kHz 600w.
I would keep that and connect it to one of your units
It needs a 9 pin connector. You might need an adapter. I am not familiar with Simrad.

To get the benefits of the built in 1kW CHIRP and TotalScan I would use Simrads TotalScan or LSS StructureScan transducer.
Best would be a single Thru Hull mounted on the centerline. Or you could use a transom mount placed center between motors.
You NEED one of these for bottom fishing.


A B175HW would be the little extra for tuna fishing but not necessary.
 
each NSS evo3s has two sonar ports. It can run the old B60 but the B60 is "traditional "CW sonar 50/200kHz 600w.
I would keep that and connect it to one of your units
It needs a 9 pin connector. You might need an adapter. I am not familiar with Simrad.

To get the benefits of the built in 1kW CHIRP and TotalScan I would use Simrads TotalScan or LSS StructureScan transducer.
Best would be a single Thru Hull mounted on the centerline. Or you could use a transom mount placed center between motors.
You NEED one of these for bottom fishing.


A B175HW would be the little extra for tuna fishing but not necessary.
Are you taling about the 3 in 1 active imaging transducer that mounts to the transfom and sticks out between the engines? Which would you recomend the structure scan 3D or the active imagine HD 3 in 1 . I belive the structure scan 3D requires a sonar module to be added.
 
I'm on the SoCal coast. On my 330, I have a B60 and just added a B150M chirp transducer. Like you, I have two Simrad NSS Evo 3 MFD's, so I have the capability display both B60 frequencies and the B150 chirp all at the same time. I would not call myself an obsessed fisherman, but I do go out regularly especially during the summer, hunting for pelagics. Primarily my crew is sight fishing for kelp paddies and breaking fish, especially tuna and yellowtail. Occasionally, I hunt for halibut and white seabass, but rarely need to see bottom over 100 feet nor is sidescan particularly interesting to me for the type of fishing that I do.

My point here is asking yourself what you really need for your type of fishing. I'm not knocking anyone who spends a lot of money on powerful transducers, sidescan capabilities, etc. If you need those capabilities for your type of fishing and/or you are a fanatic fisherman, GO FOR IT! In my case, these very basic transducers suit me fine. Frankly, the money I spent on a Si-Tex sea temp gauge and a good set of stabilizing binoculars have helped me as much as transducers to locate the fish that I'm interested in catching.
 
Are you taling about the 3 in 1 active imaging transducer that mounts to the transfom and sticks out between the engines? Which would you recomend the structure scan 3D or the active imagine HD 3 in 1 . I belive the structure scan 3D requires a sonar module to be added.
I don't have Simrad so I'm not an expert on their lineup but I think the "3 in 1" is the equivalent of my garmin GT51. So I would say that a transom mount would be easy and would connect right up to your NSS and give you a very modern CHIRP and sidescan sonar.
 
I'm on the SoCal coast. On my 330, I have a B60 and just added a B150M chirp transducer. Like you, I have two Simrad NSS Evo 3 MFD's, so I have the capability display both B60 frequencies and the B150 chirp all at the same time. I would not call myself an obsessed fisherman, but I do go out regularly especially during the summer, hunting for pelagics. Primarily my crew is sight fishing for kelp paddies and breaking fish, especially tuna and yellowtail. Occasionally, I hunt for halibut and white seabass, but rarely need to see bottom over 100 feet nor is sidescan particularly interesting to me for the type of fishing that I do.

My point here is asking yourself what you really need for your type of fishing. I'm not knocking anyone who spends a lot of money on powerful transducers, sidescan capabilities, etc. If you need those capabilities for your type of fishing and/or you are a fanatic fisherman, GO FOR IT! In my case, these very basic transducers suit me fine. Frankly, the money I spent on a Si-Tex sea temp gauge and a good set of stabilizing binoculars have helped me as much as transducers to locate the fish that I'm interested in catching.
I am in San Diego. Decided to go with a B175HW 20 Degree. WIll have it installed when I pull the boat out next month. Have you had any good fish asction lately? I went done to Coronado Islands last Friday...nothing...very few people fishing...low visability...windy.
 
I am in San Diego. Decided to go with a B175HW 20 Degree. WIll have it installed when I pull the boat out next month. Have you had any good fish asction lately? I went done to Coronado Islands last Friday...nothing...very few people fishing...low visability...windy.
Many projects on my 330 this winter. My last winter project is refreshing my cockpit upholstery and it should be done on Monday. Anyway, I haven't seen much on Fishdope about great fishing for pelagics , most reports about deep bottom fish. Also, a lot of gray weather, wind and stubbornly cold water (I am, admittedly, a fair-weather angler). You're fortunate to be in San Diego - closer to the action. Conditions will change soon, but not quite yet for me!
 
I am in San Diego. Decided to go with a B175HW 20 Degree.
Ummm, not really the transducer i would choose for what our use you wrote.
The B175HW is a single Medium-high band chirp transducer with a a wide cone what will work for pelagics (that are the W transducer made for) but work shitty for bottom fishing for cone width and the high frequency band. You can see the cone with and bottom coverage on Airmar website here https://www.airmar.com/bottom-calculator.
At 500ft of depth you will have a circular bottom coverage of 222 ft what means that you will not see any more than bottom nor know where exactly the structure is, this is the reason why Wide transducers are not a good choice for finding structure and fish on the bottom.

For what you like to do a B265LH or the 2675LHW would be a much better choice and you could replace the B60 with it as the Low frequency band give you a narrow cone and that is better bottom resolution and the HW band gives you the wide cone for pelagics in mid water.

Chris