Topic: Quad beam v's Wide side or both

[Daniel944]

Hi All
I have a Humminbird 728x and I fish mainly freshwater lakes and rivers for Bass, cod and trout and everynow and then I go into the harbour for some bottom bashing. I would like to update my transducer but not sure which way to go. On the face of it the Wide side seems like a great product for the price, but the local humminbird importer advised me againts it (he was pushing a SI unit though!). Would it be possible to use both Wide Side and Dual/Quad beam with a switch to choose between the two?

Thanks
Daniel

[George]

HI Daniel
Since the is not listed as having Side Imagining, not sure of any benefits of an SI Transducer.  Not sure that the wide beam will give you anything more then the Quad Beam, but yes you can use a switch to go between transducers. 

I actually have three transducers on my system using two switches.  Have a Side Imagining on the starboard, Quadra Beam on the Port and a Quadra Beam on the trolling motor.  One switch is for the Starboard and switching to the other switch, the other switch is for the TM and Port side.  I have a small boat and use one HB head swinging it to view from the console or the TM from the casting deck.

George

[Rickard]

Daniel,
You didn't actually ask about operating a 728 with an SI transducer, but since I have tried with SI transducers with my M37, which is similar to the 728 in many respects, I know it works. You can find a discussion on this here: http://www.xumba.scholleco.com/viewtopic.php?t=483
Rickard

[Daniel944]

My Dad has a 700 series SI unit on his tinnie, can I just plug my 728x into his boat and try it? Both sounders are under warranty but I still dont want to damage anything.

Also will the SI on my 728 show fish or just structure? This was the reason I choose the 728 over a 570DI

Back to my orignal question, is there anyone out there that has experience with the Wide side transducer?

Cheers
Daniel

[sonar2000]

SI will show both fish and structure...
Chuck

[Humminbird_Greg]

Daniel,
I haven’t used a Wide Side transducer in many years but perhaps I can any questions that you may have.  You can use both the Wide Side and QuadraBeam transducers along with a Unit Switch like the TS3.  When you change from one to the other though you will also have to change the Transducer Select menu setting as well.

As long as your Dad’s 700 series Si unit is not one of the new “HD” version units than your 728x unit will work fine on his unit base.  If it is one of the “HD” version units than it will not plug in while on the mounting base but you could take the transducer and power cable out of the base and plug them in by hand to test it out.

All sonar can show fish and structure.

[Stumpy]

Hi Guys, So what would happen if you used a SI Transducer on a 858 which is currently running a Quadrabeam Transducer?

[sonar2000]

Just set the unit for SI and you should be fine..
Chuck

[Stumpy]

Hi Chuck, The 858 doesn't have side imaging functionality but does support Quadrabeam and according to Rickard's link (above) his Matrix37 using a quadrabeam did work with a side imaging transducer. My question is would my 858 work with a SI ducer and if yes would it improve the image in the Quadrabeam view. Maybe Greg could offer his expertise on this. Mark

[Humminbird_Greg]

Mark,
I haven’t done this in many years (and not with a 858c) but there is no reason for me to believe that it would not work.  Now it won’t be full Si sonar so to speak as the 858c does not have the software to support this but it can be done and you will get a color version of what Rickard saw plus I believe that you will have more viewing options with the 858c as far as the QuadraBeam sonar goes as there were different configurations for this data added (look at the Quad Layout menu when you are on the QuadraBeam Side Beam View).

Don’t forget to post pics of what your results are.

[Humminbird_Greg]

Hmmm, I thought about this: anyone with a 898, 997, 998, 1197 or 1198 unit should be able to set their unit to the “Quad Beam” menu selection in the “Transducer Select” menu and get the same results.  Although the unit is an Si model; it should only be using the QuadraBeam programming at that point and so the results should be the same.

Okay guys: post some pictures of this!

[Daniel944]

Hi Greg
I tried my sounder with the SI transducer last night and it worked a treat. I would like to get one for my boat. Can you tell me the part number? Also can any recomend the cheapest US supplier for this part

Cheers
Daniel

[Stumpy]

Hey Daniel, Great to hear it worked for you. I might even consider buying a side imaging transducer also. Mark 

[Rickard]

Guys,
Try and test also with the Wideside setting. This works with the Quadbeam and the sideimaging transducers. In Wideside mode you can use the whole display to show only the sideviews, or only one of the sideviews. These options are missing with the Quadbeam setting. However, scroll speed must be set at max and the boat must move very slow, 1 - 2 knots. Sometimes the puls length seems to be very long causing low range resolution. This is what happens with my M37 in Wideside mode when I use a SI or HDSI transducer. The best transducer should be the XHS 9 HDSI 180 T (# 710201-1), but the smaller and cheaper XNT 9 SI 180 T (# 710200-1) is probably sufficient. I hope Greg will confirm this.
I think the dealers on eBay have very competitive prices.
Rickard

[Humminbird_Greg]

Guys,
Try and test also with the Wideside setting. This works with the Quadbeam and the sideimaging transducers. In Wideside mode you can use the whole display to show only the sideviews, or only one of the sideviews. These options are missing with the Quadbeam setting. However, scroll speed must be set at max and the boat must move very slow, 1 - 2 knots. Sometimes the puls length seems to be very long causing low range resolution. This is what happens with my M37 in Wideside mode when I use a SI or HDSI transducer. The best transducer should be the XHS 9 HDSI 180 T (# 710201-1), but the smaller and cheaper XNT 9 SI 180 T (# 710200-1) is probably sufficient. I hope Greg will confirm this.
I think the dealers on eBay have very competitive prices.
Rickard

Although I have not tried this myself (or at least for many years…) I would think that you are 100% correct Rickard.