Topic: 596c dual or single beam?

[gooral]

hi there.

friend of mine bought such ff:
http://store.humminbird.com/products/399408/596c it clearly states 2 frequencies therefore 2 beam angles.
but manual says nothing about how to pick one:
http://store.humminbird.com/media/document/586c596c_Manual.pdf
at least on page 41 menu looks slightly different than on my 597 unit.
So can you on can't change beam angle?

[ITGEEK]

It says in the manual that the operating frequency is 200khz,
and 83khz.
You probably can't change/select it in the lower-end models

[gooral]

so what is going on? works both at once? auto switching with depth? works only in fish id mode?
it is bit like "this car has 8 gears but not support shifting them.. "

[ITGEEK]

They both work at the same time in 2-D mode.
No auto switching.

The 200khz has a 20 degree transducer cone angle and the
83 has a 60 degree cone angle.
When fish-id is on, orange fish symbols are detected by the 200 beam, while
blue fish symbols are detected by the 83 beam.
Target separation is 2.5 inches.

Read the manual.

[gooral]

They both work at the same time in 2-D mode.
No auto switching.

The 200khz has a 20 degree transducer cone angle and the
83 has a 60 degree cone angle.
When fish-id is on, orange fish symbols are detected by the 200 beam, while
blue fish symbols are detected by the 83 beam.
Target separation is 2.5 inches.

Read the manual.

I did. Must say that rather briefly as was mainly focusing on sonar settings (no need to read about alarm settings etc).
Only info about sonar and frequencies I found were on beginning (it shows how different f penetrates water), then in Fish ID section it mentions that it will show 2 colors of fish symbols for different beams. Not a single word about it using both frequencies without FISH ID on. - no idea which f works once no fish id selected...
I would appreciate if you could sent me to specific part of manual stating which frequency is on while no fish ID in use.

[ITGEEK]

Fish Id is only an option when using the 2-d sonar.
It has nothing at all to do with what frequency the
sonar is using.  The frequency doesn't change depending
if you are using Fish Id or not.
Your unit uses both frequencies all the time.

Look on page 3 of the manual under 'DualBeam Sonar'.

[gooral]

Thanks. this is the answer i was looking for. But my understanding (my first language isn't English) of this is:
unit uses 20 and 60 degree beams but only shows outcome of first one apart from fish id mode showing fish found by other beam also.
And as majority of people i know (i think all in fact) doesn't use fish id unit remains single beam.

[Humminbird_Greg]

The unit acts like a single (20 degree) sonar beam unit until you turn on the Fish ID feature, then it uses the wider (60 degree) sonar beam unit.

So if you do not use the Fish ID feature you have a single beam unit.

[sonar2000]

I thought the beam was single in either mode. One is 20 degree wide and the other 60 degrees. Is the confusion in the statement of dual beam meaning it is 20 or 60 but not both at the same time..

Chuck

[ITGEEK]

I could not find anything in the owner's manual
that said anything about it ever using a single
beam.
It says it uses both at the same time.
If what Greg says is true, then the manual
should be changed to explain that.
Also, if you have the fish-id on in deep water,
then you turn it off, you have lost both
your maximum depth capability (because 83khz
goes deeper), and you have also reduced the
cone coverage, so you will see less.

In this case, I would always have the fish-id set to on.

[Humminbird_Greg]

ITG, it does it uses both sonar beams but only when the Fish ID+ feature is turned on:
“DualBeam sonar is optimized to show the greatest bottom definition using a narrow (20°) beam yet can still indicate fish found in the wide (60°) beam when the Fish ID+™ feature is turned on.”

The 596c unit is an older  Dual Beam product.
The newer 596c HD is a DualBeam Plus model product.  You can select to display either or both of the sonar beams side by side or together (this is the “Plus” part).

[ITGEEK]

Thanks for the clarification Greg.
As they say, you learn something new everyday, and
I just learned something.