Smartcast Wristmount Fishfinder

[Doomy]

Hiya everyone,

Just ordered a kayak the other day and noticed a good canoe kit deal at sundown marine brisbane to go with it.

Hummingbird Smartcast RF30 Wristwatch sounder and
Minn Kota Endura 28
($419 if anyone interested)

Question is has anyone had a play with the sounders and whats there thoughts?
Obviously the screens small but I'm thinking its all relavent when you can bring it close up to your face.
Do the tranducers give consistant pictures?

Oh and question two.
Considering the motors 28lb and only pushing say 150kg and your not exaclty punching through waves, can I use say a 75 amp/hr deep cycle car battery? Instead of the recommended 105 amp/hr marine one.

Doomy

P.S Heres a link so everyone knows what I'm on about
http://www.humminbird.com.au/product...fm?id=2541&s=2

[Keenfisho]

Hi

i won a smartcast last year, while i haven't used it that much (cars been off the road). i have had plenty of time to read the manuel on it.

you have to make sure that the little green transducter stays above the water, and that you dont wind it in to quickly otherwise you'll lose the single.

the only problem i have with it is, that you have to make sure you turn it off correctly otherwise it will flatten the batteries. and seeing as it uses 8 AA's it can become a bit expensive.

as i dont have a boat, i dont have a boat, i haven't read up on the idea of a differnt battery source.

if you would like to read up a bit more about the different battery source drop me a line.


Keenfisho.

[Doomy]

Keenfisho,

The good news with this unit is it takes a watch style battery which costs about $5.00.
Only lasts about 40 hours but I'm not planning on using it full time on the water so that should last me three months.

The transducer lasts 400hours on water time and costs $66 to replace.

Regards
Doomy

[Justin Boyle]

heh whats that watch like
interested in it. Just give us an email on what you would seel the two seperate for. how good is that watch. seems like a bit of a novelty but heh
how many hours has it done so far
Justin

Mirage_84@hotmail.com

[canerod]

hey doomy
if your looking at a minn kota you will find the 30 lb enduro actually draws less amps than the 28 lb .
you need a deep cycle battery , i bought a 65 amp delcor deep cycle to power my 30 lb mk and it cost me $120 over here in perth i dont know what you could get one in brissy for. remember too that the bigger the battery the more it weighs and in a canoe weight is an important consideration esspecially if you want to overnite camp too.
im not a kamikazi pilot so on a 14 ft canoe using 40% to 60% thrust will give me a constant 8 to 12 hours motoring and that covers a hell of a lot of river.

[Doomy]

Justin,

The price is brand new from Sundown Marine here in Brissy But I'm guessing the recommended retail is about $240.
I'm not looking at selling.

I'm going to give it a run this arfternoon so I'll let you know how it goes.

Canerod,
Thanks for your feedback.
I already got the 28lb motor so will have to be happy with that.
I think a good 65 amp/hr deepcycle will do the job for me also.
It will mainly be for holding in current when casting lures at snags and also travelling long distances to help the arms a bit while paddling.

Doomy

[Doomy]

Bit of a review on the Smartcast.

It works fine in the kayak, the good news is you don't have a sounder screen bolted between your legs where it can get damaged and water dripping on it.

Recently fished a small dam and it seemed to pick up fish well. Where there was nothing showing I got no hits but when I found the fish congregating in a area on the sounder I was getting regular strikes.

Only compliants would be while towing it on some leader behind the kayak it bumps the hull when you turn around and when rowing and wanting to check the screen on the move you have to stop.
I just take it off my wrist and balance it on my knee but worry about it falling overboard.

Thats about it but I would have to say for kayaks/canoes they work great.