why?

Went bass fishing with a friend the other day. First time I've been out in
the bass boats. I was amazed to find guys till running around using the
ancient strobe depth/fish finders. I was even more amazed to find, after a
little usage, that the things work great! Every time it marked fish, that's
where we got hookups.

Now my question is why are these ancient units still in use when we have LCD
and CRT machines? I know there's lots of guys into bass fishing, and that
they know what they're doing. Since they're using the old flasher
technology when LCD/CRT is available, there must be good reason.

Please explain.

"RB" wrote in message
. ..
Went bass fishing with a friend the other day. First time I've been out
in
the bass boats. I was amazed to find guys till running around using the
ancient strobe depth/fish finders. I was even more amazed to find, after
a
little usage, that the things work great! Every time it marked fish,
that's
where we got hookups.

Now my question is why are these ancient units still in use when we have
LCD
and CRT machines? I know there's lots of guys into bass fishing, and
that
they know what they're doing. Since they're using the old flasher
technology when LCD/CRT is available, there must be good reason.

Please explain.



It is my understanding that the reason folks still use "pure depth finders"
(or "flashers" as we used to call them) is that they cut through the
clutter/turbulence in the water better than current LCD finders/plotter and
actually hit the bottom and return a strong enough echo, that its depth
reading is more accurate, more of the time, whether the boat is sitting
still or going 75mph.

They're still "so popular" that Lowrance in particular, still includes that
"interface" as a functinon on their higher end color LCD fishfinder/GPS
units. I was on a boat a couple of weeks ago equipped with an LCX-18c (IIRC)
Lowrance unit, and we used the "flasher" mode when we were moving since it
doesn't lose its readings at high speed like a "graph" type will at times.
And you're right, it will still show you "hits" in the water between the
ducer and the bottom. And does a decent job of showing bottom hardness. What
they "can't do" is give an easier to read graphical representation of the
water below the transducer, bottom structure "shape", and thermoclines. I
mean, they can, they're just much harder to read in a flasher than they are
in a "graph" style display.

Excellent answer. Thanks.

RB:
The old flasher technology is a good one, that is why we still use the
them. The information that is relayed from the trasducer to the unit
itself doesn't need to be processed and translated into a picture of
the bottom. The information is instantly 'flashed' on the dial. Color
units have been introduced to show the strength of the signal and help
the fisherman decypher the message. Is a blip a fish or debree?
LCDs, although terrific, usually have a lag time so information can be
processed. You may be past fish or structure by the time it shows on
the screen.
Flashers also can be tuned for greater sensitivity.
Hope that helps.
Jackfish