Any way to just use one fish finder instead of two?

[flatbottomman]

I was originally going to order a fish finder for the front of the boat and another for the rear for when I'm driving. However, I started thinking it is crazy to buy two of the same thing and use them within a few feet of each other. Has anyone ever figured out a decent way to just use one fish finder? Do they make a model with a quick connect/disconnect that would allow me to move it from rear to front?

 

[Scott F]

I think you’d find that moving a unit from front to back is way more trouble and it’s worth the cost to have two depth finders. Nearly all of them can be disconnected to move, but you’d still need two mounting brackets and two transducers. They also couldn’t really be considered “quick” disconnect. You could put one on a swivel mount so you could turn it around to be seen from the front which would be the easiest and most economical way to do it.

 

[wmk0002]

Have seen where some boats that have the track system for gunnel accessories have put fish finders on there and slid them back and forth for that purpose. No unplugging, just have a long enough cord to be able to slide it forward 8 or so feet.

 

[onthewater102]

I got a pair of 1" ram mount balls with female 1/4-20 threads and took a 2' piece of PVC pipe and a 1/4-20 threaded rod and made a very long arm that could put my headunit in the front or rear without having to unplug it. Just needed a 3/4" rubber holder meant for storing your anchor light to lock the PVC arm at each end.

I found it to be more of a nuisance than anything to keep moving it back and forth, but $25 worth of hardware is certainly more appealing than 2 fish finders.

 

[eshaw]

I did like Scott F suggested and just put mine on a swivel mount, works for me. I admit it, I'm frugal.

 

[MrGiggles]

It depends on what kind of fishing you do.

If you're a caster, usually working shoreline structure, then you really only need a sonar on the console. If you vertical jig a lot, fishing open water, then it's worth it to be able to see what's going on exactly where you're fishing.

I think you'll find that by the time you buy another transducer, mounting hardware, cables, etc, it is not much more expensive to buy a whole other unit, and you don't have to deal with switching all the time.

 

[TMO8853]

The lowarence Elite Ti units have the ability to Connect to a phone or tablet and you still have all the same functionality that you have on fish finder... meaning it mirrors the fish finders screen and the touch screen functionality and all options of the Lowrance fishfinder still works. Pretty freaking awesome.

Get you a ram mount that holds your tablet and your all set. You can make a 7 inch finder become a 12 inch on your tablet.

I have not tested this in the real world yet, so I can’t say how it actually works out with the tablet having sun glare or over heating issues, but my tablet looks pretty good while viewing out in the yard.