Garmin Fishfinder 160?

[Lowe]

I bought a Garmin FF 160 a couple years ago, and at first it worked fine, but after a while I started to lose sensitivity, especially in my white line, so I couldn't tell a mud bottom from a rock bottom. I tried several things, including moving the tranducer around, rerouting the trans. cable away from power sources, cleaning the connectors. Nothing seemed to help, so I just cranked up the sensitivity as a temporary cure. Then on my last fishing trip of 2002 I started losing the depth read-out. The digital read-out would start to flash and then go blank. This happened when I was drifting and cruising - I've never had good readouts over about 30 mph and don't expect to, but I like having a readout when I'm going 10-20 mph. I was wondering if anyone has had similar problems with their graph and had any advice. Thanks a bunch - Lowe

[Guest]

I have heard the Garmin units doing that from time to time. Did you check your battery?

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[Lowe]

Yeah, battery seems to be fine. I also have a readout for volts and that is always at 12.5-13. I had always thought Garmin was a good brand but I'm not sure I would buy anoher graph from them after this.

[Guest]

There are two things that would cause your unit to give those readings. The first would be a broken/cracked transducer element. But the more common one is a wear connection in the cannon plug that connects everything to the back of the unit. Disconnect the power cable from the battery and give both sides of that plug a good spray with contact cleaner. Let it dry for a bit and connect it back up, see if that helps.

Rob

[Mr. Pike1]

I would not shy away from any Garmin products I have a Garmin handheld GPS and the Garmin 240 fishfinder and find both to be great units.

[Lowe]

Thanks for the info. I've always been very careful with the unit, trying to keep it clean, etc, but maybe it is something simple like a dirty contact that I missed. I did think it was a nice graph until it started doing this - hopefully I'll ge it fixed.

Mr. Pike1, just out of curiosity, any idea how fast you can go before you lose your bottom readout on your 240? Thanks - Lowe

[This message has been edited by Lowe (edited 02-19-2003).]

[Mr. Pike1]

Lowe, I have a 16' Lund Mr. Pike boat with a 90 mercury on it. My top end speed is about 40 mph. I generally do not ever lose bottom contact. I have on occassion however on very calm water at top end speed lost contact when I was at the 40 mph rang...