Lowrance LMS 522C

[Trytti]

I am looking at buying the Lowrance LMS 522C. I fish walleyes primarily on the Mississippi river from Wabasha to Trempeleau. I have an older Eagle and it seems to pick up a lot of extra "noise" on the river and constantly reads fish. Just wondering how the performance is on rivers with these? I do a fair amount of lake fishing too, so curious how they perform there as well. Would like to try one of those new Hummingbirds with the side imaging, but haven't won the Powerball yet.

Thanks!

[PerchJerker]

I've been on the river with my Lowrances and had no complaints with them. Lots of guys on the river use the unit you're talking about.

One thing to keep in mind with the river and current is there's usually stuff moving below you. You may need to adjust down your sensitivity if you're picking up stuff you don't want to be marking, but after you do that you should have a nice clean display.

[Trytti]

Thanks! That is pretty much what I figured, but figured I better check before shelling out any cash.

[Fishinguy40]

I upgraded to the 522C last year and love it! I used it a lot on the St Croix and Mississippi around the Prescott area and it worked great. Only issue and it has been discussed in detail on here (you can search the forums) is in shallow weedy water it someetimes tends to lose bottom. I did download the latest update last year and there was a definite improvement. Sorry I forgot the software version but new units should already have it.

[cubs_win]

Hi all,

I am looking to get a portable fish-finder / gps for a fly-in Canada trip this summer. The LMS 522c seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. What's the best method to rig it up in the aluminum boats the outfitter provides? Do I power it with my vex battery? What are your recommendations on getting through a 5 day trip without the ability to recharge the battery?

Is the 522c the right unit for this?

Thanks for your comments!

[PerchJerker]

5 days seems way too for a battery, unless you're only using it for a few hours each day --- especially with a larger screen like the 522.

Sounds like you've already got a vex??? Why not go with a portable (suction cup) transducer mount for that? And maybe bring an extra battery if you have enough room.

For a gps, a handheld with a few extra sets of AA batteries seems perfect for a fly-in??

[cubs_win]

Thanks P-J

If I wanted more of a graph style view for open water fishing it sounds like my best option would be a smaller fish-finder like the x67c. Do you think that would that work if I took a couple of batteries with?

What have others done on fly-in trips?

[delcecchi]

I searched for lowrance depthfinder current draw and got to

http://primus.lowrance.com/icr/referencedocs/TechnicalDocs/current_draw_2004.pdf

(you might have to cut/paste that url, if it makes it through the moderator)

Looks like about 2-300 ma with backlight off is common for the less fancy units.

Square 6volt alkalines are like 13 amp hours and heavy duty are like 6. So you could run a 300 ma depthfinder for maybe as much as 40 hours off a pair of alkaline lantern batteries.