Which transducerfor HDS 5 - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

GregAndrew · 04-14-2011, 05:29 PM

The 50 and 83 khz are both intended for deeper penetration of the water collumn. Although there are some other advantages such as wider viewing angle. Every transducer will have its own cone angles for each of its sonar ping wavelengths (mine has 45 degrees @ 50 khz and 12 degrees @ 200 khz). I believe the standard HDS 5 50/200 transducer has cone angles of 60 and 20 degrees respectively. Unless you plan on doing a lot of deeper water rockfishing, you will probably not see a difference between 50 and 83 khz. The problem is that there is only one transducer option for the 83/200 combination, the stock model. If you want to get an acurate water temp, you will have to mount that transducer over the side. There are lots of aftermarket transducers that will work with the 50/200 khz settings. I am using an Airmar P319 (mount not shoot) thru hull, but it requires you to drill a 2 inch hole in the bottom of your yak.

04-14-2011, 05:29 PM	#8
GregAndrew Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 2,384	The 50 and 83 khz are both intended for deeper penetration of the water collumn. Although there are some other advantages such as wider viewing angle. Every transducer will have its own cone angles for each of its sonar ping wavelengths (mine has 45 degrees @ 50 khz and 12 degrees @ 200 khz). I believe the standard HDS 5 50/200 transducer has cone angles of 60 and 20 degrees respectively. Unless you plan on doing a lot of deeper water rockfishing, you will probably not see a difference between 50 and 83 khz. The problem is that there is only one transducer option for the 83/200 combination, the stock model. If you want to get an acurate water temp, you will have to mount that transducer over the side. There are lots of aftermarket transducers that will work with the 50/200 khz settings. I am using an Airmar P319 (mount not shoot) thru hull, but it requires you to drill a 2 inch hole in the bottom of your yak.