04-23-2008, 03:57 AM
I have my first basic fishfinder and will later buy an advanced one. For now...the Smartcast RF15 has the screen scroll from right to left and I'm still mildly 
as to how to read this both when moving and when stationary. I've already read the manual and googled to try to understand it so I wouldn't waste anyone's time, but haven't found anything to clarify and was hoping some of you could point me it a direction for how to understand the scrolling screen readings in both motion and stationary modes because I'm slightly .
I would've expected it to simply be somewhat like a radar screen where it just updates the whole screen every few seconds to show if anything changed position, etc from it's last reading of the surface below, but instead it slowly scrolls the screen to the left. Every so often it will show an entirely solid black line or two while scrolling indicating something like it's a new screen or changed location or something? What is that exactly?
This confuses me because lets say I move the transducer like it suggests by trolling or reeling. Won't the speed effect how much distance is represented on each line on the screen? So one line could represent a centimeter, or it could represent 10 feet. How do I tell?
To make things more confusing, if that's how it works, then if left stationary I should continuously get the EXACT same reading each time it updates a new line and scrolls left...but in truth, if it is left stationary, it still shows different contours, etc. How is this possible if it is only updating one small line at a time and scrolling it left with each update? Wouldn't this mean that if I left it stationary, something (like a rock or fish) that currently shows on the far right of the screen, will soon act as if it's moving to the left side of the screen? Shouldn't that same fish or rock or whatever come around again through the scrolling of the screen? It doesn't...so I am again as to how it works. Very lost and . Someone please help me understand how this scrolling screen thing works since the manual and googling around didn't really help answer my confusion! [crazy]
At least this cheap fish-finder helped me realize that when I buy an advanced one, I want to get one with a 3D reading, and probably real-time. This constant scrolling left stuff has me SOOO lost! So at least it served it's purpose, but I'd still like to understand how to read and use it effectively in the meantime (mostly going to attach it to the remote control Aviva Fishin' buddy to drive around and scout out the layout). As I said...I have read the manual, googled around, etc, but I still don't understand the whole scrolling screen thing very well. At least I can see how DEEP it is and what the temp is. I wish I could read the layout/contours, etc though...and it would be nice to understand how to tell where it is saying the fish on the screen are. Hard to tell when it says they're constantly scrolling left on the screen.
Thanks, and yes, I realize I'm a n00b!
[signature]
as to how to read this both when moving and when stationary. I've already read the manual and googled to try to understand it so I wouldn't waste anyone's time, but haven't found anything to clarify and was hoping some of you could point me it a direction for how to understand the scrolling screen readings in both motion and stationary modes because I'm slightly .I would've expected it to simply be somewhat like a radar screen where it just updates the whole screen every few seconds to show if anything changed position, etc from it's last reading of the surface below, but instead it slowly scrolls the screen to the left. Every so often it will show an entirely solid black line or two while scrolling indicating something like it's a new screen or changed location or something? What is that exactly?
This confuses me because lets say I move the transducer like it suggests by trolling or reeling. Won't the speed effect how much distance is represented on each line on the screen? So one line could represent a centimeter, or it could represent 10 feet. How do I tell?
To make things more confusing, if that's how it works, then if left stationary I should continuously get the EXACT same reading each time it updates a new line and scrolls left...but in truth, if it is left stationary, it still shows different contours, etc. How is this possible if it is only updating one small line at a time and scrolling it left with each update? Wouldn't this mean that if I left it stationary, something (like a rock or fish) that currently shows on the far right of the screen, will soon act as if it's moving to the left side of the screen? Shouldn't that same fish or rock or whatever come around again through the scrolling of the screen? It doesn't...so I am again
as to how it works. Very lost and . Someone please help me understand how this scrolling screen thing works since the manual and googling around didn't really help answer my confusion! [crazy]At least this cheap fish-finder helped me realize that when I buy an advanced one, I want to get one with a 3D reading, and probably real-time. This constant scrolling left stuff has me SOOO lost! So at least it served it's purpose, but I'd still like to understand how to read and use it effectively in the meantime (mostly going to attach it to the remote control Aviva Fishin' buddy to drive around and scout out the layout). As I said...I have read the manual, googled around, etc, but I still don't understand the whole scrolling screen thing very well. At least I can see how DEEP it is and what the temp is. I wish I could read the layout/contours, etc though...and it would be nice to understand how to tell where it is saying the fish on the screen are. Hard to tell when it says they're constantly scrolling left on the screen.
Thanks, and yes, I realize I'm a n00b!
[signature]