Fishing Forum

[font "Times New Roman"]This is my opinion and my opinion only, it is worth only what you paid for it. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] My son Jacob has a Humminbird 110 Buddy that he has used a few times now. I just got an Eagle 300 cuda. Yesterday I had the chance to compare them side by side. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]The water was mostly clear. It was colored a little on the greenish brown side. It has some clumps of slimy green moss next to the bank where the wind had blown it. That moss was not away from the bank very far that I could tell. We were in water that ranged from 4 feet deep to 40 feet.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] First thing I noticed was the cuda showed a ton of fish about 3 to 4 feet down on fish ID. Like another guy said in a different thread “ I should have been kicking them”. The Buddy just showed the bottom and contour and a fish here and there. From the times we used the Buddy before, I have seen Jacob see fish on his screen in this case crappie, send a jig down and catch crappie. I have seen him do this many times so I am sure his Buddy works well.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"]We kicked along a little more and the screens looked similar for contour, temp, and depth. The difference was the cuda showed sometimes up to 25 or 30 fish on the screen at one time. I knew something was not right. So I decided to play with the sensitivity. I adjusted it up and down. About all I could tell was different was the fish on the screen got smaller, and the bottom changed color. So I turned fish ID off, and set everything back to automatic tried it a while that way. I never saw the fish arches but at the same time the Buddy was not showing much for fish either. I even messed with the chart speed to see if that did anything.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] Then the thing that bothers me the most. I was in about 20 foot of water, and the depth range at the bottom of the scale said 40. All of a sudden I was seeing the bottom range bounce from 40 feet to 140 feet. Some times it would bounce to 240 feet. When it did that the screen would start a fresh screen so I had these very thin screens going across one right after another. When you looked at the screen it was just a mess of vertical lines.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] I manually set the depth range and by doing that it stopped the thin screens I had before, but now the screen seemed to have breaks of missing segments in the middle of them. When this happened I moved away from the bank in the steep canyon and moved out into open water and out of the canyon. It seemed to be working better in the deeper water but it still showed fish that the Buddy said was not there, and we were not catching any fish.[/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] While it may be possible that I was picking up some very small bait fish with the cuda 300, and the Buddy was not see them, this was the way it went all day long. The Cuda showed fish and Buddy didn’t and we were not catching much for fish. Now when the Buddy said there were fish we caught fish. Again we didn’t get many that day but the Buddy didn’t show a ton of on the screen all the time. [/font]
[font "Times New Roman"] My final thoughts. One day is not a good “test” I feel. I will be trying it more to see how it does. When comparing the two finders I feel that the 300 Cuda was accurate with giving the contour of the bottom. It was also accurate with the temp, and depth. I am no expert at fish finders, in fact I have only actually used only these two fish finders.[/font]
Maybe what I am seeing is a problem with how I have the transducer mounted. Or the way I am setting it up. I am not sure what the problem is but as a whole I am going to say the 110 fishing buddy so far has been a better fish finder. As I get more used to the 300 I will have a better idea what it is like. I hope it starts to do better. Ron
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[cool][#0000ff]Sorry you had such a negative experience. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]First of all, the "false fish" signals on the Cudas have always been a mixed blessing. It is good that they are sensitive enough to pick up even small bits of algae and bubbles in the water and display them as fish...but bad that they produce those false signals. I have mostly learned to ignore anything less than a few feet deep...especially all of the small fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am going to guess that a lot of the strange readings you got were the result of fishing close to someone else also running a sonar. Some units are more susceptible to wacko screen displays. The lower the wattage the more likely that a more powerful sonar...or even one of similar wattage...will create anomalies on your screen. Happens a lot with ice fishermen all fishing close to each other. You have to have adjustments for controlling the interference and clutter. Not available on low end units like the Cudas.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I finished the installation on my new Cuda 300 a couple of days ago and I plan to give it a good test soon. I will run it through the paces and see how the output compares to other units I am familiar with...on waters and species I know well.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I doubt that the problem is in how you mounted your system. If it is showing proper bottom readings the other things should work too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As mentioned before, you will not see the inverted V marks for fish when fishing from a tube because unless they go beneath you quickly they will show up as dots or lines. The "boomerangs" usually show up when sonars are used on boats that are moving at a faster speed than tubes can go.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Don't know where you got your Cuda 300, but if you are not happy with the way it works you should be able to get a refund or replacement. Cabelas, for example, will refund or replace with no questions asked...as long as you have proof of purchase and have not damaged the unit.[/#0000ff]
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You might have something there. When mine freaked out and started to wacko max depth. That was the same time I had big bass boats near me. One guy would not leave us alone. That was also the same time my son's buddy acted up. That bass boat might have had some big sonar that was kicking my sonars hind end. That would explain a lot of the wacko stuff happening. That boat was only 20 feet away or less at times. We had to just give him the spot because he would not leave us alone.
The small fish it displayed could have been algae, I thought it could have been at the time. I thought it was odd that the Buddy didn't show about the same. I think they have about the same power.
The thing I need to learn is what mine is reading. If the small fish are just clutter, or small fish. Like I said I need to learn it a little better. I will be interested what you think on yours.
I got my unit from Cabales, so I am not worried about them taking it back, and it has a 1 year warranty. Ron
Ron
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[cool][#0000ff]I think you can be 90 percent certain that the high powered sonar from the bass boat was a major cause of your problems. Some of those high end units kick out about 3000 watts of power, compared to only 800 to 1000 watts on our tubing sized sonars. I can remember several occasions when I have been "snuggled" by an inconsiderate boater with all watts blazing. You will start to see some "anomalies" when they are still quite a few feet away, but if that guy was that close it is no wonder you had problems.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There seems to be a prevalent opinion on the water that the guy with the biggest craft has the right of way and everybody smaller has no rights at all. I get that all the time. If you look back at some of my past posts you will see pics of guys "up close and personal". I love it when they ask why I am taking their pictures. My favorite response is that I am publishing a book on stupid #$$holes...and I am thinking of making them the cover picture. Of course it helps that I am 6'3" and over 250 pounds, but you never know who is armed and how wacko they are so it pays to be discreet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Otherwise, I might say something snarky like "Gee, I'm sorry I'm fishing so close. Would you like me to move?" Their standard response is "You don't own the whole lake." To which I reply..."Okay, I would like to see your paperwork that says you do. And, while you are at it, maybe you can show me all of your sportsmanship awards."[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In the final analysis, we just have to recognize that there are a whole lot of folks out there who have little or no respect for others. The best you can do is move away to avoid a pointless confrontation. You can never win when you argue with someone like that. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Or, as I also like to say: "I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I never attack an unarmed person."[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Will post my report later tomorrow.[/#0000ff]
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We had two guys on a 20 foot cliff above us that threw a rattle snake in the water about 30 yards away from us. We were lucky that the snake wanted to go back to land or we would have had to somehow kept him from crawling on our tubes. I had a couple of words to yell at them.
Anyway I bet you are right. Let us know how yours does. Ron
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I am sure there are a few of us waiting to hear your review and see your mounting handy work. I think/ know that this will be my next purchase, so I am not fishing blindly!
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[cool][#0000ff]Just got back. The 300 worked great. Couldn't ask for more in a "low end" sonar for tubing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Will post a report and pics later.[/#0000ff]
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cool Tubedude. I just bought a Cuda 300 also. I had pretty much the same experience as idahoron with mine. It showed a ton of fish but there was no way there were that many fish.

Jason
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