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What does the Lowrance active target Live sonar do for a trolling boat?


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I have had the Garmin PanOptix system in the rear of my boat now for 2 years. I see things on it that I don’t see on my Lowrance HDS/ Airmar sonar system AND vice versa. ( very inconvenient to have customers ask “ if those are fish right now in your riggers, why aren’t we catching them “) ANYWAY: given I have the PanOptix + Lowrance HDS/ Airmar system facing essentially backwards what theoretical benefit is forward facing sonar for a trolling boat. Thanks for any experienced comments 

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I watched a video of running a Garmin with the transducer showing what was forward of the boat. I thought it was awesome so you would know ahead of this when you were going to be in fish.

 

I thought very seriously about switching to Garmin for this feature alone. but it was cost prohibitive for me. right now I have all Lowrance HDS units, I have a 12 live and a 9 gen 3, and an 8 gen1 for emergencies.

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I foresee using mine in forward mode in shallow water or perspective mode in really shallow water.  I think there would be some usefulness in identifying a good target ahead of time and stopping to cast or jig.  I have a small boat and that is feasible.  If you had a big boat running a ton of rods it wouldnt make any sense. While I have limited experience with this, Im not sure there is a whole lot of value in using it in forward mode for deep water trolling especially if you only have one live sonar unit.  Probably need a second live sonar unit to get enough time with it to really answer your question.  Better yet, get one for each corner of the boat!

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Went to salmon school in Pulaski last month, two out of three of the charter capt's loved the Garmin Panoptix's

They showed a video of trolling, seeing the fish live, looked great. Added it to my boat last week, cant wait to try once we start fishing a little deeper.

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1 hour ago, Last One said:

Went to salmon school in Pulaski last month, two out of three of the charter capt's loved the Garmin Panoptix's

They showed a video of trolling, seeing the fish live, looked great. Added it to my boat last week, cant wait to try once we start fishing a little deeper.

Glad you read my post carefully LOL. I’ve had the PanOptix for 2 years. 

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