Is the Chirp 94sv right for me?

[A.J.Towers]

Looking at a Chirp 94sv with the CV51 transducer for $600, new. I know the CV is inferior to the GT but I’m willing to try it and buy a GT52HW if I’m disappointed with the CV51. Most of the fishing I do is trolling for salmon in the Columbia River in water 20-40’ deep. I think the coastal charts will work fine, those charts usually have pretty good coverage of the Columbia and I’ll make my own maps with QuickDraw for the areas I fish anyway. I have no need for radar or touch screen.
I’d really like to see fish using the side view. A lot of times I fish big open areas where the fish don’t really travel in lanes, it’d be nice to know if there is a pod of fish 100’ off the side of the boat. Average fish size is 10-12lbs, so hoping that will make them show up on the side view better.
My boat is a 22’ aluminum with 14 deg. dead rise, 240 sport jet and a 8hp trolling motor. I’ll try it with one side scan transducer but have a feeling I’m going to need a second one to get a clear picture of both sides.

Am I missing anything? Does this seem like a good application?

Thanks!

[LWINCHESTER2]

It is a good application. The CV51 should do very well showing you those fish.

[A.J.Towers]

Thanks for the feedback LW. I went ahead and picked one up because nothing else came close to having all the same features at that price point. Had it on the water once and first impressions are good. Didn't have a lot of time to play with the side scan but everything else seems great. The Quickdraw feature is so nice. Picked up a 32GB microSD for $12, I should never have to worry about running out of storage for my maps.

[LWINCHESTER2]

i think you'll be happy with it. Run the SideVu on 455 kHz for structure detail, 260 kHz for those big fish way out there. It's a strong transducer. I don't think that Garmin makes a splitter cable to mount two combo transducers and use one on the left and one on the right. Good idea though.

These units are some of the best bargains out there. A lot of people snatching them up.

[A.J.Towers]

Good tip on the SideVu frequencies. I believe you are correct about not being able to run dual transducers on the Garmin, was looking at HBs before and I know they have that capability so I assumed the Garmin would as well. Luckily I don’t think it’ll be necessary.

Do you happen to know the projection angle and orientation of the SideVu elements in the CV51?

I’ll be on the water tomorrow and try to focus on dialing in the SideVu.

[LWINCHESTER2]

From what I've seen I believe the elements to be tilted about 30 degrees down from horizontal. I expect that its the same with Hbird and Lowrance. The science don't change. It can't be much more than that to get the distance they do.