I have been very skeptical about all this Panoptix stuff. The biggest reason is that I don't have a handle on the technology. Multi-Beam Phased Array. All these elements (they won't say how many), all on the same frequency (417 seems weird) and it will be able to not only show you fish out in front of you but also accurately depict how deep these fish are and how far away they are. Hogwash, or so I thought. That's what ignorance does for you. I may never have a grasp on the science but I do know one thing; THIS THING WORKS!!!!.
Range
The specs say the range is 100 ft. Well I don't know about that. I regularly see fish 60-70 ft away and hit the trolling motor and head to them. Sure enough, there they are. I see how deep they are so my strategy is to stop around 30 ft from them and cast to them or depending on how deep they are, cast past them and let the lure fall through them. I have seen fish 120 ft away that I was able to get to and catch. So I really can't say definitively what the range is. I can say definitively that 60-70 ft works reliably like a charm. I have complete confidence that when I spin the trolling motor around and don't see anything that I need to go somewhere else. My rating on this would have to be very good at this time comparing the actual range to the specs. The actual performance could be excellent as I get more experience with the PS21. At 60-70 ft I would say excellent.
Showing fish
The PS21 reliably shows fish at varying ranges. I only use it as intended as LiveVu Forward. I use other units for straight down. Regularly when I see fish on the SideVu, I stop and turn around and routinely find these fish with the PS21. This is new. I've not been able to reliably do this before because both the fish and I are moving and who knows in what direction the fish are going. I have previously used a 2D transducer mounted on a forward angle to help find them in combination with SideVu and StructureScan, but still it was a hit and miss proposition. With the PS21 I fully expect to find them every time. I can't say I find them 100% of the time, but the percentage is exceptionally high. The fish shown are just like the promotional videos. They are quite different than the 2D marks. When fish are schooled, like crappie and walleye and spotted bass, it can be sometimes be difficult to distinguish between a school of bait and school of fish. Often you can. Sometimes you can't. Still I rate the showing fish as excellent because it reliably displays both the distance to the fish and the depth the fish are at. My fishing is almost exclusively for suspended fish; walleye and crappie. This time of year it is crappie in open water. The best configuration for me has been to split screen my 7610 with PS21 on top and SideVu on the bottom half. That way if my aim is off a bit as I catch up to the fish the SideVu catches them. The PS21 and GT50-TM are mounted on the trolling motor. I will get together some screenshots for a later post.
Interference
Often when people put transducers on the trolling motor they have to deal with interference. I don't have any interference problems. I run a bunch of units and transducers. At the same times the PS21 is running, I am also running 107, 400, 200, 150, 230, 455 and 800 kHz. I do run a Minn Kota Edge 70 trolling motor as I have had interference problems with other units using other trolling motors. In my opinion Garmin has the best interference rejection on the market.
Strategies and situations
Here is a trick for you. If you idle around looking for fish, move out about 60-70 ft (or more) from the bank. You don't have to measure it, The Panoptix will do that for you. Now say the bank is on the right. Turn the trolling motor to point to the bank, not straight ahead. Now idle up the bank, watching the Panoptix for the fish between you and the bank.. Works real well. For me and my old age vision, this works better than looking at side sonar. The Panoptix gives big colorful returns.
One other strategy. Set the range to 100 ft. Move out into the lake. Slowly swing the transducer from far right to far left slowly. Remember Spotlight Scan and how it's hard to find a good review of it. This is not Spotlight Scan. Using the PS21 you will see the fish and bait reliably.
One area I fish has a huge amount of air bubbles in every direction. It's a major problem on 2D. On the PS21 the rising air bubbles show as vertical columns, totally different than fish. This is a major improvement. Another area I fish has major problems with floating debris and many areas I fish have leaves floating in the fall. Both of these situations present a problem for all brands of side sonar. The side sonar shows all this floating debris and it is very difficult to determine what is fish and what is trash. This is totally different with the PS21. It shows the floating debris, but it shows it on the surface totally separate from the fish underneath. This is another major benefit of the PS21.
Summary
This is a limited review as I have not been able to test its performance in deep water (around 100 ft or more) Our fish are not that deep now so there is no point in looking there. For that the PS31 would likely be required. But then, I don't know. I've not used it. I have read that the specs for it say 300 ft. So based on the performance of the PS21 specs at 100 ft the PS31 should be a killer. I've seen the Youtube videos and the Garmin promotional stuff on Panoptix. I don't think they have done it justice. Remember how Humminbird changed fishing with Side Imaging and how big a deal that was. This is much bigger than that and a complete game changer in fishing.
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Originally Posted by Larry3215
