800 or 295 ?
- Thread starter LiquidEmu
- Start date
jp498
Furuno Super Fan
The 295 isn't going to chirp. It's adjustable frequency though. If you want to study the bottom habitat, fixed freq non-chirp is very desirable. You can use a chirp compatible transducer for that.
With the 800 you could chirp one transducer, and have the other at a fixed freq.
The 800 seems decades newer tech...
The 295 has a landscape format which is good for split-screen use, where the tall format of the 800 is ideal for non-split screen use even if it can split screen.
If money isn't an issue, I'd probably get two 800's and add a 50/200 transducer to the mix and run two chirp and 50/200 at the same time.
With the 800 you could chirp one transducer, and have the other at a fixed freq.
The 800 seems decades newer tech...
The 295 has a landscape format which is good for split-screen use, where the tall format of the 800 is ideal for non-split screen use even if it can split screen.
If money isn't an issue, I'd probably get two 800's and add a 50/200 transducer to the mix and run two chirp and 50/200 at the same time.
Snapper and tuna offshore. Might get into marlin and swords soon
This is tough as they are both great machines.
My FCV-800 does great and I really like it. I mostly use it 300’ or less near shore tuna fishing and inshore ground fishing for smaller species such as sea bass, striped bass, porgy etc. I use it in full screen most the time and auto gain. It has lots of adjustability, but the style fishing I do with it just works great in auto. I am very impressed with it and think the price point is great.
I also run an 1150(12” screen version of 295) on another boat and it is my favorite sounder. I like it over the FCV- 800, internal sounders and chirp black boxes. I have it paired to a 3kw LM transducer. I never run this machine in auto gain and have it going in 3 to four screens at a time. I live inside this machine when running the boat. I like picking frequencies and fine tuning. I would put it up against any chirp machine. The 1150/295 is awesome for deep water and bottom zoom. I use this machine for swordfishing, tuna fishing in northeast US deep water canyons, and bottom fishing at all sorts of depths.
My advice would be if you don’t mind the smaller screen and you don’t see yourself running the screen split in 3 or 4 then go with the 800 and save the 1200 bucks. The FCV-800 might even get the edge in the top 200’ for tuna fishing due to chirp, but that is debatable. If you want to really get into your sounder and see all it can do then I would go with the 295. The 295 will be the better deep water machine for sword fishing in my opinion.
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