TZT14 and range shift...

Panhandler80

New member
Not sure what Furuno calls it, but can you get a TZT to only look at the 40, 50, 60, 70, X, Y, etc feet off the bottom, and then have that setting remain constant as the depth changes?

Say I set it to 50 feet. If I'm in 250 feet of water I'd like to see 200-250. As I ease into 275 feet of water, I'd like the screen to automatically adjust and have it show 225-275, and so on/

I know machines were capable of this 25 years ago, so sure this unit can do this.

I had a TZT14 with a DFF1 and a DFF3D sounder and remember one of them would not automatically adjust. As the depth changed I had to manually tell it to look from X foot depth to Y foot depth in order to capture the portion of water column off the bottom that I wanted.

I THINK (and hope) that was the DFF3D.

Not going with a DFF3D this time.
 
The DFF3D is a multi-beam sonar and not the same as fishfinder in the way it works. The features of that unit are still evolving like the PBG feature that was just added. When it comes to the DFF1 and the TZT, maybe you're talking about about shifting the range (para 7.4.3) which requires you to be in manual (not auto range). You can also conduct bottom zoom and bottom lock (Para 7.2.3).
 
Yeah, i get the difference between the two sounders. And I remember being frustrated with at least one of them, potentially both, when it came to having the machine automatically adjust for depth so that the screen continually showed only the first "40" or "50" feet off the bottom.

On my 25 year old Sitex you could adjust it to do so. If the bottom contour got to close to the top of the screen (getting shallower) it would BAM drop the line down on the screen. Conversely, if the bottom was getting to low on the screen, it would BAM raise the line.

I could set it to show "Bottom + X feet" one time and never adjust it all day. From 80' of water to 800' of water.

Sounds like that might not be the case with the DFF1 or the DFF3D.

What do you mean by Para 7.2.3. EDIT: Ah, the user's manual. Will check it out.

The more and more I think about it, and when you mentioned "Auto", the more certain I am that the TZT won't do what I'm talking about. I'm not sure if any new ones do. It was such a nice feature to always have basically your entire screen showing just the number of feet you elected to see off the bottom. If memory serves me correctly Auto kind of did what I'm talking about, but it showed the entire water column. Basically it treats the surface as the baseline. I'm wanting the bottom to be my baseline, if that makes sense. Oh well. New is always better, right?

JUST READ MANUAL... Nope. It won't do what I'm talking about. That's utterly ASTONISHING! It's been almost two years since I operated the machine. I was afraid my recollection was correct. "Bottom Zoom" is the feature I'm talking about. It will achieve (basically) the goal I'm after, but you have to manually enter the values. Asinine. Plus (now that I am remembering things), it shows 2 screens (all of water column in auto and the "zoom" selection) for H and 2 screens for low. So...

1. I don't care about all of water column
2. I have to manuualy adjust zoom parameters while working up and down ledges
3. If I want to run my H and my L, I know have four freakin screens even though I don't give a **** about the screen that shows the entire water column.

I guess answer is to skip the whole zoom feature and just manual adjust things as I'm going up and down ridges. Crazy.

What I'm talking about might be a good feature to consider.

It ensures that your eye is trained to ALWAYS know what it's looking at because it's always the same. And it's hands frree. Requires ZERO adjusting during the day.

Oh well. Wish I'd remembered this. Just ordered a $2,300 ducer and $1,800 DFF3, but had forgotten all about the screen tapping and knob turning to stay on just the bottom 60 feet. Whatever, already had the MFD so this was still a pretty cheap option to wind up in a pretty good system. Will the stand alone Furuno bottom machines do what I'm talking about? Hmmm.... they have internal sounders too, don't they? That might be an option. If I can find the dash space. Then just use the TZT as chart plotter.... Ah, hell. Then I can't scroll back and tap screen to mark fish. Oh well. Will stick with what I've got.
 
Based on what your explaining, I believe the Bottom Zoom feature is what your looking for.

You can set the zoom depth scale in the menu, see photo below. I you want to look at the 50ft off the bottom , then set the zoom to 50ft and turn on the bottom zoom.

Bottom Zoom.jpg

Page 164, 165, 177 of 299 in the manual.
 
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