New Furuno 585 FF

[DOGHOUSE26]

Well today I retired my old 582 CRT Fishfinder with a new 585 unit; the older units were so large they had to be mounted in a cabinet or on the bridge deck as mine was. Now the newer models are so compact and thin you can mount them on top of the dash if you wish but I'm keeping mine down low for now to keep it out of the elements. The screen is just about the same size although much brighter (10,000 hours will do that to ya); it has a little more power output (1000 watts vs. 600); but most of all it has better sensing ability and the white line marker which I hope will help me find those big barn doors laying on the bottom! I previously replaced my old transducer with a new Airmar B260 1K unit with the high speed fairing block when I replaced the fuel tank last fall; we'll see if this combo increases the kill ratio on the DOGHOUSE. I found alot of fish and hotspots with that old 582 and it was pretty hard to cut the power cable and pull off the mounting bracket, I seriously considered putting the new unit on the other side of the bridge (where my old RADAR used to be on the bridge deck too but the new 1722 unit is up on the dash) and installing a transducer switch so I could use one or the other. Oh well, she won't be going in the attic just yet; I'll give the new unit 4-5 rockcod trips to get comfortable before I put her away for good. Does anyone have experence with the 585 and how do you like it? I have a newer Furuno GP 7000 on my 18' Bayrunner and the sounder portion works real well although I don't have alot of time running with it. The GPS side of the unit is a little harder to navigate through since I'm used to my Garmin 2010 on the DOGHOUSE which seems much easier to use.

[Honeygirl]

Jeff, I also had the 582CRT an loved it. Till it fell out of the overhead in my boat and crashed into 100 pieces on the way to the albacore grounds 2years ago. That depth finder put a lot of seabass on my boat even before I owned the boat. I bought the 582L after that. It was the best model at the time when I bought it. I have a 1000kwt transducer and I like it a lot. I don't use the white line much but From what I hear it works great. The furuno guys have high remarks for the 582L and at the fred hall show they said the 585 was even better. I am also going to upgrade all my electronics this year. I'm going with the new 3D system from furuno. I wanted to keep my 582L but the furuno guy stated I couldn't run them both at once unless I was in 200kw and I would sill get interference. Let me know how you like the unit after you use it a bit. Joe

[NoSlack]

I've had the 582L since they came out and never played around with the white line function. If I'm going to spend all day up top driving around the bounce ball crew, I might as well learn how to use that feature. Who knows, it might help me catch a few more big halibut.

Mike

[Nomad]

I'm looking at the Navnet 3D as well. They are suggesting using the Airmar SS164 1kw tilted element transducer as it doesn't require the large fairing block. Anybody have any input on this transducer? Joe, which unit are you going with (8.4 - 12.1?) and where are you planning to mount it?

[Honeygirl]

12.1, I am going to mount them in the hold above. I am going with 2 units. next to ecahother.

[DOGHOUSE26]

what's an ecahother?

[Nomad]

Its either "each other" or some kind of high tech white seabass locator

[Nomad]

Joe - are you going with a new transducer? I'm looking at the 12.1 too but hung up on what ducer to get.

[noquestion25]

Do you need any other equipment to get the 1000 watts out of the unit. Which transducer will work best Furuno or Airmar.

[DOGHOUSE26]

Do you need any other equipment to get the 1000 watts out of the unit. Which transducer will work best Furuno or Airmar.

What unit are you referring to?

On my Furuno GP7000 and on the 585, there is a menu prompt for either 600 or 1000 watt output. You can use a 1000 watt transducer on a 600 watt sounder but you can't use a 600 watt ducer with a 1000 watt sounder

As far as transducers go, Airmar is the manufacturer for most if not all of Furuno's transducers.

[noquestion25]

The 585 with some transducers requier the mb 1100 matching box. Is this not true. I realize what your saying about the wattage. Furuno sheet says that the matching box is needed. What is the story.

[DOGHOUSE26]

I believe if you buy the Furuno 526 TID-HDD (Airmar B260) it has a built in diplexer so you don't need the matching box. Mine works great!

[noquestion25]

Copy, Thats the same one I have ordered. Im glad i did not have to spend the extra $200.00

[Nomad]

Jeff - Where did you mount the transducer? I heard that the fairing block is pretty big and you did it when you R&R'd the fuel tank, can it be mounted without removing the tank?

[NoSlack]

I couldn't go with the high speed block when I replaced the xducer last fall. The thing is real long and needs a bolt in the front end to keep it from rotating. The bolt is about a foot forward of the xducer hole and would have been under my tank.

Mike

[noquestion25]

Did you mount it without the block? The 23 has almost no dead rise, is it even needed.

[NoSlack]

My old xducer had a small flange area to it, and covered the hole by 1/2" on both sides. The new one has maybe 1/16" of coverage over the hole on each side, so the block is the way to get a little more surface area for the sealant to stick to.

Mine is mounted just forward of the engine in the flat spot, so I put the block on without cutting it.

[DOGHOUSE26]

Mine is mounted in the same location as the original; on the flat spot right in front of the engine. It fits on the trailer inbetween the 2 center bunks with maybe 3 inches clearance on each side. Yes the front edge of the transducer is under my tank but John says they just use a small screw to set the ducer square with the keel and the 5200 really secures it to the boat. Your tank sits up on
3/4" blocks anyway which lets the liquid foam seep into and then it expands to support the tank.

I really got acquainted with the new 585 and ducer this weekend; a couple of rockcod trips over areas I know like the back of my hand and other than a few minor glitches the new unit did well and showed me where the fish were and definitely where they were not! I was never able to see the familiar mark of red rockcod; but I didn't catch any either. Salmon grouper showed up along with all the other smaller junk rockcod, and maybe the schools of these smaller cod were quite thick as I saw large schools of them off to the side of rockpiles. One setback is my high spots are not the same depth on this meter, they are 10-20feet deeper. I'm searching for a certain height so I know I'm on top of the pile so I can drop and at first I drove around in circles hopelessly lookling for a spot 20 feet shallower until I figured it out. I guess I'll get used to it.

5 grouper today 3-3.5#; 3 green stripes and 2 bank perch on the lower 9. A couple of ling bites but nothing stuck.

[noquestion25]

Anyone looking to upgrade to the Furuno 585 $1114.52 at Ultimate marine.com. Yes the transducer is expensive. I found the 526t-HDD, Yes built in diplexer with temp and fairing block and 10pin plug for $660.00. The store is online www.anyboat.com. Only bummer is that it is in Ca. so you have to pay the $53.00 or so dollars in tax. Hope this is a help.

Josh

[DOGHOUSE26]

I think I paid $650 from Consumers Marine back east - no tax/free shipping. I bought the 585 from Phantom Marine $1104 + tax - Boat Show Price. I wanted to have someone local for service if / when I need it.

[noquestion25]

You got a great deal from Cosumer marine they are listing the transducer for $749, Phantom quoted me something around $1400.00. Glad you scored!

[DOGHOUSE26]

I bought everything in November, everything probably went up January 1st; if you go to Phantom in person they will knock it down more.

[Nomad]

Yup - I should have bought it in November!

Bronze Broadband Thru-Hull Transducer w/ Temp, Built-in Diplexer & High Speed Fairing Block
Furuno 526T-HDD
320581Typically ships within one business day$759.99
http://www.consumersmarine.com/graphics/products/medium/320581_M1.jpg

[noquestion25]

cascadegps.com $755.00 shipped