Lowrance Broadband 83 and 200 kHZ

Lowrance Broadband 83 and 200 kHz

Your HDS has a choice of frequencies (83 or 200) to choose from the standard transducer which is the same transducer as the 200 kHz skimmer. The 200/50 transducer is designed for salt water so we will not cover that in this tutorial.

The best feature of the 83 is when you are fishing next to another boat with a 200 kHz transducer. Now you can switch to the 83 and get a clear picture on the sonar display without the crosstalk. At least until the other boats get this choice and switch to the 83 and then we are back to crosstalk again. But if you have the StructureScan you can use the DownScan™ and choose either the 455 or 800 kHz frequency. This will eliminate crosstalk from an 83 or 200 transducer.

We now have good tools to eliminate crosstalk when fishing around boats (4 different transducer frequencies to select); finally the days of crosstalk are over.

Look at the StructureScan tutorials for examples comparing DownScan to traditional 2D sonar. I am just learning the DownScan and I believe it will be equal or better than traditional sonar.

I have been doing some comparisons and the 83 works well in shallow water 10-40 feet. You get a larger cone with the 83 but I have not noticed much difference in displaying fish with my comparisons. Sometimes I will see the fish on the 83 and not on the 200 and vice versa. This doesn’t make sense but I pictures to, prove it.

The first example shows a fish on both. 200 on left and 83 on the right

The next example shows a fish on the 83 not displayed on the 200.
This example has the 200 showing a fish that is barely seen on the 83.
In this example the 200 shows better separation of the baitfish. Notice a lot of the small fish are not seen on the 83.
The last example is weeds and the 200 is much clearer.

My early comparisons have the 200 a better choice for me but I will quickly switch to the 83 when another boat is close enough to have crosstalk. And I will trust the 83 to display “catchable sized fish” based on my data as of today.