On Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:34:34 -0400, DownTime
wrote:

- Can you put two different transducers, from two different
manufacturers on the same stern and each will function accordingly? I
guess I am wondering of Garmin's transducer and branx X's(assuming I go
that route) might interfere with each other.

Well, no - not on a small boat. The two signals will interfere with
each other. Even at twenty feet or so, they will interfere - I have a
transducer mounted on my trolling motor which is 21 feet away from the
stern and they still interfere with each other.

Has to do with the angle of the beam.

With respect to shallow water performance, that's natural. Get within
five feet of the bottom and the signal return will be overpowering and
produce nothing but hash. Plus, if the bottom is muddy, you can get
false returns to hard bottom. I've turned down the sensitivity on my
Raymarine DS600 to zero and still can't get a reliable reading under 5
feet.

Shallow water fishing is mostly sight fishing anyway. Even in deeper
water, depending on the species, it's mostly sight fishing.

The best way to handle this situation is to set the offset for your
draft - at least that will tell you what you are getting into shallow
waters.