Garmin Fishfinder 160C Owner's Manual

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Garmin Fishfinder 160C Owner's Manual Manual pdf 7 page image

Fishfinder 160C Owner’s Manual 1gettIng stArted > understAndIng the fIshfInder And sonArGettInG startedUnderstanding the Fishfinder and SonarThe Fishfinder 160C is a fully automatic, color sonar unit that allowsyou to go out on the water and find fish without having to configure alot of settings. However, you can customize each setting as you prefer.If you have used a Fishfinder before, you might already know howto interpret the sonar information on the screen, so you can skip thissection. If you have not used a Fishfinder before, you might want tolearn a bit about sonar: what it is, how it works, and what you mightsee on the Fishfinder 160C screen. This manual provides a generalunderstanding of those things that you need to know about sonar thatcan help you interpret the screen and find the fish.Understanding SonarDuring installation, you connect your Fishfinder 160C to atransducer. The transducer uses sound to determine informationabout what is in the water beneath your boat. Then the transducersends the information to your Fishfinder to be shown on the screenfor you to view and interpret.The transducer sends sound waves down into the water in a coneshape, similar to a flashlight beam (covering a smaller circular areaat the top and angling out to a larger circular area at the bottom).These sound waves reflect off of any object that they hit, and thenthe waves travel back up to the transducer. These objects couldbe fish, branches, the bottom, or any other object that has densitythat is different from the water. The transducer receives the soundwave information, and then sends the information to the Fishfinder.The Fishfinder shows the information on the screen for you to seeand interpret. The type of transducer and settings that you choosedetermine how the information appears on the screen.Understanding the Fishfinder ScreenExperimentation and experience are the keys to successfullyinterpreting your Fishfinder screen. We recommend that you takeyour Fishfinder out on familiar water, and spend time learning tointerpret what you see on the Fishfinder 160C screen.Think of the Fishfinder screen as if you took a picture from the sideof an aquarium in your home. You can see how deep a fish is inthe water (how close it is to the top or bottom), but you cannot tellwhere the fish is located horizontally in the water (whether it is nearthe front or the back of the aquarium). Remember this when you aretrying to locate exactly where something is in the water.The strongest sonar returns appear on your screen as the mostintense solid red. The weaker returns appear as less intense, lesssolid colors,with dark blue to black being the weakest.