Recreational 3-D sonar has come a long way in just a few years. Most major marine electronics manufacturers offer some form of 3-D viewing; Furuno debuted its version at the 2017 Miami Boat Show last week.
In this video (shot with a GoPro Hero5 black), Furuno’s Eric Kunz talks about the new DFF3D, a black-box module that is compatible with the company’s TZtouch and TZtouch2 displays. The DFF3D, which uses a 165 kHz frequency in a multibeam formation, was designed more for offshore fishing’s deeper depths (up to 1,000 feet) compared with its competitors, Kunz says.
The module offers a variety of views, including cross section, 3-D, triple-beam, and side-scanning. Cross-section mode displays a real-time sea column echo in a 120-degree arc port and starboard; 3-D mode shows a view of the boat atop the water column with fish marks and bottom contour — scrollable back 20 minutes in time; triple-beam mode lets you split the 120-degree arc into left, below and right images that show simultaneously on screen; the side-scan mode shows structure port and starboard and includes a scale for measuring distances.
The unit is packaged with a 14-inch-long through-hull transducer, which features a built-in motion sensor to keep the images stable even in rough seas. Retail price for the module is $2,095; $3,995 for module and transducer. A transom-mount transducer is expected soon.
