T&T: Thorny Depth Sounder Problem Determined and Resolved (Long)

[Kim Boyce & Eric Thoman]

Great post, Garrett.  However, I am sick and tired of seeing transducer
failures and I would offer no kudos to Airmar whatsoever!  As I understand
it, they helped Garrett identify a problem with their product and a
workaround.  OK, why did the product fail in the first place?  Yes, I too
have received good customer service from them in addition to lots of
friendly and knowledgeable advice from Gemeco (www.gemeco.com the exclusive
Airmar dealer) but the problem is the products do not last.  The Gemeco
folks seem to know this and they are quick to say that they build exactly
what the marine electronics manufacturers dictate.  I am sure that is true
but the goods leave the factory with the name Airmar "taped" to them.  The
biggest problem is there is no alternative to Airmar for many of the units
sold by the major marine electronics companies.

In addition to Airmar transducers being cheesy (in my experience the worst
is the "Smart Sensor" due to its low power and short life span) the cables
they use are low quality.  For a few pennies more they could use a better
shielded cable which could eliminate the instruction that you not run the
cable next to other cables.  They know we can't do that on a boat!

OK, that's my rant for the day.  Maybe I should go boating and get my mind
off of transducers.  Will probably hit a rock...

Eric Thoman
Abyssinia