Transducer Compatibility

[SW Boat Transport]

I‘m looking to upgrade my GPSmap 451s to a ECHOMAP UHD2 7". Will I be able to re-use my existing transducer, or will I need a new one?

[Salty Pete]

Strange you haven't received an answer to this question but the answer is generally no.

Your echo sounder sends out a signal through the cable to the transducer which you would know bounces back from the bottom of the water and then goes back to the sounder unit.

The sounder unit measures the time it takes and thus able to determine the depth of the water.

Everything has to be tuned to the echo sounder otherwise the signal will be too fast or too slow making the echo sounder miscalculate the depth.

However if the impedence of the cable and transducer are the same as the original it may be OK.

[Somerset Jim]

Originally Posted by SW Boat Transport

I‘m looking to upgrade my GPSmap 451s to a ECHOMAP UHD2 7". Will I be able to re-use my existing transducer, or will I need a new one?

What was the outcome of this? I’m in a similar position and looking to upgrade a 451s unit to a 9 inch modern garmin touch screen unit but would rather just use the existing transducer since I don’t go fishing.

[jonp]

Many are comparable, however some may need an adapter or an adapter junction box. Transducers can vary heaps in price and capability, so why not simply upgrade the transducer too.
I converted a Simrad transducer 12 pin to a Garmin 8 pin with a garmin adapter so I can run the 8 pin Airmar 175hw and the GT51 in the 12 pin socket and the panoptic ps30 in the ethernet connection. Not sure what you can do with lower end units as Im only familiar with the 8400 series head units.
Garmin have a huge selection of transducers , as do Airmar. If you have a new chirp head unit, why not upgrade to a chirp transducer.

[Somerset Jim]

Originally Posted by jonp

Many are comparable, however some may need an adapter or an adapter junction box. Transducers can vary heaps in price and capability, so why not simply upgrade the transducer too.
I converted a Simrad transducer 12 pin to a Garmin 8 pin with a garmin adapter so I can run the 8 pin Airmar 175hw and the GT51 in the 12 pin socket and the panoptic ps30 in the ethernet connection. Not sure what you can do with lower end units as Im only familiar with the 8400 series head units.
Garmin have a huge selection of transducers , as do Airmar. If you have a new chirp head unit, why not upgrade to a chirp transducer.

The offer I have been given does not necessarily include a transducer so I am therefore looking at the unit without considering changing it. All I want is depth and don’t need all the fancy stuff that comes with a modern unit.

The transducer I have is the standard unit that came with the 451s as per the manual. Do you know if that one fits with a standard conversion cable?