Humminbird SmartCast Series Fishfinder

Got this as a gift for Christmas when I was shopping with the wife at BassPro here in Orlando. I had been researching these units for a few days after reading about one online. The fact that I could cast out from the shore appealed to me so I chose one of the smartcast models. BassPro had the RF10 on sale and the R15 was the price I had expected the R10 to be so I went with the R15. It includes grey scale and water temp as part of the upgrades from the R10 series.

Over the past two weeks I've taken the R15 out to 4-5 lakes around my area to test it out. Provided I do a nice steady retrive a smooth display of the bottom is presented. I have also seen a fair amount of fish on the display using the Fish ID function. From what I have read on various newgroup posts this feature should generaly be turned OFF. Instead one is supposed to learn how to identify fish using "raw" sonar returns. So far I have not seen any "fish arches". I have a feeling I might need to be in... Read more

I've now had this little guy for a year and with the exception of the green transducer dying in the first week (replaced immediately by Humminbird), it works like a charm. It's been in both frest and salt water repeatedly without a hiccup. I've had it in as much as 60 feet with fairly good resolution, discerning between weeds, rocks and fish
well for the price. Great little unit for the money, for sure-especially if you have a kayak like me. You won't be disappointed.

Typical of electronic watches has more features than necessary. By accident and reading the instructions in a canoe it started working in about 5 min. Works great shows fish and structure gives depth and water temp even tells time. Only thing I would change is buttons can get pushed accidently while sleeping or doing everyday chores this throws it into a mode other than time. Usually it goes to fishing mode which according to the instructions runs down the battery at a faster rate as it must act as a radio reciever. If the buttons had been shielded it would be a perfect product. Customer service was great they told me it was water resistant some thing I couldn't find in the instructions. Eventually I plan to use as a bobber/sonar buoy and see the crappie taking the bait how cool is that.