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Testimonials

Bellow are some testomonials from customers direct and some posted on various forums.

I fitted the bronze two years ago and it has been excellent. We took our boat through the French canals and it proved its self many times. We avoided a pile of submerged rocks when coming out of a marina in the mist one morning. I have to say that for the money that it cost it was one of our best buys. As with many things boaty, when you get used to having it you wonder how you ever managed without it.

I have an Echopilot FLS II, older obselete unit. If it performance is any example of the newer ones-it's great. Also about 1/2 the costs of (censored) and has been in business longer.

"We've had an echopilot FLS since 2000. It doesn't do the side scan like the latest Interphase sonars, but scans forward in an arc from vertically down to horizontally forward. It also doesn't have a colour display. But they only cost around 1/2 what (censored) do, the update rate on the display is very good and overall mine works very well.

I doubt it would be much use as far as spotting shipping containers is concerned, until you were quite close anyway, but it is excellent for spotting reefs, especially coral, which can tend to be a vertical wall.

Usually it can "see" forward by 4 times the water's depth, up to a max of 150m. There is a more pricey version now that looks 200m forward.

Also their transducers fit in std 38mm thru-hulls, and can be withdrawn and cleaned, while the boat is in the water, which is a plus. The (censored) transducer is quite large, probably not suitable for a fast multihull."

I promised to let everyone know how well the platinum forward sonar worked on my new boat.

Taking the boat to the boat show was a 20 hour trip plus an 8 hour wait in the lock - that must be a record! The return journey was again delayed by a three hour wait for the lock 0 that is we were let out three hours after they told us we had to leave. But another 20 hours were clocked up via Ramsgate for the night.
Ended up probing up in Chichester mud flats at 1 am waiting for the tide to get into Emsworth.

So, in all about 40 hours worth of use - the system worked very well.

I had to alter the sonar frequency on the raymarine stuff to prevent interference - the new E series allows you to do that but once that was solved the Echo Pilot worked very well indeed giving consistent and reliable results. I left it on auto range so that in 50 metres of water it was giving me a 200 metre range ahead (it gives 4 times the depth).

The Echo Pilot is mainly a navigation tool whereas the USA forward looking sonar is more of a fish finding tool - never the less it still managed to work in spotting shoals of fish and big fish ahead which were then confirmed by the fish finder sonar as we passed over the fish.

It worked at all speeds but this is an SD hull and I cannot comment on how well it would work moving fast in a planing hull. never the less in both hulls it should work well when probing estuaries etc.

I've had the Echopilot with professional transducer on two boats now,and wouldn't be without it. As other people have said, not much use for detecting objects, but extremely useful for slowly creeping into strange anchorages or marinas. Saved me on one occasion when going into an anchorage in Ireland when the transit wasn't visible and the sounder picked up rocks over 100 metres ahead. On the downside, the distance ahead is governed by the depth of water, and I've turned the shallow alarm off as it is extremely sensitive to almost anything ahead, hard or not. Overall, a good piece of kit.

ROB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've told you a thousand times I wouldn't be without mine, now others who have actually got one have said the same. Go and buy a bronze and then buy me lunch. You'll love it when you start anchoring around the med. We have the platinum version, as previously posted it does what it says on the box. We use it for creeping in and out of places (with 7' draft you have too), wouldn't be without it. It will not scan ahead for submerged objects, but then it does say this in the instruction book. May I suggest you use the Mk 1 eyeball and gut instinct for this-much more effective. Still the Echopilot is a good piece of kit I have no complaints. I have the basic echopilot bronze and it works very well. Much more re-assuring knowing whats just ahead, rather then underneath right now. Bit of a pain as my boat can beach, but not without removing the transducer. Forward Looking Echo Sounder by Echopilot. I would never go back to a conventional sounder again. Here's mine tracking a whale sounding off the coast of The Dominican Republic.

We cruised the Bahamas and were able to take very narrow cuts between the deep water and the banks. Also travelled from Florida to Washington on the inland waterways and through the French canals to the Med. The Echopilot gives up to 100mtrs ahead plus depth below in real time. Most conventional sounders are up to 15sec delayed. It's also great for picking an anchoring spot in a shelving anchorage. When we changed to the 38' it was the first bit of kit I ordered.

Fls Technology, how it works...

OTHER SOUNDERS ARE HISTORY! Most vertical depth sounders show a depth which is an average of what is behind the boat. At EchoPilot we believed that most boat owners would prefer to see hazardous obstructions in front of them!!

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About EchoPilot

EchoPilot was founded in 1969 and our first product was a battery operated "flasher" echo sounder. Since then we have made hundreds of thousands of instruments, always specialising in forward looking sonar, depth sounders and speed logs.

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News and Events

Be sure to check out our news and events section

3d Forward Looking Sonar available early 2010.

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