Mega 360

Who's got one? Game changer?

I’ll be following along. Trying to decide on 360 or waiting for the next panoptix livescope version to hit the market. I know you post a lot about crappie, I mainly bass fish but I’m interested in other’s responses.

That's the great thing about the fish finders. They don't care what kind of fish you're targeting. I've already bought the Mega 360 transducer, I am hoping to pick up some tips on using it. I am one of the few people that you will probably ever hear say this but I'm not a huge fan of my Livescope. Don't get me wrong, it definitely shows you exactly where the fish are. It just doesn't fit my fishing style. It's like playing a video game. I'm not knocking them, I know the technology is amazing and at least with crappie tournaments, the consistent winners are using them, but to me fishing for one specific fish at a time while watching the screen, takes the enjoyment out of it to me. It's boring to me. It's like sitting at home and watching TV.

Livescope has shown me how many fish I’m not catching.

Yessir, it'll most definitely do that.

Fur, I can't help with your question, but have a couple of my own. I have a Garmin 73 on my little stick steering boat, and have enjoyed using it the last few months. BPS is having a pretty good sale on the 93 next week and I was thinking of getting one along with a livescope transducer. I would mount that on the trolling motor and not use that unit for anything else. I have a cable steer TM, so I can aim the livescope in any direction. My question is, do I need the Perspective mount? It looks like from the description that some sort of TM mount comes with the livescope, but I can't tell for sure from their description. Does anyone know if I really need that mount to attach it to the TM?

Thanks, I figured someone here could tell me more than whoever I might get on the phone at BPS

Also, is there any advantage to networking the 2 units? I can't think of one, but maybe I don't understand.

The perspective mount lets you view a wide area, but the perspective view takes a lot of time on the water to get to where you can ID things. I only used it a couple times. IMO, no you don't need the perspective mount. The standard mount that comes with it will mount directly to your trolling motor shaft

Which unit do they have on sale? I finally found the ad. I wanted to make sure it wasn't the 93 SV. That's what I have and they no longer offer updates for it. The UHD is supposed to be the newest one, I think.

Thanks Fur, I appreciate the info

I’ve got the mega 360 on my new boat. I really like using it with the live scope.

So I bought the livescope and gotta say that I shouldn't have been such a cheapskate and waited so long to get one. I mounted it to the motor on the TM and put it in the forward position. Went crappie fishing with a friend today on a private lake and we found a big school suspended in open water and caught them until we got tired of it. We probably would have caught 8 or 10 fish without it.

Installing it was harder than I expected because the wiring in my boat wasn't big enough to handle it. I had to pull bigger wires through, and I can tell it uses a lot more power than I expected. I may have to add another battery, but it looks like it will make fishing a lot more fun. I have a cable steer TM, and that lets me aim it in whatever direction I want without turning the TM on. Thanks for telling me not to buy the perspective mount. I don't see any reason I would ever need it.

Glad you like it! I can tell you for certain that it's going to kill your cranking battery sooner or later, assuming that's the one you've got it hooked to. I finally installed a toggle switch at my battery so I could turn off the black box while the boat is stored. It draws amps 24/7/365 whether the head unit is on or off. Since I can now turn the black box off, it should quit killing batteries.

I have one - definite game changer. Being able to see the fish gives me the confidence to stay out there and keep fishing. I'm, admittedly, not a great fisherman. Grew up on small ponds, etc.



I set mine up so the black box is in the forward hatch. I have a lighted LED pushbutton that controls power to the black box with dedicated battery. Fur is right about it being a constant draw. Also, I think that the picture is clearer on a dedicated power source, but YMMV. My next project is to mount it on a stationary pole since when you're spot locked the view angle is wherever the TM is pointed.

Here's a shot of what I call "The old man of Clear Creek"

Yeah, the switch was another thing that added time to the installation. I bought a 450 watt toggle switch and mounted it right beside my seat, so I won't have to turn it on until I put the trolling motor down. I didn't know that the thing didn't have a switch on it until I got it, so I had to make a trip to town for wire and a switch before I could start. I haven't even installed the rear transducer yet; I hooked it to the fish finder, but the transducer is just sitting on the floor of the boat. I plan to install it tomorrow, but I really don't plan to use it.

I have a group 29 deep cycle for my cranking battery and have all the electronics on it too. I used it and the TM almost continuously for 5 hours today and all 3 batteries were on 12.6 volts when I got home, and that was without running the outboard at all to put any charge back into it. I am not able to fish all day, so I'm hopeful that I can get by without having to add another battery, but I guess I will have to use it longer to know for sure.

7x57, that's a cool picture. I think having a cable steer TM is an advantage for my setup. I can point the livescope in any direction with the foot control and don't have to turn on the TM when I do.

Dang, I'm debating about getting livescope. I have 2 Triple Shot units I just got and haven't installed yet. Now I'm wanting a bigger boat too. Next year I'm gonna buy a deep hull to go out at night and have a lot of floor space to move comfortabley. Tired of not having extra space. Hopefully livescope will be cheaper too by then.

7x57 what is that?

I've actually thought about trying to find an old junk cable steer TM that I can hack up and just use as a mount for the livescope transducer. Some of the pre-fab options out there are ridiculously overpriced.




It's a rock wall where Clear Creek spills into Smith Lake. I thought it looked like an old man looking down as viewed from over the back of his left shoulder. Guess I have a vivid imagination because my wife said she doesn't see it. Haha.

My plan to install the GT54 transducer on the port side transom didn't work out. I thought I had a couple of inches to spare, but when I crawled down there and looked it was apparent that the mounting screws would puncture the gas tank.

So I am not sure what to do with it. There is already a GT54 for the other unit on the transom starboard side, and I don't think it's good to mount them side by side. I thought I could buy a nmea2000 cable and hook the units together, but found it isn't that simple, and I would have to make a trunk line. I have spent all I wanna spend on this thing.

So I came up with the idea of mounting it to the trolling motor. The livescope transducer is already on it, but there is room for both. Is that a bad idea?

I suppose I could just sell it.

I did that very thing. Took the motor/foot and all the wiring off the old TM. It worked, but lacked any "finesse" movement. I ended up making a pole that I turn by hand out of PVC and mounted it to a Ram mount.





I gotta go with your wife on that one. LOL

Is the GT54 a regular side imaging ducer?

It is SI and DI; seems to be their older model that they pair with the 9" units, but I think the GT56 is replacing it. It appears that when it is in the traditional mode, it runs on a frequency that doesn't overlap with the livescope. I don't know how it will work, but it only took a few minutes to strap it to the bottom of the TM, and if it doesn't work right I guess I can try something else.

It looks like they could make a cable to link 2 units together that would be plug and play, but I realize they aren't catering to people like me. I'll let you know how it works.

So I was right that there is indeed enough difference in the frequency of the livescope transducer and GT54 that they didn't interfere with each other with both of them on the same TM. I could split the screen and both worked fine. Unfortunately, the 2 GT54 transducers interfered with each other significantly, even though they were about 17' apart with one on the TM and the other on the transom. I don't believe there will be any way to use both, and I'm glad I didn't drill holes in my boat to mount the new one.

I just unplugged the one on the TM and used the new unit as a dedicated livescope. I might buy the stuff to build a network eventually, but right now I don't see the need for the kind of fishing I do. Thanks for the help!