Garmin Panoptics

[DO57]

Has anyone used the Garmin Panoptics ?

[Seamonkey84]

I’m hoping to taking mine out for the first time on the ice. But I’ve been using it in my boat for a few months. It is an awesome tool.

[mkeller]

Just got mine and will be up in a few weeks looking to use it to find perch

[Craft Man]

I tried one a year ago, was not able to locate any fish with it.  Did have about an 17" walleye so did a "hi-tech" experiment.  Drilled a holes about 30', 60', & 90' from the unit, dropped him back down on a line about 10' below the ice in 23" of water in all three holes.  Could see the fish in the 30 & 60, but despite any adjustments couldn't get any definite marks at 90.   If I let him go to the bottom it was gone, even when I knew there was a fish in that immediate area I could not pick it up off the bottom.  Long story short, it may have value locating suspended fish, if you are like me and looking for walleye or perch that stay close to the bottom, it wasn't of any value.   

[Herms]

So even in the 30-60 ft range you could not see him on the bottom?

[Craft Man]

No, once I let enough line out to let him go to the bottom I couldn't locate him.  If you look at the Panoptix the "bottom" is not sharp and defined, at least not enough for me to pick out fish down there.  I also realized that all the videos I watched on youTube were locating schools of panfish.   

[clintonstick]

i have been catching very nice size perch while using panoptix, most times they did not show up until hooked.I bought mine with the idea of finding fish that are away from beneath my hole,not sure it will work for that but it works awesome for suspended fish.I could see trout swimming by ,reel up a foot above them and bang,i also tried a couple of different lures and could tell some were much better than others.I just fished my third straight day and didnt use the panoptix,caught the same number of perch.I hope someone can tell me a way to adjust for bottom huggers but if not this unit still has its place,its a blast to see a trout swimming towards your lure from a long way and then crush it,LOL

[Craft Man]

This discussion was just about how well the Panoptix worked, I am simply saying that in my primitive experiment, I could not pick out a 17" fish when it was near the bottom, I could pick it out when it was suspended, that's all.  If you want to use it to find schools of bait fish in the S.D. Glacial Lakes in January good luck. 

[Herms]

I have seen the units but never played with them so maybe this isn't possible at all..  But could you bend/angle the transducer down to get you more of a field of view that includes the bottom area?  I'd venture to guess from your experiment that the unit has some sort of cut off vertically. 

[Gunflint]

It has a ratchet and is intended to be angled. Typically there is the Front or Forward view for scoping things out and the Down view for maximum underneath viewing.