Eagle Cuda

I decided on the Eagle Cuda, and at first it seemed to work ok.

Several months ago I had issues with a continuous line of fish across the screen, never really figured out what it was, and it eventually stopped a few trips later.

Then it started showing nothing but solid black intermittently while underway.  Not the whole screen, but anywhere from 4-20 pixels in width would be solid and not show any underwater detail. 

This weekend at Chelan things got untolerable.  The ENTIRE area of water would be solid black, and this was on auto-sensitivity.  The depth was still accurate (double checked it with my downrigger) but the damned thing would not show any kind of detail whatsoever.  This was in anywhere from 140 to 300ft of water.  I didn't see a single fish the entire time.  I tried placing the transducer directly in the water and got the same results.  I'm pretty disappointed and ready to get a new depthfinder.

Oh and I also messed around with manually adjusting the sensitivity, and that didn't do anything to solve the problem.  At 94% it showed nothing all the way to the bottom, same at 95, and 96%.  At 97% it would go totally black.

In fact, it wouldn't show my downrigger ball once it got under 80 feet or so.

Get what you pay for I guess.

Hmm, haven't heard hardly any complaints about the Eagle Cuda, maybe you just got one that was defective. I like my Cuda just fine. I actaully thought mine was dying last week, it kept turning off, Turned out it was just a bad connection from the installer.

There pretty good about fixing or replacing bad equipment too.I had a bad button on mine and they replaced it even a couple months after the warranty lapsed.

Getting them on the phone is sometimes a hassle, though.

I sometimes get a lot of noise on the screen, usually when underway and it's rough out. Turning it off and then back on usually clears it up. My transducer is inside the hull in a water bath.

I've had some issues with my unit not finding bottom in areas deeper than 200ft.  It might be the corrosion on my contacts.  I've cleaned them all and will give it another try whenever the ocean clams down.

where do you get to 200 feet on the yak?  I've always been told different things, but the Sonar is supposed to penetrate deeper in Saltwater?

I saw about 160 feet at Crescent Lake and it was clear as could be.

I've seen over 600 ft. on mine. 

(La Jolla Canyon, in So Cal.)

There is absolutely no corrosion on my connections and I get the same results with shoot through hull and directly in the water.  I'm willing to go with defective unit.  I'm having a hard time believing that there were NO fish under my boat in up to 300ft of water over two days (5+ hours) of paddling around on Chelan.  Then again, seeing my downrigger ball come up from 80ft and not seeing it prior to that is pretty evident that something isn't working... oh and the total black readings thing... 

When I very first got it, the first place I used it was Chelan.  No problems, and it read up to 900 feet.  Guess I just got bad luck and it's not performing well now.

I think I'm gonna upgrade to one of those $200 dual beam humminbirds or something.

Maybe try i different Transducer, gotta be someone near you with an Eagle Cuda?

I have an eagle as well, and have the same problem.  In fish mode it looks like there is a bazillion little fishies under my boat.  When I switch to the regular mode, I get a lot of black from the surface down about 10 feet. I also have not marked any fish.  That could be because I like bananas, and until I read the posts regarding bananas by Deep Color, I ate them liberally.   I wish I would have known this 20 years ago.

Anyways, I don't recall the black being on the screen like that when I first got the fishfinder( Eagle Fishmark 320).  Now i am concerened.  I probably have used this FF a total of 20 times.

-Craig

Time for me to locate a replacement Cuda, I think. I was fishing blind during my last trip to the salt. I got rigged up and hauled the yak to the waters edge, fired up the power to the Cuda and nothin'...Since the unit didn't turn on I left it in my car and fished anyways.

It turns out the battery is fully charged and I've got 12+ VDC at the plug. I've always used dielectric grease or Fluid Film on the connnections so the contacts are clean on the plug and sonar unit. I'll be contacting Eagle customer service tomorrow but the unit is nearly 2 years old and they only have a 1 year warranty.

Just for ORC, I might go back to Bi-Mart and see if they still have one of the non-GPS models on sale. I saw them about 2 weeks ago and thought about buying one as a backup unit. DOH!

Anyone have a working, used Cuda (any flavor) they'd be willing to part with? I just need the sonar head unit. The mount, transducer and cabling are all in place.

Jay

I spoke to Eagle this morning. Since my warranty has expired, they'd rush me a new head unit in 7-10 days for $113.   

I'm wondering if I should put this toward a new, better model (Humminbird) or just replace the same one. I do like the way it works, although I still don't think I've actually seen more than 3 or 4 fish on it. For ORC, I'll just pick up the cheapest Cuda I can find and keep it as a backup.

Anyone near downtown PDX or along 99W through Tigard/Tualatin have a Cuda setup that I can test the head unit with?

Jay

I'll say this, I can see structure and track depth accurately.  I've been checking it over and over while fishing with Ravdakot.  I definitely don't see fish on it.  His is constantly marking fish and I show nothing but the bottom and at times, my 3 or 4 oz jig head bouncing off the bottom in 30-50 feet of water.

I believe he has a humminbird.

Yeah, hummingbird piranhamax 215. I think I'm going with the 365i as soon as I pick up the Malibu.