wesmar 700ss

[tom yerian]

Hey guys, I am considering on buying a wesmar700ss. I need user imput. Tell me what you think,pro/con on this equipment. I need a good assessment either way......Thanks

Yours in treasure....Capt Tom

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[ScubaDude]

Tom,
Let me preface this with the fact that I have not used a Wesmar. It is more of a question of what you plan to use it for and what you expect as to whether or not it is what you want. It also depends a bit on what frequency the tow fish is 107 or 300kHz.

Pros -
Price
Long range

Cons-
Parts and repair support - Call Wesmar and make sure they will still support it if you have problems or questions.

Software - I believe it lacks a 'modern' digital interface that would allow you to point, click, measure, and zoom in on anomalies, generate accurate coordinates, or record data without using other additional third party software that most times is not cheap. Ask what it comes with.

Cable Length - A 100 meter cable isn't enough to realistically work effectively much deeper than 100-120', especially where you are due to the constant strong currents; sooner or later you have to go up current. When you bump the throttle up to make way, the fish is coming up and your image is going away if you can't keep or force the fish down. If you don't plan on working deeper great, if you do, you will need a longer cable, and likely a winch, and a lot of other gear that gets expensive real quick. Unfortunately you can't just splice the stuff to increase length.

Frequency - The biggest con I see is that if you are planning to use it for finding the scattered remains of old wood boats the resolution is likely too low to discern some of the tell tale signs needed to find a scattered wreck. Unless you're searching in deep water with a suspected mostly intact and unmolested site; I would strongly suggest using a much higher frequency tow fish. You do not get high resolution from low frequencies, especially as low as the ones above. Most near coastal archaeology type stuff is done with 600 - 1200kHz frequencies, unfortunately you trade resolution for range though. A 300 kHz fish should reach out to about 200 meters each side, that sounds great until you try to discern a single cannon amongst coral outcrops and sand ridges. The 1200 kHz fish is limited to about 50 meters each side, the difference is zoomed in I can now count how many fingers a diver is holding up. The same diver with a 107 or 300 kHz fish at close range does not have the resolution to tell much other than it is a diver.

If I was out hunting U-boats or comparable sized intact boats or other fresh modern targets it would be okay, adding $5k worth of software to go with it would be a night and day improvement. If I intended to look for scattered remains of old world boats I would chose a different unit with higher frequency fish, software, and a good mag, or pay/barter someone to do it. You can count the spokes on a bicycle wheel from the surface with a lot of stuff on the market now, that equipment doesn't sell complete out of the box for a few grand though. You get what you pay for, and you will need good tech support on the back end because things do break on boats.

You'll likely wind up scratching your head debating what things are or aren't due to low resolution, without a dive or a mag you'll wind up with lengthier target lists, wasting dives due to inaccurate coordinates and poor records mostly due to lack of good software.

For the Hummingbird fans, I'm talking real world everyday offshore ocean conditions on a pitching/rolling boat, and still have the ability to work effectively and methodically deeper than you can see the bottom, I haven't seen one do that day in and day out.

I hope this helps you, I not trying to diss the thing, but you need to understand its capabilities and limitations.