Airmar CM599LH 2-3kW CHIRP Pocket-Mount Transducer, Bare Wire

The CM599LH is Airmar's deep-water answer for boats chasing swordfish, tuna, grouper, tilefish, and anything else that lives below 1,000 feet. The transducer pairs a low-frequency element rated to push the picture out to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) with a high-frequency element that holds resolution down to 1,500 feet (457 meters), which is the depth range most serious offshore sport-fishing operations live in. The CHIRP-ready dual-band design means you're not stuck on a single frequency: the low element can sweep anywhere from 28 to 60 kHz and the high element can sweep anywhere from 130 to 210 kHz, giving the chartplotter or sounder module the flexibility to dial the frequency for the depth and target you're working.

The low-frequency side is a 24-element ceramic array, which is the spec that buys you the deep-water performance. More elements means more transmit power on each frequency in the band and a tighter port-starboard beamwidth (23 degrees at the wide end down to 9 degrees at the narrow end). Fore-aft beamwidth runs 11 degrees down to 5 degrees. That narrows the cone enough that small targets at extreme depth still show clean returns rather than getting lost in the cone-side returns at the bottom edges. For comparison, single-element 1kW transducers wash out at the depths where the CM599LH starts to do its best work.

The high-frequency side is a single ceramic element with the narrow 8-to-4-degree beamwidth. That's tight enough to pick out individual fish stacked tight to structure at 800 to 1,200 feet, which is where most bottom-fishing happens on the canyon walls and the bluewater wrecks. The 200 kHz spec covers the legacy frequency that most older sounders default to, and the full 130-to-210 kHz sweep covers the modern CHIRP bands used by current Airmar-compatible chartplotters. Total usable bandwidth across both elements is 112 kHz, which is why this transducer pairs so well with modern CHIRP-capable 2-to-3kW commercial-grade sounder modules from the leading marine electronics brands.

The pocket-mount configuration is what differentiates this SKU from the R509LH (thru-hull external) and R599LH (in-hull) variants of the same element. Pocket mount means the transducer sits in a pocket or cavity built into the hull, either as a factory-cut depression or as a welded aluminum tank on a metal boat. The advantage is a clean external hull profile with no protruding stem, and a slightly better acoustic performance than the in-hull (shoot-thru) variants because the transducer face is closer to the water with less hull material in the acoustic path. The trade-off is that the install needs the pocket or tank built in or fabricated, which on most production sportfish has to be done by a yard during a refit. The urethane potted housing with curved-edge design handles wet-box installation and accommodates any deadrise angle when the pocket is built correctly.

This SKU specifically is the bare-wire variant: the cable ends in bare wire pigtails rather than a connector. That's the right choice when you're hardwiring to a sounder module or a chartplotter that doesn't use Airmar's pre-made connector pinouts, or when you're running through a junction box mid-cable. For chartplotters that use Airmar's standard 11-pin connectors or other manufacturer-specific connector pinouts, the connector-equipped variants of the same element are the right pick instead. The cable is 49 feet (15 meters), which is enough run for most installs from a deep bilge pocket to the helm or to a sounder black box in the engine room. The transducer weighs 31.2 pounds (14.2 kg) and the housing is urethane-potted for long-term submersion.

One last thing to know about Airmar transducers in general. Airmar is the original-equipment manufacturer behind a large portion of the high-power transducer market across the marine electronics industry. The Xducer ID technology built into this transducer lets the chartplotter or sounder module auto-detect the transducer type and load the correct calibration tables, which means you get the manufacturer-recommended frequency tuning without manually setting parameters in the sounder menu. That auto-detect works across multiple compatible sounder ecosystems. The trade-off is that some chartplotters require specific connector pinouts to read the Xducer ID signal, which is one reason the bare-wire variant gets paired with a custom connector at install time. For a clean professional install, the sounder module spec sheet will tell you whether to use the bare-wire CM599LH or a connector-equipped variant of the same element.