Display & Interface Cursor

The cursor on a fish finder is the on-screen pointer that allows you to interact with your sonar and chart displays. On button-operated units, you move the cursor using directional pad buttons. On touchscreen models, tapping the screen places the cursor at that point. The cursor enables you to measure distances, read coordinates, mark waypoints, identify sonar targets, and access contextual menus throughout the interface.

On the sonar view, placing the cursor on a mark or arch displays the depth at that point, the distance behind the boat where the target was detected, and sometimes an estimated target size or signal strength value. This is useful for quickly determining the exact depth of suspended fish or the height of a brush pile off the bottom without estimating from the depth scale.

On the chart view, the cursor shows GPS coordinates, distance and bearing from your current position, depth at the cursor location according to the chart data, and options to create a waypoint or navigate to the cursor position. This makes it easy to plan moves, measure distances between fishing spots, and explore chart features before driving to them.

Some units feature a cursor replay function that lets you scroll back through recent sonar history and examine returns that have already scrolled off the active display. This is valuable when you notice an interesting mark that passed too quickly to analyze in real time — you can freeze the display, scroll back, and place the cursor on the target for detailed information.