You need a sounder unit with true 1kw output. The cheapest you're likely to get there is something like a Lowrance Elite FS 7, or maybe a Furuno FCV-588 if you don't mind keeping the Elite 4 for charting.
The boat we fish off in Kaikoura has a TM258 transducer, which the Low frequency (50khz) has marked bottom as deep as 700 on a very old, albeit 1kw, headunit (Lowrance LCX) and will show the bait layer when you're fishing for Bluenose in 400. The performance is markedly less good than a modern CHIRP transducer and sounder unit, though.
The ideal would be a TM275LH-W, with the high-wide for shallow work. Expensive transducer though, and getting a unit that will do dual channel CHIRP at 1kw to make the most of it would blow your budget to pieces.
You could maybe get away with a TM185M which is 1kw CHIRP from something like 85-135khz, these provide exceptional performance from maybe 60-150m and very decent from 0-300m, I've never used one past those depths though so can't speak to how it goes beyond that.
Anything better than just marking bottom beyond 500m is the territory of super-low frequency, 2kw+ commercial style transducers like a R109 or R209, which require something like an FCV295 or dedicated sounder module to run, and all of a sudden you're into 5 figures for your fishfinding setup.
Have a look at this thread on another forum:
There are some interesting screenshots there for the TM185M - the first one is getting a great bottom image and even marking fish in >500m, but it is important to note that it is connected via a S5100 module there so will be getting the best possible performance. The screenshot in post #8 shows it directly connected to a headunit, and you can see the quality of the return starts to drop off considerably beyond ~1300ft/400m.
smudge wrote:
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