Visit Simrad’s website, and you’ll notice it’s called Simrad Yachting. It’s no surprise, then, that the GO9 XSE is beautifully set up for saltwater fishing—radar is a big part of this unit’s appeal, and its compatibility with 3rd-party technologies gives you access to functions designed for surfers and wakeboarders (among other things).
With excellent networking options, the Simrad GO9 XSE makes a great center for a hub of electronic devices on your ship. Fortunately, Simrad didn’t skimp on the fish finder functionality of the unit, either; there’s excellent sonar and imaging available, and the unit is compatible with thru-hull transducers.
I really like this unit—it’s affordable, functional, and well-designed. I won’t gush about it too much here, though—let’s get into the full review:
| Max Depth | 1200 ft |
|---|---|
| Imaging | DownScan 300 ft / SideScan 300 ft (150 per side)* |
| GPS | Internal, high-precision |
| Frequency | Up to 800 kHz (Imaging) |
| Transducer | Active Imaging 3-in-1, Xsonic Bronze HDI |
| Screen | 9”, 800 x 480 WVGA display |
| Maps Included | Variable |
| Memory Card Slots | 2 microSD, max 32 GB |
| Max Waypoints | 6000, 500 (100 max route points), 50/12000 |
*Only with the Active 3-in-1 Transducer
The GO9 XSE has a beautiful 9” screen, with 80° viewing angles from all directions. There’s a backlight, and the screen is easy to see day or night, rain or shine. The 9” display is the minimum size I’d go with for almost any GO unit—there are a lot of different apps you might want to display on your screen simultaneously.
Simrad lets you do just that with GO9 XSE; it offers multiple panel pages with an adjustable split screen. You’re limited to displaying three apps per page; I’d rather it offered four, which is becoming standard on high-end fish finders, but still, I can have a sonar, DownScan, and SideScan setup, which is what I usually like to use for active fishing.
All of the standard display settings you’d expect on a high-end fish finder are here. There are several color palettes to choose from, adjustable brightness and contrast, customizable wallpapers, and more. All in all, the display is great—nothing remarkable, really, but why mess with a good thing?
When it comes to the interface, I like—but don’t love—what Simrad has done. The touchscreen is excellent and responsive, with intuitive pinch, scroll, and touch controls. The GO9 XSE loads apps quickly, and it’s easy to select from your favorite apps and split screens.
The menus are all well laid out, and it’s easy to adjust your settings and switch between views. Seems like Simrad has done everything right, so what’s my complaint?
It’s simple: The only way to navigate with the GO9 XSE is through the touchscreen.
Touchscreens get wet. They get unresponsive. No matter how much effort manufacturers put into waterproofing their touchscreens, water on the screen always leads to some problems, and the GO9 XSE is no exception.
Put hybrid controls on your fish finders, manufacturers! That's all I ask. Aside from this, the Simrad GO9 XSE gets full marks for its display and interface.
Simrad offers a variety of different packages for the GO9 XSE. The two I want to focus on in this section offer two different styles of transducers: The Active Imaging 3-in-1 and the Xsonic Bronze HDI XDCR.
Both of these transducers are fairly powerful, offering CHIRP sonar and DownScan, Simrad’s brand of down imaging. Lowrance users might recognize the DownScan brand, and some users may even recognize the Active Imaging 3-in-1 transducer. Simrad and Lowrance are owned by the same brand (Navico)—the more you know, the better!
Getting back to the transducers, the main difference between them is twofold. The Xsonic Bronze is a thru-hull transducer that offers low CHIRP (as well as high CHIRP), hitting 50 kHz for fishing in deeper water columns. The Active 3-in-1 transducer, on the other hand, is transom mounted and offers SideScan instead of lower CHIRP (though it does still hit an impressive 87 kHz).
Both of these transducers are excellent (anyone who has used a Lowrance transducer can attest to its quality. CHIRP gives much higher precision and better target separation than non-CHIRP sonar, and the sheer range of frequencies supported means you can adjust based on your activities. Use higher frequencies when you’ve narrowed in on an area you want to fish in and when you’re in shallow water and lower frequencies for deep water fishing and scouting.
No complaints from me about the sonar. All the features you’d expect are here—it’s easy to zoom in and out, you can check chart history, toggle fish icons on and off, change color palettes, switch to night mode, and much more. Again, there’s nothing really remarkable here—aside from the excellent frequency and transducer support—but everything is solid. I don’t need Simrad to reinvent the wheel, and I’m very happy with the sonar on the GO9 XSE.
The Simrad GO9 XSE’s imaging fits the rest of its features so far—solid but not exceptional. With a 300-foot range for side and down imaging, you’re getting a great balance of clarity and range—images at 800 kHz are clear and crisp and offer an excellent view of what’s going on around your boat.
Both transducer options (Active Imaging 3-in-1 and Xsonic Bronze HDI XDCR) offer imaging. The biggest difference is that the Xsonic Bronze only offers DownScan, while Active Imaging 3-in-1 provides both DownScan and SideScan.
I don’t do as much deep-water fishing as I do shallow-water fishing, and I’m rarely ever looking for thru-hull transducers on my boats. For me, the Active Imaging 3-in-1 transducer is the obvious choice—for others, the Xsonic Bronze will do nicely. Both offer up to 800 kHz imaging, so your down imaging will be great either way.
The split screen on the GO9 XSE works nicely with the imaging functions; I often like to pair SideScan or DownScan with traditional sonar and another app like radar. Play with the different color palettes, find the one that makes fish and structure stand out to you, and go scouting for your next fishing spot.
Between the adjustable split-screen views and the transducers, I’m a big fan of the imaging Simrad has to offer here. Not the flashiest, not the most powerful—but it’s reliable, easy to use, and accurate.
The Simrad GO9 XSE offers excellent mapping compatibility and features; it’s one of the unit's strongest points. Some of the things I love about the mapping on this unit are:
Together, these mapping features, along with other features like C-MAP Easy Routing, make getting around a breeze with this unit. You can use the GO9 XSE along with optional accessories to improve fuel efficiency, utilize Simrad autopilot to get from place to place, and much more.
Simrad also makes it easy to set waypoints, make routes and tracks, etc., and that’s true whether you’re using C-MAP or any other type of map compatible with the GO9 XSE.
I could probably write a whole review of the mapping and charting functions on the Simrad GO9 XSE, but we’ll keep the rest of this section brief. The one main disadvantage to the mapping and charting on this unit is that C-MAP Genesis, Navico’s contour charting tool, is not built into the GO9. You can, however, export your sonar logs to use C-MAP Genesis on other electronic devices.
All in all, the mapping and charting features and compatibility on this device are excellent—it’s one of the things that the Simrad GO9 XSE does exceptionally well instead of just solidly okay.
Another thing that the Simrad GO9 XSE does exceptionally well rather than solidly is networking. Here are some of the connections that Simrad offers on the device:
Those are a lot of networking options, making the GO9 XSE an excellent central axis for a hub of devices. The industry standard NMEA 2000 port means you can connect to a bunch of different marine devices like radar. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth make it easy to connect to a compatible smartphone or other portable device—and you can mirror your fish finder on that device, meaning you can bring the GO9 XSE with you anywhere on your boat.
While I’ve seen some fish finders with more networking features (the Axiom series from Raymarine comes to mind), the GO9 still sits head and shoulders above most of its competition. Very well done!
Almost every element of this fish finder was carefully considered. Simrad packs everything in eco-friendly materials, including plastic that degrades completely in water. I love that a company that manufactures marine technologies clearly cares about its impact on our rivers and oceans.
The device also comes with a handy sun cover—great for if you leave your fish finder out in the sun!
As for other features on the device, they’re largely dependent on the accessories you purchase. From AIS messages to sharing information between devices and a whole lot more, most of the features on this fish finder are accessory-driven. Plug in your devices, play around, and you’ll find useful new features to play with!
The GO9 XSE is an excellent fish finder for anyone looking to catch more fish, all while connecting to a wide variety of devices. Its compatibility with thru-hull low CHIRP transducers, coupled with its excellent charting and radar compatibility, make it an excellent choice for saltwater fishing.
When you tally up all the advantages of the GO9—its affordability, well-thought-out, solid features, and everything else we’ve talked about—you get an excellent fish finder. While it’s not the most powerful or feature-dense unit I’ve ever used, it strikes an excellent balance, and I think it will be perfect for a lot of saltwater anglers.
And that’s it for our Simrad GO9 XSE review! Go out there and catch some fish.
