Raymarine DSM25
Black Box Sounder Review

Raymarine DSM25 black box sounder designed for use with the Raymarine A60 or A65. This 500-watt sounder is housed in a box approximately 8-inches by 5-inches with a depth of 2-inches.

The black box, actually this one is grey, must be mounted on a bulkhead or deck area near the display unit as the connection cable length is limited just over 11 feet. Longer connection cables can be purchased.

Raymarine DSM25

The unit is waterproof to IPX7 standards meaning it could be submerged to 1 meter for 30 minutes without damage.

We tested the DSM25 using both the A60 and A65 plotters in two different test sessions using the classic white color palette. Several other colors are user selectable.

This module is a full-capability black box and gives both Raymarine chartplotter units sounder qualities and features normally only found on a much more expensive fishfinder.

Standard features include auto and manual depth ranging, zoom, bottom lock, and water temperature.

Some of the more exotic features are 3-mode full-color A-scope, four-function zoom, adjustable range bottom lock and shift, and a rotary knob for gain control.

That last one is rare on black box units coupled to a chartplotter display. Gain has 3 auto settings as well as a manual range of 0 to 100.

This is a screen shot of DSM25 data presented on a Raymarine A60 display unit. Though the A60 does not have a very high resolution display screen we still rated sounder data presentation good because of how well it marked our targets.

Here is a screen shot of DSM25 information displayed on a high resolution Raymarine A65. We rated the presentation excellent when the DSM25 was coupled to this chartplotter.

Zoom on the DSM25 is very capable with 2X, 3X, 4X, and user adjustable options. Bottom lock is also user adjustable in depth and presentation.

Sounder data can be displayed full screen or in a variety of split screen combinations. During our testing the DSM25 marked all three of the submerged targets we placed in the water fairly well in auto gain. However, fine tuning the image using the manual gain adjustment knob improved the view significantly.

Over 20 sounder tasks and adjustments are provided through page specific soft keys functionality. A whole slew of additional features are accessed through the sounder menu, which can be line selected from the main menu.

Raymarine DSM25 Specifications

Easy access and operation of the most used sounder functions earned both the Raymarine A60 and DSM25 combination, and the Raymarine A65 and DSM25 combo an excellent sounder usage rating.

We really like the fact that gain can be adjusted with the rotary knob with the chartplotters coupled to the Raymarine DSM25. Overall we'd rate this sounder excellent for presentation on the A65 because of its high resolution screen and good on the A60.