The Furuno FCV627 dual frequency color fish finder is the latest incarnation of this mid-level Furuno sounder. Like its siblings, it retains a rotary knob for gain control. A top feature found on few recreational fishfinders these days.
In our opinion, using a rotary knob to make quick and fine adjustments to the fishfinder gain is a necessity for maximizing usefulness of this machine. This feature is normally only found in much more expensive sounders.
Furuno FCV-627 Fish Finder
The FCV-627 display unit front face measures both 6.7-inches high and wide. The unit thickness is approximately 4-inches with about half that distance located in front of the panel in a flush mount situation.
The Furuno FCV627 fish finder package includes the display unit, power cable, flush mounting template, operator’s manual, single-page quick reference guide in English as well as 14 other languages, a brawny rotating single stanchion mounting bracket, and hardware to flush mount the display if you so desire.
All essential electronics are located internally in the display unit. The only remaining component needed for use is a transducer.
Several transducer options are available ranging from transom-mount units with water temperature sensing to a bronze thru-hull unit with both water temperature and speed sensors.
For our on the water testing we mounted the display using the accompanying bracket and found that it held the display unit securely in both the vertical and horizontal axis.
A pair of ports on the case back connects to the power and transducer cables using twist-lock connectors. A single ground wire connection is located on the unit back as well. This fish finder can interface with other NMEA0183 devices. One thing lacking is a NMEA2000 interface.
Screen Size and Viewability
The Furuno FCV627 has a color LCD screen measuring nearly 4.5-inches high and just over 3-inches wide. On the diagonal we measured the portrait layout screen at 5.7 inches. Screen resolution is 640 pixels vertically and 480 pixels on the horizontal plane, this is a doubling of resolution from its FCV-620 predecessor.
The display screen was bright and sharp and showed good contrast. The screen does exhibit some reflectivity. I gave it an excellent rating for daytime viewability.
A quick press of the on/off pushbutton brings up the brightness and contrast menu onscreen. Each can be adjusted to one of 10 levels.
On The Water Performance 
Here is a screenshot of the Furuno FCV627 over a wreck. Top line data indicates the unit is in automatic gain, fishing mode, with both low and high frequency displayed, and boat electrical system voltage shown as well.
You can see the wide beam of the 50 kHz pulse on the left side of the screen. Its wider beam width picked up more fish around the wreck and more of the edges of the steel hull. Fish arches also paint well at this frequency.
The 200 kHz display on the right has a narrower beam which in this case missed some of our targets. Fish arches do not display well at this frequency.
As you can see on the A-scope display in the right the high frequency beam width at 100 feet is less than 9 feet.
Controls and Operation
On the right side of the front face you will find pushbutton and rotary knob controls. The main menu is reached with a press of the Menu/Esc key. Selections are made with the cursor pad arrows accepted and executed with a press of the Enter key.
Next down you will find the Range button, a press here brings up the depth range menu box and allows the user to choose between automatic or manual. Choosing manual mode makes eight user adjustable range selections appear for your selection.
If you connect the Furuno FCV627 to a GPS sensor the mark button will save a waypoint when pressed. We did not test this feature.
The rotary gain control knob is in the lower portion of the right side and allows the user to switch between two automatic gain settings, fishing or cruising, or make manual gain changes as desired. Manual gain is adjusted by rotating the knob, the current level is displayed in the header line at the top of the screen.
The bottom knob lets you choose one of seven different modes of operation. Here you can select one of two navigation data displays, full-screen high frequency, full-screen low frequency, either of the preceding two with zoom, as well as a dual frequency mode. Whenever a new mode is selected on the Furuno FCV627 a mode menu pops up onscreen for several seconds indicating the new mode.
Furuno FCV627 Specifications
| Power (Watts RMS) | 600 |
| Frequency (kHz) | 50 / 200 |
| Transducer Used for Test | Airmar Transom Mount |
| Auto Depth Ranging | Yes |
| Manual Depth Ranging | Yes – 8 steps |
| Gain | Auto(2) / Manual |
| Zoom | Yes |
| Bottom Lock | Yes |
| A-Scope | Yes |
| Shift | Yes |
| Waterproof | IP56 |
| Warranty Period (Years) | (2)Parts / (2)Labor |
Functions and Features
Some notable features on the Furuno FCV627 are A-scope, Shift, user selectable zoom, adjustable picture advance speed, variable depth display number size, a variety of color palettes, and user selectable data boxes.
A-scope can be turned off, to normal, or to peak. Peak mode leaves a trail in the A-scope column on the right side of the screen for several seconds to assist in tracking weak echo signals.
Zoom mode selection is accessed through the sounder menu and can be set to bottom lock, bottom zoom, or maker zoom. Bottom lock range can be set to between 10 and 30 feet.
Picture advance can be set to one of eight speeds ranging from stopped to 4 times the ping rate. For our testing we used the 1/1 speed setting which writes one column of pixels for each ping of the sounder.
The display screen color palette can be set to white, blue, black, monochrome, or night. We used the default white for our daytime testing because it provided the brightest screen which matched up well with the bright sunny test conditions we encountered.
Up to two data boxes can be displayed onscreen, data points are user selectable.
A header line displayed at the top of the screen indicates the gain mode, range mode, and operational mode selected. When in manual gain the actual gain setting is displayed too. If battery voltage is turned on is shown here too which we had displayed during our testing. The header line can turned on or off as desired.
A calibration page allows the user to fine tune several inputs and settings. You can set your vessel draft here, increase or decrease the baseline auto gain settings, and fine-tune the water temperature and boat speed displayed. All of these types of adjustments are valuable in fine-tuning the FCV-627 to your boat and your preferences.
Two New 627 Features
Two new feature appear in the Furuno FCV627, Accu-Fish and bottom discrimination. When this fishfinder is coupled up with a compatible Furuno transducer selecting Accu-Fish will display your choice of fish symbols and associated data. Four symbol styles are available with two offering differentiation between fish sizes. The user can choose to display water depth or fish size numerically beside the fish symbols.
The bottom discrimination mode analyzes the bottom echo return data to determine bottom composition. One of four types will be shown, mud, sand, gravel, or rock. You can display this data in graphic or probability mode. Bottom discrimination works in water between 16 and 328 feet deep and speeds under 10 knots.
Buy this Furuno fishfinder here.
Final Thoughts
The Furuno FCV627 has a bright, high resolution display screen as well as a number of functions and features not generally found on a mid-priced recreational fishfinder. Make sure when you order this unit you add a transducer appropriate for your boat and usage.