NorthWest Kayak Anglers

Kayak Fishing => Product Discussions => Topic started by: dampainter on February 19, 2022, 06:00:19 PM

Title: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: dampainter on February 19, 2022, 06:00:19 PM

my lowrance hdi finally crapped out on me, it had gps maps built into it. looking to replace it with ??? any recommendations??
 

Title: Re: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: dampainter on February 20, 2022, 09:03:57 AM

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Title: Re: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: dampainter on February 20, 2022, 09:10:48 AM

Or one of these??

Title: Re: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: dampainter on February 20, 2022, 09:13:16 AM

am shooting thru hull which i understand makes a side view unit(which i don`t think i need?) not doable?

Title: Re: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: Nobaddays on February 20, 2022, 10:00:58 AM

I switched from Lowrance to Garmin a few years ago and have found them to be way more user friendly and I have been very happy with them overall.  I went with the Garmin Striker 7plus SV.  The striker doesn’t have the built in maps.  I believe the Echomap version does.  I also have the striker 4 plus on one of my other kayaks.  Overall, I really have liked the Garmin.

Title: Re: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: Drifter2007 on February 20, 2022, 11:04:44 AM

I have the Hummingbird Helix 5. I bought the navionics chip for it for mapping. I have been pretty happy other the Hummingbird power cable issues which are a constant hassle. I think my next one will be a Garmin.

Title: Re: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: Klondike Kid on February 20, 2022, 12:56:04 PM

Like nobaddays, I've got a Garmin Striker 5DV as my primary and a Striker 4 as a backup spare back in the truck. Neither has maps but I always run my Marine charts and Lake maps on iBoating on my tablet and have it on my phone too as a secondary backup. Both FFs have GPS and all the features for tracking, saving your tracks, creating routes, waypoints, etc. I've run the 5DV for 13 hours non-stop and my 8aH battery was still at 12.3v.

I will attest to the impressive sonar resolution of the Striker 5DV from a trip last summer. Anchored in 25 feet of water on a lake in dead calm conditions fishing salmon roe for arctic char. I was changing to fresh bait and dropped a single egg in the water about the size of a BB gun bb. 0.177"  Shortly the egg showed in the transducer cone about 5 feet under the boat. I watched that single egg drift to the bottom of the lake 25 feet down. From that day on I was pretty much assured that if I wasn't seeing any fish on the finder, there really wasn't any fish down there. And that was shooting through the Lowrance-ready plate on the hull.

I would say that having GPS and waypoint creation on any brand of FF is the most valuable feature bar none. Whether you are trolling/drifting or just stop at a spot that has a great bite, being able to return to that location is paramount to repeating success.....well, uh, most of the time.

I like running my charts, salt and fresh, on a separate device - actually both my cell and tab have it when on the boat. If my FF ever dies, I still have full navigation and charting and even my track to follow back home if needed.

Title: Re: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: BentRod on February 20, 2022, 09:11:32 PM

I've got the Humminbird Helix 5 G2 GPS DI with Navionics maps.  Really like it. 

Title: Re: whats ur fish finder?
Post by: dampainter on February 21, 2022, 09:10:45 AM

thanks for replies, appreciated! ......am going with a garmin echomap uhd 64cv with coast mapping. just ordered!