Magnetic Transducer Mount Review

Hey everyone I just wanted to review the magnetic transducer mount I bought from fishfindermounts.com.
I purchased the 15mm size which is the stronger of the two. I took it paddling and noticed a few things.
The first is that it does make some noise going through the water which can be annoying, but nothing thats horrible. It increases drag just a tiny bit, when I didnt have my rudder down I would need a correction stroke every so often.
It seems to hold well but you need to be mindful of where you place it as to not hit it with your paddle (Hobie guys need not worry).

Pros:
-Easy to install
-Can be mounted in variety of spots
-transducer is in the water so accurate water temp readings (as opposed to thru-hull)
-Seems durable

Cons:
-kinda loud
-could be more hydrodynamic
-WATCH YOUR FINGERS (gave myself a nasty little blood blister)
-a little expensive

If anyone has any questions about this feel free to ask.

Is it strong enough to cling to your rudder blade? 

This would reduce some of the noise, the sideways drag, the precise paddle stroke needed to avoid hitting it, and having a goofy looking doohicky hanging off the side of your kayak. 

I looked at those when they first came out, and considered going that route briefly. 
Cost was the biggest negative for me then, probably not as big of deal now as I have spent lots of money between  my few kayaks, rerigging to suit my new needs each year. 

Move it around and see if there are better locations to have it that may work out better for you.

My experience with magnetic mounts is that they are an all-or-nothing item.  Then work fine as long as they stay attached, but if you bump them, they can fall off.  For example, I have mounted a Showdown ice fishing fish finder in a 30 caliber ammo can, and attach the fish finder head to the top of the ammo can with a large and strong magnet.  It's a good setup, except that I knock the head off the ammo can pretty frequently when taking it in and out of sleds while moving from place to place on the ice.

How strong is the magnet, and how hard is it to knock the transducer off the side of your kayak?  If you knock the mount off the outside of your kayak, it'll remain attached by its cable, so you can stick it back on your kayak if the inside magnet stays in place.  If the inside magnet isn't attached to the inside of your kayak, when you knock the mount off the outside of your kayak, the inside magnet will slide down onto the bottom of your kayak.  And while you're on the water in a sit-on-top kayak, it may be difficult to reach inside the kayak to hold the inside magnet in place while simultaneously setting the transducer mount in place on the outside of your kayak.  You could prevent this problem from occurring by duct taping the inside magnet to the inside of your kayak.

The magnets in the Fishfinder mounts set up are the rare earth Neodymium magnets. When I metal detected for gold nuggets I placed just one of these magnets on the head of my pick to drag ferrous metals out of the hole; they are amazingly strong. I've bought several from these folks http://www.kjmagnetics.com/ to get an idea of how strong they are visit this page to get the scientific information: http://www.kjmagnetics.com/neomaginfo.asp

I've used the magnetic transducer mounts for some time now. Unless you hold one side and twist the other 90 degrees, they are very hard to bump off or intentionally remove. I've been through weed patches and collected stuff hanging off the transducer, but it has not yet popped off because of lack of magnetic pull.
I had not thought about duct taping the inner magnet to the hull. That would be cheap insurance; but so far not needed.

As far as I can tell there is no discernible drag created by the transducer hanging off the side of the boat. I've used mine on a sit inside Dagger Axis 12.0 which is 27 1/2 inches wide, a sit on top Old Town Predator at 33 1/2 inches wide and a 12' Gregor aluminum powerboat. The boat that has the best glide is the Dagger; with the transducer in the water, the boat does not veer off because of the small amount of drag caused by the transducer.

Bear in mind, the transducer and its mounting arm are the only part in the water, the magnet part of the outfit is above the water line. I suppose some transducers are more streamline than others, so I'll mention my findings are based on the transducer from the Lowrance Elite-4HDI.

I'm quite pleased with the mount and how well it works. It also makes my set up very portable. I just ordered a strap version to add my FF to the new pontoon boat. The mag mount will I'm sure be used on my new kayak and other boats as the need arises.