Portable Fishfinders

[solopaddler]

If you read my post on the back lake trip you'll know my old portable died last weekend. After looking at prices it's just not worth putting money into a new transducer for this old relic when new units are so cheap.

Not looking for anything fancy or expensive, all I ever use the portable for is usually marking the depth.....

The most readily available portable units (at least to me) are the Eagle Cuda168, the Eagle Fisheasy245DS, and the Humminbird Piranhas. All are in and around 200 bucks give or take.

It would be used strictly on fly in trips, canoe trips and back lake fishing.

So.....can anyone out there reccomend one over the other?

I'm headed north again on Sat. and need to grab one sometime this week.

[PHISHY!]

Not sure about the first two but I've had my Pirhana for about 3 years. I've used it on many canoe trips and also at cottages. I think it's been pretty good. It has all the same features that I had on my 16' tracker. Only down side is that the suction comes off easily if you troll over 10 mph. Other than that, I love it and will be using it all next week at Sand Lake!

Edited August 7, 2007 by PHISHY!

[solopaddler]

Thanks for the input!

[fishindevil]

Well out of those units you mentioned the eagle,which is lowrance anyway the fish-easy is a good unit and has alot more options,and for the price is a very good unit lots of power,and perfect for the smaller kawartha type lakes its great ,and if it ever dies or you have any probs,the lowrance head office is in missisauga ontario,and they are very easy to deal with so i have never owned anything other than eagle and lowrance,and speak with experience,so trust me go with the fish-easy great unit....good-luck cheers

[solopaddler]

Well out of those units you mentioned the eagle,which is lowrance anyway the fish-easy is a good unit and has alot more options,and for the price is a very good unit lots of power,and perfect for the smaller kawartha type lakes its great ,and if it ever dies or you have any probs,the lowrance head office is in missisauga ontario,and they are very easy to deal with so i have never owned anything other than eagle and lowrance,and speak with experience,so trust me go with the fish-easy great unit....good-luck cheers

 

It's a bit more coin than the others, around $220 at lebarons. Thanks for the feedback I'll take a close look at it when I'm there on Thursday.

 

cheers

[kuhaman]

I've used a piranha max 15 for the last few years,Its a good unit but the suction cup wont handle high speed(10mph+). Other than that I have no complaints.

[solopaddler]

I've used a piranha max 15 for the last few years,Its a good unit but the suction cup wont handle high speed(10mph+). Other than that I have no complaints.

 

That's 2 out of 3 responses saying the Humminbird's suction cup, well, sucks .

Guess I'll take a real close look at Eagle.

[kuhaman]

A good friend of mine had an eagle. He was up north fishn in a rental boat with a 9.9, he left his transducer in the water while he was movin from spot to spot and the suction cup fell off at full throttle. He lost the transducer and almost his fishfinder. I think you'll have the same problem with almost any portable

[DebS]

Hi Mike,

I have the Eagle Cuda 168 & it's been great. I've never had a problem with the suction cup coming off, even at high speeds and on a rental boat. For the price, I think it's a really good unit - not fancy, but all the basics that I need!

DebS

[solopaddler]

Hi Mike,

I have the Eagle Cuda 168 & it's been great. I've never had a problem with the suction cup coming off, even at high speeds and on a rental boat. For the price, I think it's a really good unit - not fancy, but all the basics that I need!

DebS

 

Thanks Deb

[Green]

Had the same problem with the suction cup on my Garmin portable. When you are at high speeds the suction cup would fly off.

I bought myself a tite-lok transducer holder which solved the problem.

http://www.titelok.com/product_info.php?cP...products_id=123

 

Anyone know if Eagle is coming out with portable newer than the current 320 model they have?

[Aaron Shirley]

TonyB and I have enjoyed our Humminbird portable units... actually, mine is a nice colour unit that lives on the bow of my big ProV most of the time. It easily snaps off and snaps into the portable case to use with my 12' boat or on the ice to serve 3 purposes, and it works great.

 

I agree with the Tite Lok... this is the best option... any sonar brand suction cup will fall off unless the boat is new or has a perfect surface. They have them at LeBarons:

Tite Lok High Speed Transducer Mount

 

Cheers,

 

Aaron

[camillj]

That's 2 out of 3 responses saying the Humminbird's suction cup, well, sucks .

Guess I'll take a real close look at Eagle.

 

 

The suction cup is always going to be an issue ... no matters who's you use ... thats why they make a portable transducer mount (it hangs of a clamp on the back of the boat .. work like a charm and can be raised out of the water for 'running'

 

They sell the clamps at Le B and at BPS ... around 35$ but worth every cent IMHO ... pretty easy to attach ANYONES transducer to it...

 

 

EDIT ... yep always better if you read ALL the posts first

Edited August 8, 2007 by camillj

[fishnsled]

I have an old Humminbird that was great in it's day but the transducer died for the second time and I won't be replacing it. On our fly in earlier this year I borrowed my brother's Cuda and it worked great! It's less then half the weight of my old unit and the AA batteries lasted the entire trip. It's on my Christmas list for this year.

 

 

 

 

Edit - I should mention that I used a piece of wood and mounted the transducer to that. Then used a C clamp to hold it on the transom. Worked like a charm and didn't cost me anything as I had the materials around.

Edited August 8, 2007 by fishnsled

[douG]

I got a brand new FishEasy 245DS for the best price possible ( free! ) a few months ago. The only downside was the mount for the transducer, as the unit was shipped with the transom mount bracket. I debated over whether to buy a high speed mount for $50 or so, make one with scrap lumber or tubing, or just buy the suction cup for $9.95. I gave the cup a try on my fly in trip last month.

 

The transducer fell off once, but I wasn't worried about it as it came with a lanyard that I tied to the transom. Me bruvvah uses a cup mount and I've never seen his xducer fall off.

 

As far as operation of the sonar goes, it was a no brainer. We easily marked bottom structure and fish in 100 fow.

[solopaddler]

Wow, awesome responses guys, thanks!

As far as the tite-lock bracket goes, I use one on my 16' aluminum at the cottage. I totally agree, they work great.

Probably will just go with the suction cup though as this unit as mentioned will be used for canoe trips, fly in trips, etc., where weight and bulk is a factor.

 

cheers