Fishfinder help

[Shloim]

Need help with choosing a fish finder for my new kayak. Want to keep it as reasonable as possible but not at the sacrifice of any options. Not sure if colour is necessary, or go B&W and get more options... I'd like to stay under $300. They all look good and I've never owned one before

[porkpie]

For a kayak the lowrance elite 4 would be just about perfect. Last I saw bass pro was clearing out the old model for $120. They might be all gone by now, but there is an updated version for more $. It's a small compact colour fishfinder that would be ideal for a kayak. In my opinion, colour is a must these days. The price has come down significantly, and the difference is definitely worth it! Sure monochrome works fine, but the colour screen is awesome!

[skdds]

Got one of those for my kayak..will see how goes this year..seems to have gotten a lot of good reviews too!

[BillM]

Got one of those for my kayak..will see how goes this year..seems to have gotten a lot of good reviews too!

 

Unless you're using it on the ice, search for threads... Nothing but complaints, lol.... Personally I'd stick with Humminbird.. Turn it on and fish, no setup required.

[aplumma]

Color is a must and the brand you want is the one you are comfortable operating. All of the major brands have the love/hate reviews from people I personally am a Lowrance user but it is because it is the one I am comfortable with.

 

Art

[porkpie]

Color is a must and the brand you want is the one you are comfortable operating. All of the major brands have the love/hate reviews from people I personally am a Lowrance user but it is because it is the one I am comfortable with.

 

Art

That's a fact!! I am a humminbird guy these days but have seen the elite series both 4/5 and 7 in friends boats. They seem to work just fine! I have owned both brands over the years, and humminbird used to be junk, but they sure have pulled their socks up, I am very happy with my bird, but lowrance makes a great product too! Edited April 17, 2014 by porkpie

[Shloim]

Ok so I'm ok with lowrance and there are several elite 4 units. $119.00 elite 4 , $169 elite 4 HDI and $ 199 with down scan imaging. Are the urpgraded models worth it? Am I going to regret not spending the extra $80 for the life of the unit ?

[Lape0019]

How deep do you plan on fishing. the HDI has both 2d and down imaging but if you never go into water deaper than 15 feet, I really don;t see the need for DI.

[skdds]

When making this decision for my kayak I spoke with a hobie tech at the company. Apparently DSI alone is somewhat limiting in scope compared to the combo approach known as HDI now. I can't say if I wasted any $ until I've tried it, but it seems the Elite 4 HDI/Gold is worth the money when considering the sum of the features available vs separate purchase of the navionics chip alone. They seem to be selling fast around the GTA lately as well. I have always used a basic hummingbird portable and caught fish though!. I've been wanting to upgrade for a while now anyway. Although I likely wont be traveling as far on my kayak, I once got lost in a 9.9 rental so I've been thinking about a GPS unit of sorts for a while. I could use my phone too probably but like to keep that for emergencies. I also guess it depends on how much you want to involve electronics for finding fish and structure on your trips. -skdds

Edited April 18, 2014 by skdds

[Shloim]

Thanks for the information. The folks on this board are great people! Anyway If I'm going to spend the much, I'd like the option to transport the unit from my yak to other boats as well. Not so hard to do I don't think.... So I want to ask some yak specific questions. With the transducer is yours mounted in the hull or off the side on a mount? My boat has a rail built in so either option is open to me. From what I understand many guys are doing this twice or more befor they get it right. I'd like to avoid that. And I do like the cleanness of the internal mount. I'm just worried it will somehow decrease the effectiveness of it or something.

[SirCranksalot]

Color is a must .

 

Art

 

I understand that colour units chew up batteries a lot faster. I use a little B & w unit for my canoe and ice fishing. Based on the few times I've seen a colour unit in operation, they didn't seem to add much more info. What advantages do you see over B & W?

thx

[manitoubass2]

 

I understand that colour units chew up batteries a lot faster. I use a little B & w unit for my canoe and ice fishing. Based on the few times I've seen a colour unit in operation, they didn't seem to add much more info. What advantages do you see over B & W?

thx

on my unit i only charged it a few times all winter and i was out 50-60 times. I'm an electronics newbie though, perhaps they chew more battery when your moving??? I know one thing i like about color is you can see fish right to the bottom. With me pops old black and white unit you cant mark fish right to bottom, but it's an older hummingbird, maybe there a lot better now?

[aplumma]

 

I understand that colour units chew up batteries a lot faster. I use a little B & w unit for my canoe and ice fishing. Based on the few times I've seen a colour unit in operation, they didn't seem to add much more info. What advantages do you see over B & W?

thx

Here is a link that will help you see what you are missing http://www.defender.com/html/fishfinder_info.html . I found this information years a go and it allowed me to figure out what is going on in the water under the boat. I have since gone on to using the Lowrance structure scan or lss1 system and some days we will scout areas for hours with the system looking at what is under the boat. Once you get the hang of it you can customize the settings and fine tune it for a wealth of information.

 

If you have any specific questions I would be happy to answer them.

 

 

Art

[Raf]

the greyscale units are more than fine. there isn't anything a colour unit will show that you cannot see with a greyscale one. bottom composition, schools of baitfish, game fish, etc. the color units may be more easier to grasp at a glance.

what is more important is pixel count. this will determine how detailed and the level of separation between what you see is. ie. show you fish on the bottom

as far as downscan, i have not used it but it is NOT a replacement for traditional sonar. do not get a DSI only unit as your only graph.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Raf

[aplumma]

While grayscale will work the color units can show contrast better and allow you to tune the gain down to the point of getting only the reflections of what you are looking for. When the fish are on the rocks you can tune down and get bottom readings from hard surfaces only. If you are looking for soft bottoms or weeds you can turn the gain up till the weeds show blue and rock is red so finding weedline edges is easy. Differentiating between fish and debris in the water column has always been an issue but with color you can adjust the gain to show the swim bladders as blue and the other debris will show red if it is wood or harder substances. The grayscale tends to wash out the details in sunlight and it is harder to see with the glare on the water in some cases. Downscan is as with everything a two edged sword the detail it gives you is excellent but you have to know how to read it. If you fish deep water over 100 ft then the signal is not as strong as the lower frequency units which gives a stronger ping but shows less detail. All of these things add up to it being a useful tool while fishing to help you find the environment that the fish prefer to be at. With the help you have the ability to eliminate a lot of unproductive water quickly.

 

 

Art