20 Best Depth Finder For Kayak (2023 Updated)

First, installation was a bit of a pain but it ended up great. I power it with a 20V 2ah DeWalt battery and it works just fine even if they do not recommand it. Lasts about 8 hours. I was not gonna carry a super heavy lead-acid battery in a kayak that is already loaded with camping gear.

Being that I do a lot of kayak camping-fishing trips on large water bodies having a GPS/tracker was a must for me. Just got back from a trip and that feature has been great for not getting lost in difficult situations.

The user frendliness reminded me of an old Garmin GPS, not great. Far from Google map. Menus are a little difficult to get used to but. Contour mapping is nice. Sonar is great and powerfull. Could follow my jig all the way down 150′ of water easy.

So far Clearview has been useless. You can not see any fishes on that mode. Wich is the point of a ”fish finder”. Split screen is awesome. Another con is that when you need to bring it inside your house to add waypoints or else you will need an extra power cord at $50, Ouch! So all in all it is very good but I could have done without the extra cost of CV.

Happy fishing.

I installed this on my 13 foot boat for Gulf coast creeks and shallow water fishing. The chart for this device is like a blank sheet of paper, it does not have land, water or navigation markers. The only information the chart will display is where you have been, the depth contours that your device recorded or from the Garmin Active Captain application which shares depth contours from other users.

I use my cellphone apps such as Google Maps and Navionics for the big picture if I am in unfamiliar areas. Depth and voltage alarms are very handy. The fish-finder display options are as detailed as most inshore fishing could require.

The screen size is the smallest I would use on any boat, easy to see and interpret at a glance while moving. Very satisfied.

I have a small 12’ rowboat and this is my first ever fish finder. Mounted this unit on an ammo can and the transponder on the trolling motor. Would be nice if it had the option to add a battery to make this a package.

I’ve had the unit on the water for a total of about five hours. Improved instructions and the ability to have a tutorial mode to learn the unit before I hit the water would be helpful. The unit is pretty user intuitive once you spend the time to get familiar with where things are located.

It took me about 20 minutes to get the QuickDraw contours feature to work. Deepest water I was in was about 20feet. I could easily follow my jig, as I raised and lowered it, on the screen. The one thing I did notice is that the lake I was on has two small islands, larger of the two would be approximately 20’ x 40’, while using the quick draw feature it did not show a land mass or show a blank area on the map.

The islands are nonexistent and on the display are really under two feet of water even though I could beach my boat and have a picnic without getting soggy sandwiches. The screen was easily viewed with a straight on look giving it the best brightest clear view.

From the side the screen seemed dull. The cord on the transducer is about 20’ long while the power cord is only 3’. This isn’t a big deal for me since I’ve got the battery in and unit mounted on an ammo box.

Just thought it was worth mentioning. Mounting the transponder on the back of my little rowboat would not work due to the riveted seam sticking out. If it were shimmed out with treated plywood I could have probably made it work but then the transponder would be permanently mounted on the boat with the wire exposed to all Mother Nature fury.

My boat is parked outside. Overall this unit is exactly what I expected to get. I still need to play around with it and continue to understand all the features and options it can do to improve my fishing trips but I’m pretty satisfied and would definitely buy it again.

What would make this a five star review would be: the addition of a small tube of marine chalk for transom mounting of the transponder. Longer power cord Battery option package Case option like the striker cv4 package Better instructions Tutorial mode.

I’ve owned the striker 5 ice fishing bundle for one year now and use it year round (using a separate transducer during the summer). I’m thankful that I did my research and compared all the different units before buying this.

It saved me a lot of money for a boatload of features that cost way more money with other brands. -quickdraw mapping with something like 2M hectars of storage space (this is only in the summer) -a basic GPS for saving tracks and waypoints -you can run the flasher and split the screen with another feature (for that matter you can separate the screen with up to 3 different settings) I often use the flasher and tradition sonar together while icefishing -the battery lasts me multiple trips onto the water, I’m never worried about it losing power and if I do stretch its life a little far I just turn down the brightness and that adds another hour or more.

-the case is rugged -it has CV so thats an added bonus if you use this unit during the summer DOWNSIDES -you cant upgrade the GPS to have maps -you cant download any software so it could support SV This is the unit to buy if you’re on a budget.

Summer and winter, this thing goes with me on every outing.

UPDATE: I tried to update my previous 5 star review but it wouldn’t let me. I’m updating to 3 stars because following installation I discovered that GPS feature does not come with any maps/charts nor can any be uploaded.

Very disappointing. 7SV will generate its own maps and waypoints can be set but there is no land reference on the screen. Why it is designed this way I do not know. I would return it for a different model but by the time I installed it, it was too late to return.

Other than no maps, the 7SV works fine. IE: The GPS pic (lower left on screen) is what it actually looks like in real life. Make sure you read all the details and know what you are getting prior to ordering any of the SV models.

I was looking for a small, portable fish finder that I could use for both ice fishing in the winter and in my kayak in the summer. I was also looking for a reasonable price. I don’t fish enough to justify a top-of-the-line unit.

The Striker 4 portable fit the bill perfectly. It comes complete with everything you need. I am impressed with the build quality and engineering. My vision is poor, so I was a little worried about a 4” screen.

No problem, I can see it fine. I love the feature set- everything I need and more. Some reviewers didn’t like the fact that you can’t upload lake maps and there is no memory card slot. I fish on small local lakes and don’t need that.

The CHIRP sonar is definitely worth getting. It gives you a good picture in all depths. Pros: • Great product for the price, full featured comes with everything you need to start fishing. • Quality build and design • Since Garmin’s core product is GPS units, they include it on everything.

Unusual at this price point. Cons: A couple of little nits to pick, hence the 4 stars instead of 5. • The documentation is very poor. I am a total newbie to fish finders and really needed a more thorough manual.

I suspect they assume a certain amount of background knowledge which I do not possess. I ended up watching a few Youtube videos made by other Striker 4 owners. • The float that holds the transducer for ice fishing could use some kind of adjuster.

They tell you to tie the cable around it, but I would like something more precise, so I rigged up a stop made out of wood. • The battery and charger use blade connectors, which are not very robust. They are likely to break over time.

I adapted a pair of alligator clips so I can easily connect the charger without disconnecting the battery. Overall I love the Striker 4 and would definitely recommend buying one.

I bought the Garmin Striker 4 for a few reasons. 1. Needed a portable Ice Fishing sonar to update an older unit. 2. I wanted a Flasher unit but cost was an issue. 3. Affordable on a very limited budget.

4. A unit I could use on different platforms. I came across this unit by a simple video search of what others were using. It didn’t take long to decide to look into the Garmin. I know they have a good brand, the cost was very reasonable (and on sale at the time of my purchase), and it had awesome features.

Dual Channel sonar of 77 & 200 Mhz and the Flasher Sonar so popular with advanced units I looked at but really out of my price range. I watched a few videos that demonstrated the features and the ease of use, they really showed me I couldn’t beat this unit for the price.

I know there are lots of options but for me I needed some I could set up easily and just fish! I purchased it and took it on a Ice Fishing trip in Feb 2021 and quickly set it up to find marks and within an hour of use I had my first catch! The sonar is easy to switch from, the controls and menus are straight forward, if you use other electronics is rather easy to navigate the menus.

The Flasher feature worked best when I fished alone. When I had a person fishing with me or close by, it was best to use the traditional sonar settings and easier to see which line in the water was mine verses the other.

Response is better than I expected, seeing my jig, seeing fish moving in and out of range, and seeing the movement of fish on the attack was so cool and exciting. I have fished without sonar and the day can drag out especially when they aren’t biting! But I guess when you are engaged with the screen and actively jigging the time doesn’t matter and you enjoy the hunt! LOL.

Just bought this for Ice Fishing. I’m not totally Techi on these things so it will take a bit of time to completely understand all the features and how to use them. I have used this 3 times now for Ice Fishing and no question you can see the Fish swimming to your Bait.

Kind of neat as you are prepared for the Bite. I must say the Clarity is fantastic for such a small screen. Price wise, great buy. my old Hummingbird uses the 6 volt batteries and that is a heavy cost for those batteries, I certainly prefer the chargeable battery with this unit.

Just a word of advise, after each use—recharge the battery—-and they even tell you to do that each time your use it.

It’s a hybrid of a Echomap series and GPS series chartplotter with the best sonar compatible features and has a large UHD screen with more pixels then the 9 inch echo maps for greater detail in maps and sonar returns.

Right away you can tell it’s a heavier duty build than the 7 and 9 series Echomap. This unit will not record livescope thru active Captain so beware if you think it’s the ultimate sonar machine. The LVS12 port is additional feature for live sonar but beware had had bad reviews and less popular than the LVS32 and don’t know if a LVS 12 data can be shared to a 93 unit I know my 93 unit has a LVS 12 simulation so why can’t it share LVS 12 data if the ultra does the software translation to the network.

I know Garmin could update software to allow better networking and sonar recording features but opt not to for marketing strategy and older Echomap plus is discontinued and updates have stopped so you can’t even get the new vivid colors I have though many picky comments for being invested into the Echomap series over $4000.

00 and you do find limits for your hardware and it’s software too. they will always be coming out with faster bigger and better units with improved performance so to get units on clearance is the only way I purchase my echomaps and good prices with free shipping and a gift card plus a promo is how to get the most amazing deals on this unit.

I recommend only buying the Echomap series on clearance because they are always onsale from a latest model coming out. The 93plus sv met all expectations for a live image sonar unit so the 106sv is a huge upgrade can’t wait to get my hands on a GT56 and look at those new color pallets and pray someday Garmin figures out how to live sonar record on the app for as on their GPS xsv series plotters.

So is it recommend for the professional angler yes it is ,for the you tuber wanting to record livescope no it’s not unless you go pro it up close. Clearance priced echo maps and free shipping is huge savings and the echo map series I have bought all my units for amazing cheap deals for the best live sonar and user friendly menus I have ever seen.

The force trolling compatible controls is one of the units best features for chartplotting a course and really does out more fish in the boat giving you more time to fish instead of driving. I was amazed at pre programming a course and the turns and really just sit back and fish while the Garmin networked Echomap does everything you would want in a Sonar/GPS navigation system.

Not recommend for ice fishing the power consumption is high and will chew thru batteries because all the processing features but could be used if increased the battery AH to accommodate the draw. Dual memory cards for mapping and memory.

Can see the faster map processing for sure zooming in and out with a 10hz receiver compared to the 5hz in the 7 and 9 series. 2 network ports can host a variety of networking options for other echomaps or panoptix transducers.

Only thing though my lake is not available on this and my first Echomap it was with lake vu us lakes You would think ultra maps would only improve a lakes detail. Not enough customer service on mapping and the Echomap support doesn’t clarify mapping.

4 screen split is a new option.

Fantastic unit, exceptional clarity/accuracy and works as it should. If you bought it boxing day you got a heck of a deal. I find It comedic that people are reviewing this badly. Considering the fact that if Cabela’s doesn’t have in stock how is that a reflection of the quality of the unit if anything that states really good as they can’t keep it in stock.

The other review with the gentleman complaining about how Manitoba Lakes aren’t there maybe should have read what was included in the map coverage so he knew ahead of time. Also, none of the Inland maps in any of the NavTronics or overly great.

You are way better off to use the mapping feature in this unit to make a more accurate underwater maps. That is also not specific to this unit, but any unit. Moral of the story is do your research before you buy any fish finder.

But if you are going to buy one, this is a good one.

I bought this 93SV with the GT56 transducer a couple of months ago to replace my broken Humminbird Onix. The Onix was HB’s top of the line model when I bought it, and worked well for me for many years.

The Garmin does have better side and down imaging, but I do not like the user interface as much as the HB. It is often confusing and not intuitive. HB does a much better job there, IMO. I also miss the ability to split the screen in 4 parts (3 is the max on the 93SV) so I can have Nav, down, side and 2d all on one screen.

I’ll get used to it over time, I’m sure. But it was not the big step up in tech I was thinking it would be. I’m glad I didn’t update just to update. I’m not sure the value would have been there from the Onix.

I recently had a warranty issue with my Elite Ti2. I called Lowrance and got a very nice person on the phone. We talked about the issues the unit was having and it was determined that I needed to return the unit to be tested.

I tracked the shipment, and the day it was received they tested it found it was bad and sent a new unit the same day. What else can you ask for? I have read a lot of nasty reviews and comments about Lowrance having bad customer service.

My personal experience has been has been great. I have owned Lowrance products for over 30 years. They have addressed every problem I’ve had over the years. I think some of the people that write nasty comments were probably just as nasty when they called Lowrance to begin with.

Be nice and work with the technician and they will take care of you. It’s always worked for me.

I bought this based on an in store demonstration where the fellow showed me active imaging. I was initially looking for a Ti2 7″ to mount to my bow to match the Elite Ti2 12″ on my console but they didn’t have any.

So this is what I bought based on the guy saying words to the effect of “This is what you can do with it” and showed me a demonstration of the live imaging. What he failed to say, or if he did say it, it was not clear, that I would need double the cost of the unit to buy the Lowrance ActiveTarget Live Sonar at an additional $1499.

00 plus tax. Lowrance owns some of this too, they use very techie descriptive but non-committed words to imply that the unit comes with everything you need but fails to state clearly that it you want the active imaging, whip out your wallet again.

So the reality is that I now use it with pretty much the same features as my Elite Ti2 12″ at a slightly higher price than I would have paid for a Elite Ti2 7″ but no active imaging, thus the 3 stars.

But In my mind, the way this is described by both Lowrance and BPS it was all deceptive. Perhaps it just the way of the world today but I expected more.

Fantastic electronics. It has made a tremendous difference in my fishing success. I have used it with great results for kokanee in the lakes, coho/chinook in the ocean as well as lingcod and rockfish.

Amazingly easy to use, especially with the touch screen interface. Watch a ton of YouTube videos on how to set up and tune your transducer for the best results for your fishing conditions. critical. Being able to see fish rise to hit your bait while troling or jigging gives you a huge edge.

I highly recomend this fish finder/gps. combo.

I just got this hooked up on my boat, not been on the water with it yet, but I do have a Helix 5 DI on the bow with a trolling motor mounted transducer that I ran last year. They are awesome graphs for the weekend fisherman.

They both have GPS and lake maps of the places I fish already loaded. The menu is simple enough and the graphics are CHIRP which provides a little more detail in the 2D sonar mode. Very nice graph for the money that would have cost a lot more when CHIRP first came out.

The down imaging (DI) is a plus to consider that would add another $50 – $75 to this model and Side Imaging (SI) on the Helix 5 would also be nice but those are a little more expensive as well. This unit as purchased provides a good GPS feature that you can upgrade with other mapping software, a very good 2D sonar image with CHIRP, at a price that very affordable.

Warning, the kit does not contain any screws, nuts, or bolts. I would recommend stainless steel fasteners. It does have the nimble mount but I also recommend a Ram mount on 1. 5 balls. Ram makes two mounts specifically for this graph, the 1.

5 inch is a sturdier mount. The transducer that comes with the kit is a transom mounted unit but if you want to mount to a trolling motor Humminbird will trade you transducers if you don’t open the sealed bag.

I purchased this unit for my pontoon boat. I wired it in myself, as I did for all of my instrumentation. Very easy only an idiot would have issues wiring it in properly. There were no problems with the unit when removed from the packaging.

I would suspect any issues like that could be easily exchanged had I encountered an issue. I would give this 5-Stars if there was a dash mount option as I had space for it in my dash. I fabricated brackets myself and it looks and works great.

What I found appealing about this feature is the SD card I can purchase with all the lakes I use this boat in. The color screen is bright and easy to read in bright sunlight, as you would expect. My goal for the unit is to understand bottom contours and shallow depths and an insurance to preventing lower unit or prop damage.

I have set up my gauges to include Depth, Speed, Time, Sunrise/Sunset & Water Temperature. The main screen has my make plotter displayed. It has provided my with accurate and fast data while underway.

I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a great entry level unit that has many features of much more expensive units.

This product works as advertised but the challenge is the screen size. It’s extremely difficult to see bass using side imaging or down imaging on such a small screen. Everything is compressed so it’s the difference between looking trying to find Waldo in a “Where’s Waldo” book in a large 13×11 book size picture like a 12” screen in book versus a large index card with the same image.

I’ve played with the side imaging rage to reduce it to around 15’ on each side for better results, but it’s still a challenge seeing bass and now with a reduced capability. I should have purchased a larger unit because this is virtually unusable for me in a canoe even with it only 2-3 feet in front of me.

I have a trolling motor propelling forward so it’s not that I’m stationary trying to use side imaging. I have to get extremely close to try and make out the image. Again, the product does what it says but you just can see well.

Forget standing trying to view it. I wish there was a way to connect a larger monitor that merely duplicates what’s on the head unit.

After using this on ice this past winter, I cant figure out how vexilar can still sell their very limited performance product at their exorbitant prices. I’ll chalk it up to redneck herd mentality. Until purchasing this I have never used or borrowed sonar, so it took some time to learn to read.

I used it through ice, in 6 to 40 feet of water. I got the most accurate results running dual frequency and a-scope. The low freq cone is very wide, allows you to see fish come into your area, while the high freq shows fish at your lure.

While stationary on ice, fish appear as red blobs of various length, instead of “arcs”, because you’re not moving in a boat. I was easily able to distinguish my hook, air bubbles, individual minnows, minnow schools, mud / weed layers, and any fish not laying on the lakebed.

In my experience, the auto gain would run high making thicker bars. I became accustomed to adjusting the gains any time I changed depth, or weed density. I mounted the supplied transducer to the end of 3/4 plastic pipe drilled with holes at intervals for an adjustable cross bar.

I would get fuzzier readings if the transducer was not 3 inches below ice. My teenage son and I greatly enjoy the mapping capability. The deeper the water the wider the reading. In 20 feet of water I could drill holes 60 feet apart and not suffer map gaps.

This would obviously be easier in a boat, and im looking forward to experiencing it this summer. I ran this with a voltage transformer on my Milwaukee tool batteries for amazing portability. 7 hours continuous in 10 degrees F would tick 1 dot off my 5ah battery.

While drilling holes or wrestling fish I often flung water onto the face of the machine with no damage. If there is a downside to this unit. It would be the few button and menu interface. Learning the ridiculous amount of features and getting setup to your liking takes alot of button chasing back and forth, which is greatly reduced once you get it setup to your style of use.

It would also be great if the buttons had some light, but for $160, the capability is still staggering.

I don’t write reviews often, but I felt compelled to do so after seeing the negative reviews for this depth finder. It’s actually a phenomenal product. I received this depth finder as a Christmas gift and immediately put it to use on my swimming pool.

To much of my dismay, it didn’t read depth, so I reached out to the manufacturer. I received a response within minutes stating that it would not work in a swimming pool along with a link to a knowledge base article explaining why.

So, the next day I took it on the ice and was quickly thrilled by its effectiveness if I followed the instructions regarding clearing snow away and using water. I was able to obtain readings directly through the ice so that I could tell the depth before I drilled my hole.

I did notice however that it had difficulties reading in white ice (more about that later). I drilled several holes and tried it out again in the holes. I did notice that it works great where the ice was not too thick (1.

5ft or so), but had difficulties where the ice was really thick (3 ft or so). When I got home I contacted their support again and once again received a quick response with explanations and links to knowledge base articles.

Turns out the “white” ice is air trapped in the ice which they said it would not shoot through. More web research indicated that they were telling the truth and not making excuses. Sonar does not travel through the air.

Just water. So if the ice is “black”, you are good to go. As far as the unit not working in the holes I drilled where the ice was very thick, it was explained to me that the sonar signal gets blocked from returning to the top of the hole when the ice is thick.

Makes sense as I have the same issue with my flasher. That is why I have to adjust my transducers on my flasher (made by another company) so that it sits below the ice. I recently took the product on vacation to the Florida Keys.

We rented a boat so I took the depth sounder with me. It worked great everywhere I tried it (you have to hold the unit verticle to the water). I even took it snorkeling and loved being able to see how far the bottom was away or how far the surface was.

I even aimed it at a bridge piling and it told me how far away it was. In summary, don’t be turned off by the poor reviews. It’s a great product, but it has limitations all of which are explained in the manual (which I finally got around to reading during my trip to Florida last month.

I originally owned the earlier version of this hand held depth finder. It lasted about 6 years and failed due to salt water ingress. This new model has a much improved water seal method and looks like it will last a lot longer.

It is easy to use the simple slide switch to get temperature / depth of the water. But it can be confusing as to which reading is going to be shown. If you see temp then immerse and try again or vis versa.

Getting an accurate water temperature requires that the unit be immersed for a minute or two otherwise you are reading some version of the air temperature and the water. The temperature sensor will be stable at air temp initially so it will take some time to cool / warm it to water temperature.

Otherwise I have found this to be reliable and a great way to be sure that the water depth is less than my crab pot float! Otherwise it is good by trap and create a boating hazard. So this unit gets kept in our dinghy during Dungeness Crab season.

Waited a month for this, when it arrived it has a very large sticker that says ‘this end must be submerged in water in order for depth sounder to work’. That is a very important detail that is found no where on the product detail page.

It is very clear that it is intentionally omitted as this a detail that make someone not buy it. Yes it can go through the hull, but then why do I need to submerge it in water in order for it to work? Very disappointed as this a bait and switch type tactic.

Expected very good quality for the price and features of this unit, but the quality of the mounting hardware and the quality control during manufacturing of this one was a bit of a letdown. First I had some mounting issues where two of the screw heads broke off while trying to install the transducer and I was only using manual hand tools to install it.

I purchased my own stainless screws to complete the installation of the transducer. After installation was complete I noticed a spot on the screen the first time I botted the unit up. The spot moved around the screen like it had static electricity and it appears that there is a small piece of loose foreign matter between the screen covering and actual screen itself.

Sometimes it’s visible and sometimes it’s not and can be an annoyance at times when you see it because of the price you pay. Overall for the price paid everything should have been made better ! I am not sure I would recommend this unit to others because of my experience.

Purchased this unit to replace my 80’s fish finder with expectations that it would out perform the fish finding capabilities of my old unit. This is great for navigation and observing bottom structure but it fails greatly as a fish finder.

With fish ID and fish alarm turned on, fish can swim directly under the transducer and NO alarm or image observed. I reinstalled my old unit and with the use of a floating transducer setup I could clearly and accurately compare bottom structure and depth between the two units.

When fish would swim under my boat my old (Not hummingbird) fish finder would immediately identify the fish and I did clearly see the image of the fish but Nothing of the fish observed on my new hummingbird unit.

Do not get rid of your old unit too fast!.

Had been (blindly) Ice fishing for over 20 years. Finally broke down and bought the Flasher 7 years ago. Several buddies had recommended it’s durability and performance. It changed everything! Learned so much more about fish behaviour when jigging: When to pull/when not to pull, Fast jig or slow jig, How high to jig and with how much velocity.

The Flasher doesn’t lie: If you see a growing yellow/red light coming towards your green light–Get Ready!!! Your heart will start beating faster for sure lol. More fish caught time and time again. Bonus–Keeps the kids busy thinking they are playing a video game while catching fish.

Since I’ve owned the unit, I’ve replaced nothing but the battery. Bought the Ice 35 because its simple to use, you can carry/protect it in a 5 gallon bucket, and you can’t beat the price compared to most other units on the market.

7 years later–now looking to get a second one for the girlfriend–but might pay a little bit more for the Ice 55 for the Digital Screen. You won’t be disappointed!.

I have owned and used this flasher for about 5 years and I love it. It is big and bright and has never failed me. Others have told me that it is bigger and brighter than the other flashers out there.

I have not changed the battery in it yet and it charges up fine after every use. I don’t think you can go wrong with this basic easy to use flasher. I would not ice fish without it. This is the best year for ice in mid Michigan and I use it several times a week with no problems.

Be sure to get the case as it gets rough out on the ice. I love it.

I have owned the humminbird ice 55 for 3 years now but my wife always wants it when she is fishing with me. This year I decided she needed her own so I bought the ice 35. This is almost as good but I don’t want her out fishing me so I got her this model.

We ice fish 3-4 times a week here in Northern Ontario for lakers specs and splake and this unit makes it so easy to get our daily limit. Best flasher on the market for sure.

Product was exactly as described. New and unopened. Product came in a plastic packaging and plastic was slightly damaged, but absolutely nothing that would cause any damage to the product or raise any concerns.

Easy to install on my Kayak, and has worked flawlessly for multiple fishing trips. Product comes with screws to mount on a metal boat, so I had to change those out for bolts and nuts to mount on Kayak.

For the transducer mount, it came with a bolt and lock nut to hold the transducer to the mounting bracket. I changed that out for a 2. 5″ stud with locking washers and wing nuts so I can raise and lower the transducer during transportation.

Highly recommend doing this, especially if mounting on a Kayak. Also, if you do change them out, make sure you use Stainless so they do not rust. This fish finder does not have GPS or dual screen, but if you are like me and all you need is to know where the fish are, this is worth every penny.

Great quality, great imaging. Will give you a sonar image as well as down imaging, but not both at the same time. If you are installing on a Kayak, the only other recommendation I have is to get a Nocqua Pro Power Kit 10Ah battery to power the fish finder.

I got this unit as a gift for an annual canoe trip. It worked for 4 days of a 7 day trip before the control unit failed. To their credit they replaced it even though I was past the warranty period, unfortunately the second unit failed in the same manner on the first trip I went on.

When it worked I found it to be a great unit, and their customer service was excellent. Unfortunately I did not have any luck with this product.

This was my first fish finder so I don’t know much about them at all. I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on something that didn’t work or I didn’t like. I picked this up on sale so I was pleased with what seemed to be a great deal.

I wanted a portable small fish finder that could mount on my kayak as it already had a yak attach track. This does not come with compatible mounts. This just screws into some place directly. I bought a Scotty universal mount and arm for the transducer ($60) since I wanted to use it on a kayak.

The next thing is power. The wires have no connectors to a battery ($40-80) not included. You have to figure our how to get the wires to hook on to a battery. I got some small alligator clips and used heat shrink wire connectors.

More than two weeks after the purchase I was ready to finally use it. It does everything as it says. I have yet to discharge the battery comely from use; the power demand is very low. It’s very easy to see fish and their size.

Minus a star because I spent hours and more than the price of the thing in extras just so I could make it work.

it’s ok but cheap made. sealed just with second glue. enters water. then stops working for a while. report will show , disconnected or to shallow. that will mean water inside. but water inside will damage the battery.

anyway its weak. you can not disassemble it. so better would be that the unit would be sealed at least with some kind of silicon glue. and wrapped around with clear silicon tape for extra seal or bumper hit protective features.

now I did it better.

Works well, love that it’s so easy to use and gives me all the information I need. Instructions are clear and detailed which made set up and learning very easy. Never used a fish finder before, no interest in a pricey electronic gadget that was a challenge to install and complicated to use.

I saw the Fishtrax 1, looked up more information and compared it to other brands of handheld fish finders. This one seemed like it was exactly what I wanted for fishing off my recreational kayak that I rigged for fishing and occasionally from shore/piers.

It gives me basic, easy to read and understand information that will help me pick out fishing spots. Used it from shore and off a pier, it works great. I’m excited about using it from my kayak when the weather warms up.

Bought this as a gift, however, was kind of selfish as it’s for my significant other:) We rented a boat this year and wanted to find a fish finder that we wouldn’t have to mount. One that would be useful offshore if we hit a bank here or there.

We have yet to fish with it off bank but due to the design don’t believe that will be an issue. It is extremely accurate as I also use it to dive into water, so I’m dependent upon it’s accuracy. That’s huge trust! Easy to throw into the boat bag with the case (bought separately).

Also bought separately the suction cup holder which is extremely useful and also fits in the box purchased. Have not had a problem reading or seeing the screen. The transponder is easy to just throw over and does as described by giving the full view.

This product rivals extremely expensive mounted fish finders I’ve used in the past. Would absolutely recommend.

The fish finder is great for my applications since it is lightweight and runs on AAA batteries, yet it has nice sonar features like color display. The screen is hard to read with polarized sun glasses – but all of them are.

The float tube attachment is a great idea but the strap attachment to the transducer is a bit problematic and not easy. I have gone back and forth with customer service about it. I can always just use the float for the transducer.

I plan to take it ice fishing next winter as well.

I CAUGHT 40 WALLEYES IN 2020 FROM MY BOAT. INSTALLED MY HELIX THIS SPRING AND BOATED OVER 180 WALLEYES THIS YEAR. THE SIDE IMAGING HAS BEEN GREAT FOR FINDING WEED EDGES, FISH CRIBS, ROCKS, ETC. THE CLARITY OF THE DOWN IMAGING AND 2D SONAR HAS BEEN INCREDIBLE FOR IDENTIFYING FISH.

THE NEW LAKEMASTER MAPS YOU CAN RUN ON THIS UNIT PROVIDE GREAT DETAIL. I LOVE THE 3 BUTTONS THAT CAN BE USED TO PRESET VIEWS. I HAVE ONE ON MY LAKE MAP SHOWING MY WAYPOINTS AND DETAILED CONTOUR LINES, THE SECOND IS MY SIDE IMAGING AND THE THIRD IS A SPLIT SCREEN BETWEEN DOWN IMAGING AND 2D SONAR.

I BOUNCE BACK AND FORTH CONSTANTLY BETWEEN THESE VIEWS. I HAVE AN ICE CONVERSION KIT ON ORDER SO I CAN USE MY UNIT FOR ICE FISHING. I ALSO HAVE A 360 UNIVERAL MOUNT ON ORDER THAT I HOPE TO HAVE MOUNTED ON MY BOAT FOR THE 2022 WALLEYE OPENER.

I’VE SPENT HOURS RIDING AROUND WITHOUT WETTING A LINE JUST PLAYING WITH MY ELECTRONICS AND LEARNING THE WATER. ALSO CATCHING A LOT OF CRAPPIES JUST BECAUSE I SEE THESE BIG SCHOOLS MOVING UNDER MY BOAT THROUGHOUT THE WATER COLUMN.

I’M STILL LEARNING THE CAPABILITIES OF MY UNIT WHILE BOATING A GOOD NUMBER OF FISH. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT.

My first fishfinder was a simple Humminbird Piranha. Did the job, but I wanted more. Got a great deal on a different maker’s 7 inch top of the line. Big mistake. Never worked properly. Terrible, incomprehensible manual.

A lemon. Dumped it for a Helix 7 MSI G4. WOW! What a difference. Way better than the other fishfinder. Incredible sonar. The Summary Guide got me started quickly, and the simulations are terrific. Easy to set up and easy to use.

Wish I had stuck with Humminbird all along.

Just finished a trial run with the Helix 7 on my 17 ‘ Cape Horn in Mobile Bay. My first impression with this unit is less than impressive particularly the GPS feature. Accuracy doesn’t seem to be a problem but the details of features like channel markers, fishing reefs, etc are so small, it’s hard to read them while driving the boat.

The SI is disappointing because you can’t read the left side due to interference from the outboard. Of all the many reviews I read prior to purchasing this unit, no one mentioned this potential problem and certainly not the store salesman.

Would I buy this unit knowing what I know now? No.

Didn’t even use it yet and hate it already! The directions are clearly out of order and images shown are not for this product. The large easy access opening for the battery does not exist. Instead there is a small opening, smaller than the battery making connecting it very difficult.

This is very frustrating already with the horrible design and instructions, I’m sure it’ll work equally as horribly. I’ll be returning this immediately.

As i said, you can check the bottom and the depths but for marking fish it is inadequate, you can compare the demo with both the fish icon on and with it off and you wouldn’t be able distinguish why it is marking the fish (with the fish icon on).

The icon’s great for beginners but as someone with a bit of experience you want see the arcs, not an icon and the resolution is just not good enough to do that. Not sure why this unit has so many good reviews.

It’s just okay in my book. Barely has any features, it could least include the battery voltage. I bought it based on reviews and it looking similar to the lowrance elite 4 that I once had. Maybe it’s good for the money but I would recommend saving up a bit more to get something more useful.

The case is difficult to get the unit into. The base is to tight. A bit more room or slight stretch to the fabric would help. It is very difficult to attach the tiny battery charger clips to the battery when in the case correctly.

The protective covers on the clips slide off easily. I plan to hard wire extra wires to the battery to allow easier access to charge rather than disconnect the unit every time which will eventually cause the battery connections to break rendering the battery useless.

The case needs attention. the humminnitd works well, good screen view as expected.