i got my hands on the lowrance x4 this morning. pretty slick unit. fleet farm had only the basic kit, so no suction cup or battery pack. i plan on heading to radio shack to pick up some battery clips. being that it runs off of a 12v battery i assume the 8 AA's are linked in series to create the 12v power. im going to mount the transducer on a thin block and use velcro to attach the mount under the canoe instead of the suction cup. industrial velcro is water proof and holds extremely well. i cant wait to play around with this thing