oh the great discussions!

the simple answer to your question is yes and no, it depends!

but seriously, it depends on what you are planning on doing on your trip and how many times that area has been visited by you in the past.

i got a fish locator, lowrance x4, 2 years ago(one trip so far). we basecamp and weve been on the same lake for 4 years now. i knew the lake pretty well and basically the depth finder just gave numbers to my mental image. i probably could get by without it now.

if you plan on exploring new stuff, i would definitely say bring one