Hi Guys,

I'm looking for your thoughts on a fish finder that has the following features:

really light weight and bulk
runs on AA batteries or something similar
no colour - too much power consumption
shoot-thru hull transducer (for my cedar strip)
smallish size
don't need a lot of features - I mainly need depth
would be cool to have a wireless connection to transducer but not a priority and must be reliable

To save time, I should mention I'm not really interested in the smartcast or the Norcross hawkeye, although the Marcum Showdown ice Troller looks interesting.

Thanks,

Moonman.

Agree there is a lot of info out there. Everyone was very helpful on my search a couple of years back. Settled on a Pirahnaxmax 210. Very lightweight, easy on the batteries, and easy to use. Didn't shoot through the hull, Kevlar, but didn't have much trouble keeping the suction cup attached to the side of the canoe. Vaseline applied to the suction cup tip provided on this sight very helpful. Just a gurgle here and there as we trolled the shorelines.

Fish finder Recommendations (Read 23165 times)

Not bad for one thread.

Does anyone know if the Lowrance X-4 is the same as Cuda 300 (it looks like it) and does it take AA batteries?
sorry, thought i was posting on the other thread...now can't remove this post...

Thanks. The price is right on the Garmin 100 too. i'd like to see the transducers on these units. My bro has an old Vexilar LC-10 Boundary waters edition that i usually borrow. small transducer. shoot thru hull on both glass and kevlar boats. never a problem. a dab of silicone on day 1 and forget about it.

moonman wrote on Feb 9^th, 2011 at 4:27pm:

  I looked at the specs for the 100 and I didn't see anything that said that it runs on AA batteries. I think thats a key for the BWCA or Q. Maybe someone can tell me if a small sized 12volt battery can last a week.

DentonDoc wrote on Feb 10^th, 2011 at 12:10am:


x2

There's no reason to ever carry lantern batteries in the bush anymore.  Just be sure you buy a regular depthfinder, not one marketed as portable.

Yup - AA is the way to go. After reading Denton Doc and others posting about converting standard, non portable finders it seems fairly straightforward. One of the reasons I'm not looking at the Garmin 150 is that its  200 watt rms model so more power consumption. The only thing I'm not sure about yet with the Garmin is the screen readability in direct sunlight. I'm used to eagle products and always found seeing the screen in sunlight fine with them. what I do like is the look of the tilt and swivel mount. Looking forward to seeing an actual unit when they come out in a couple months.

Moonman.

I'd love to know the percentage of QJ members who use or don't use fish finders in the QP or BWCA.

I've never used one.  Always caught enough fish to eat. 

Would I catch more and bigger fish if I had one?  Probably.  Would I catch more walleye?  That would be enough incentive for me to bring one!

prouboy

Most depth finders are designed to operate in a motor boat with a car type battery.  12 volt car batteries are about 14 volts and when charging are about 16 Volts. I have read where others (Jimbo) reported his detector worked better on lithium batteries.  He was using 8 AA batteries.  Lithium batteries are a little higher voltage than alkaline batteries.  I use a power hog detector so I need to use C cells to operate it for a week (C actually last quite long).  I found the detector did not work well and got lower performing as the week went along running on 8 C cells.  I changed to 10 alkaline C cells and the detector worked very well.  When the 10 batteries are fully charged the detector is getting about 16 volts which is not higher than what it could be in a running motor boat.  The detector seems to work quite well ( can pick up a rubber twisty tail) between 12 and 16 volts.

If you get better detector performance out of lithium than alkaline it is a sign your detector is voltage starved.  I would recommend Lithium if you are using 8 batteries on a detector. For 4 reasons
1 more power per pound of battery.
2 more power per battery.
3 better voltage match to load.
4 better discharge characteristics (voltage does not droop until the battery is almost dead).

Never mind DD I figured it out by looking at the pictures of the products on Radio Shacks web site. Looks easy! the holder costs $2.50 and the 9 volt clip cost about 2 or 3 bucks. Cheap and easy!