Windsailor
9 volt batteries are small and that would be nice to carry.   One 9 volt battery would be too low a voltage and 2 in series would be too high.  There is not enough capacity to run a detector for very long.  Your suggestion of lighting got me to thinking.  I have found area lighting uses a lot of power but if you can light only the area you are working in it would greatly reduce the power required.  Like the cap mounted led lights.  I could see mounting one on the gunnel.  Your comments bring visions of trying to tie a knot in the dark and what would help would be a light mounted near your hands.  Something that was easy to turn on and off would last for years.  If you come up with something that work well let us know what your find.

Well I have been doing some digging and the news (as I suspected) is not good.

The lowrance Mark 4 draws 0.25 a
The lowrance elite DSI 4 which I am so fond of draws over double at 0.75 a

Maybe some of you electronic types could help me out ( I basically failed DC fundamentals in college) If I were to run the DSI unit for 10 hours per day for 20 days how much juice would I need?

And the next question.......which one of these batteries would make the grade.
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And of course I am appreciative for the advice up

My multiple firsthand testing with what I use is:
#1 - 8AAs  will easily last me 2 trips ~5hrs a day so.. 100+ hours.
#2 - Forget to turn it off at night in an overturned canoe and I consider myself lucky to hear the low battery warning in the morning.

A favor Magic? Can you test the bonehead current draw when forgetting to turn 'em off and pinging the Milky Way all night?

Since I'm the weakest link. For me that means 16 LI AAs per trip so about a half pound of batteries... plus FISH LO-K-TOR.

OK.....
looked in the manual and at 13.5V is 250mha, not sure what that means but could be helpful. Wish I was smarter (might as well throw in better looking and a few extra bucks wouldn't hurt as long as I'm at it  )

This whole thing is absurd. I fret and worry about ounces. Spend major league dough upgrading rain gear to save a lb.......get titanium cook wear to save a few more ounces.......and so on.....and so on.

All so I can lug around a 12lb battery for a month. Never mind crazy town, I am the mayor of crazy town.

And yet.......I love to run a lure while I travel. The finder makes everything hassle free. No going back to free my lure from some errant rocky point or tree. Am I in 12ft or 60? Tough to tell without a finder.

And of course the argument which keeps coming up.......if I go for more than a few weeks I'm likely going to be triple portaging anyways. Whats the big deal with a 12lb battery? I usually go from daylight to dark so the extra trip is not that big a deal.......it is, after all, a fishing trip is it not?

Amazing how we can talk our selves into things isn't it? Rationalizing, deflecting, justifying.........Will I be happy without a finder.......and unfortunately after having had the best will I be content with less? No and no.

I should probably bring a cheap little tester so I can keep an eye on it. Don't want to drain it completely and ruin it, sort of expensive. Love the glass mat technology however. Maybe I can ration the thing so it will last.

Anyways, thanks guys.......special thanks to MP. Ever consider manufacturing those battery holders you make MP? If you could send me a prototype I could present it to the board at MT enterprises for consideration to go nationwide with them. I'm sure we could arrange something in the way of gratuity