Depth Finder / GPS

I'm looking for suggestions for a good Depth Finder / GPS.  I'm assuming a self contained unit would be best but I'm not against installing a battery.

Thanks for the input!

Jim

 

  Welcome to the site.  There have been way too many posts about this subject to simply recall one, try the search feature, it'll bring up all the post's you'll need to make an informed decission.  With that being said, I have an Eagle Cuda 240 FF/GPS combo, (Not color, no maps feature) for how I use it, it's perfectly fine. (fresh water only at the moment)

I just bought a cheap one (through Target of all places)....so far, it seems to be using up the batteries very quickly. I like the hand-held device, but I don't know how well it works yet...I have only tried it a few times.

What is the average $ someone could spend on a basic model?

 

   If I recall, my Eagle Cuda ran about $150 (+/-)a few years ago now?  Most use 7ah gel cell.

I have a Hummingbird 385ci on my OK T13; and, just installed a Lowrance Mark 4 on my Jackson.  The Hummingbird works great; hopefully others can speak to the Mark 4 as I have not tried it on the water yet.  Seems to be a popular option.  You can also make or purchase a battery set up to make it plug-n-play - check out my thread for one of many mounting options:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=41574.0

I'm loving my lowrance mark 4. It's grey scale with GPS. I was surprise that it came with a basic maps and charts. Easily navigated to a few reefs in Trinidad I didn't know about preveiously. You will need a larger battery with a GPS unit. I would suggest getting the hobby fish finder install kit with the larg battery. Add a ram mount and it's everything you need to do a clean install. The FF unit is $199, install kit is $100, and the ram mount is $30

Let me add, I'm inclined to 'go with the bells and whistles'.  Had I not seen the Mark 4 (black, white) and Elite 4 (color) side by side in a store, I would have gotten the Elite 4.  Seeing the two side by side, it really came down to preference - to see a screen in black and white or green and blue.  I liked the black and white better and it was $100 cheaper.  Screen clarity is impressive.

Both the Humminbird 385ci & the Lowrance Elite4 will work & are good choices. I have owned both & the differences to me were the H was a little more user friendly & water-proof  but the L has a brighter screen & less battery draw. A color screen helps but isn't a necessity. 

I went with the Hummingbird 597CI HD DI, it's on the large side for a kayak. I wanted something I could move between my PB and kayak. There are limits with the DI units you will have a max depth of about 250 feet and the transducer will need to go into the water, not mounted in the hull of the kayak. Some models have a dual frequency that will give you 250 for the down imaging sonar & sonar to 600 ~ 1000 feet depending on the model. The other thing to look at in the specs is the resolution ( the area a single pixel on the screen covers). The last thing see if you can find the current draw in the specs. My FF uses about 550 to 650 mAh & some of the smaller units will draw in the 300 mAh range or less. This will give you more time out on the water between chargers or give you more battery options like the AA battery packs. For the install I found a lot of great info on this site and youtube. One thing that none of the write-ups or videos mentioned was the drilling in the kayak. If you have drill stops use them or use tape on the drill bit to give you a guide for the drilling depth. Out of all places the person at the counter where I bought the FF told me to be careful drilling on the kayak, the last thing you want to do is to drill through the hull or a scupper. The install and owner manuals are available for download from the manufacture websites & will give you an idea of what you are getting into as far as sizes for the holes to drill. I had to drill a 5/8" hole in the back of the kayak for the transducer cable & 1" up front inside the kayak for the power & transducer.

If I were to do this over & install just for the kayak. I would have picked one of the smaller units and was looking at the Hummingbird 385 and the Lowarance 4 series fish finders.

Here is a shoot thru hull TD for the 597ci HD DI. It's also not too big for a kayak. I use the 768 and I thinkit is perfect for a kayak. I can mount it up front and still see the 5" screen no problem. Nice to have the larger screen for split screen use too.

http://store.humminbird.com/products/411703/XIH_9_DI_T

I went with the Hummingbird 597CI HD DI, it's on the large side for a kayak. I wanted something I could move between my PB and kayak. There are limits with the DI units you will have a max depth of about 250 feet and the transducer will need to go into the water

Not true.  I run a 597.  I confirmed with the factory that it is ok to shoot through the hull.

-Allen

Allen, do you like the DI? Does it help distinguish between hard bait and targets? how does it do identifying different types of sea bed ( rocks vs mud)?

Allen, do you like the DI? Does it help distinguish between hard bait and targets? how does it do identifying different types of sea bed ( rocks vs mud)?

Honestly, I do not rely on it for much.  I use it in split screen mode and I get more out of the normal imaging than I do the DI.  In fact, I use dualbeam+ 200/455 mode more than the DI mode.

-Allen

I went with the Hummingbird 597CI HD DI, it's on the large side for a kayak. I wanted something I could move between my PB and kayak. There are limits with the DI units you will have a max depth of about 250 feet and the transducer will need to go into the water

Not true.  I run a 597.  I confirmed with the factory that it is ok to shoot through the hull.

-Allen

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I must have found older posts / write ups & the people were talking about performance issues using the DI mounted in the hull. I'll keep that in mind when it's time to upgrade the kayak

Also just my opinion that a smaller unit would take up less space and might have been a cleaner install on the center of the console. A smaller Hummingbird or the Lowarance 4 series might have been a better fit on my Tarpon 120 clone. On another kayak the 597 or larger might work well.