Fish finder on new outback

I want to put a fish finder on my outback. I dont want anything fancy. I was wondering if anyone had any feedback on the lowrance x-4 pro that hobie offers. Also I plan to install it inside the boat. I know I will lose a bit of accuracy with the transducer reading through the hull, but how much? I really only need it to find depth and structure. How important is an accurate water temp reading? One of the biggest reasons I want the sounder is to find flat sandy bottom for crabbing.  Could I get away with the even less expensive x-4?

Honestly, the x4 pro is about as "low" as I'd consider.  It is money well spent in the end.  Do it right the first time or pay for it twice in the end....

Just my opinion.

Bill

Thats good to know. I definitely don't need color or gps though so I probably wont go too much better than the x4pro.

Btw.  The unit isn't specific to Hobie.  There are a few other units that aren't a great deal more price wise that will give you even better bottom readings.

I had the predecessor to the x-4, and it is really not much more than a glorified depth finder.  But, in the end, it lets you know what the bottom looks like and that is the most important thing i suppose.  I personally feel temp readings are extremely important for freshwater fishing, but that's just my opinion.  The x-4 is probably a good starter, but I would bet dollars to donuts you will want to upgrade sooner than later.  BTW... GPS is awesome.

I had a humminbird ff on my canoe. So I have researched a lot of the cheaper b&w fish finders. I also checked out piranhamax and a couple others. I only lean towards the lowrance x4pro because of the ease of the kit hobie offers.   

The Hobie kit is a good deal, it's got everything you need. I had a x4 pro on a older kayak its a good unit. For $210 you get everything in one shot and don't have to drive all over town to source parts. I would scrap the connectors and solider the connections, then marine heat shrink over them.

The x4 pro is a great non gps ff. I actually had one for 2 years. You can use the same transducer (83/200) if you decide to upgrade to a Elite4, Elite5 or Mark4 unit, non dsi. I just wish they used the same mounting bracket. Mike

 

  As mentioned, having GPS in a FF is a nice thing! You can mark your fav crabbing spot!  The Eagle Cuda I have ( Grampa to many now, about 4yrs old now) wasn't expensive.  But you said you didn't need it so thats all I'll say bout that.
  Whatever FF you get, there are many posts involving the instalation of the transducer.  Most popular method is "Wet bath" there are a few ways to do the "Wet bath" Easiest way is to use "Duct seal"  I used dense, closed cell foam, contoured to fit my hull inside, then siliconed down to hull.  ( I didn't know or hear about the duct seal at the time)  you can search the forum for more information on this.
  As for water temp accuracy? The hull of my OB is, what, maybe 1/8 inch 3/16th? Thinner?  I've felt the hull during cold days it seems to transfer heat and cold just fine.  My transducer (After I remember to add the water ) sits in water and displays the water temp.  After a few minutes on the water, as far as I'm concerned, it's displaying the correct water temperature.  Is it going to make a huge differnece one way or the other if it's off 1 or 2 degrees, when, if you diving or happen to flip?  I don't think so.
  Obviously having the transducer outside the hull in direct contact with the water will deliver the best results, but what I use  (Along with probably 90% of everyone here use) works.

   BTW, Welcome to the site!

I was on lake sonoma one day and my thru hull was telling me the water was in the 80's... of course the outside temp was about 100.  The thru hull can give reasonably accurate temp readings as long as the outside temp and the surface temp are within reasonable ranges as compared to one another.

Cgn-38 and others thanks for the info!  I think Im going to try duct seal

Have fun setting up your new yak... The process of making it "yours" is a huge part of the fun.  If the members of this site have proven anything, it is that there are one hell of a lot of ways to skin a cat!

The Hobie Fishfinder kit is kind of a joke to me.  You get a 80$ fish finder, a 8$ battery holder, some goop, a puck or two, fish finder mount, and a wire seal for 210$??? 

You could instead buy the same FF, a RAM Hobie Sail Mast mount, RAM FF mount and get a SLA battery with charger and use some duct seal.  You can just run the batter and transducer under the front hatch and skip drilling any holes in you Ouback entirely.

See I like that idea. Thats how I would normally be thinking. Just didnt want to cut too many corners

 

  You can thank Al for the duct seal idea, I read it from one of his posts!
 BTW, your welcome.