Thoughts on Garmin Striker Plus 4 CV

Hey all,

Brand new to this whole kayak fishing thing, and looking to rig up my Native Manta Ray Propel 12 kayak. Have added a couple rails, flush mount rod holders etc and now on to the fish finder / gps combo. I've been doing some research, and have sort of come down to the Garmin Striker Plus 4 CV fishfinder/gps combo. Just thought I'd get your guys' thoughts on this rig, and I'm looking to do a lot of rockfishing out in Pacifica / HMB etc.

Thanks!

Prefer one with already loaded maps... scratch that echomap is the one loaded

Ok thank you! One thing I am a bit confused, not sure if you know... I know this doesn't come preloaded with maps, nor can you download any, but it comes with Garmin Quickdraw Contours mapping, does this mean it builds out underground maps as you explore that water, and then stores it for future use?

Thank you!

It builds the maps as u float around I believe. That’s why I returned it and got the echomap 74sv... much more happy 😊 that I did. The details on echomap is wayyyyytyy better. I was super happy w garmin customer service .  Since mines was missing a few things like the collar for the cables. They sent it free of charge.

Thanks for that info! I would love the Echomap, but a bit tighter on budget right now, and figured and read for the price, the Striker 4 Plus CV is a good pick up. Who knows, maybe I will need to upgrade later at some point! For now, may just have to float around to build my maps a bit haha!

All good

I have both and for yaking / fishing the Striker is good enough until you decide to upgrade to a Lowrance or one of those fancy side scan units.

Cell phone app (Marine Ways) will get you a pretty long way in terms of finding and getting to a spot.

Striker is a good balance for since after you know where the fish generally are, all you're trying to do is get back there.

I have to admin having charts is important when navigating unfamiliar water in larger vessels since keels and props go much deeper than kayak rudder & hobie flippers.

Try to find a used striker on craigslist I saw one for $50 a while back. Looked like it was never used or at least never used in saltwater since all of the contacts were clean.

I have a striker 44cv. It comes with all coastal waters already mapped. Along with that, it’s a very solid FF that can be tuned perfectly for all sorts of fishing. When jigging off twitter reefs in HMB I could see my bait slowly drop through the water and watch it bounce off the bottom.

Striker 4 is what I have used the past 3 years. It works just great and is the best fish finder in terms of price. I am a firm believer that you don't need the fancy high dollar fish finder. Download navionics on your phone, use that to find the structure and use the fish finder to mark the fish. Garmin striker 4 is perfect fish finder for a kayak.

I have a Striker 4cv and a Echomap 74sv. The Strikers are an excellent value. I didn't find the ClearVu feature to be that useful, so I would recommend the cheaper dual beam model. The CV transducer is long, and wouldn't fit in the cavity in my Hobie Compass, so I ended up buying a non-CV transducer so it fits.
https://smile.amazon.com/Garmin-Striker-Dual-Beam-transducer-010-01870-00/dp/B076WBHD2T/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=garmin+striker+4&qid=1608082889&sr=8-4

Map wise, the Strikers don't have pre-loaded maps, but they do show bottom contours you have recorded yourself. This is useful not just for seeing depth, but also seeing where you've been before. Even without bottom contours, you have the snail trail that is useful for getting back to where you launched from. When I was looking, I couldn't find another FF anywhere close in price that would give you split screen mapping/sonar like the Strikers do.

Another nice thing about the Striker is they draw little power. I run mine from this 12V battery bank, kept inside a Pelican 1060 case. I can get 4 or more long trips out of it before recharging.

I'm trying to rig up my Garmin Striker Plus 4cv to a 12v lead acid battery with the 2 small metal terminals. I have never done this before, and can't find anything good online on how to hook up the FF to the battery. The Garmin comes with a power cable with 4 wires coming out, including red and black. Any one have a good link or source on how to do this?

Thanks!

I like mine, its a step up from my last lawrence chirp w no gps. Good bang for the buck but seeing these other models people are posting has me wanting a better one LOL. Next time! It comes with the longer transducer its not the normal bullet kind. and I like the mapping feature as I can just go on mapping missions around bodies of water and see where ive been before, but being able to download would be pretty nice. I think finding any used fishfinger with old honey holes marked would be a gold mine.

I'm trying to rig up my Garmin Striker Plus 4cv to a 12v lead acid battery with the 2 small metal terminals. I have never done this before, and can't find anything good online on how to hook up the FF to the battery. The Garmin comes with a power cable with 4 wires coming out, including red and black. Any one have a good link or source on how to do this?

Thanks!

Simply attach the red and black wires to your battery. Ignore the other two wires. They are for networking with other FF screens or something like that.

Thanks! What's the best way to attach the red and black wires to the metal terminal plates?

Thanks! What's the best way to attach the red and black wires to the metal terminal plates?

I used female insulated spade terminal connectors, crimped on the red (+) and black (-) wires.  Easy to take the battery out for charging.