Best fish/depth finder

What is the best for a Hobie PA14?  ocean and fresh water fishing.

"best" is so subjective, nobody could possibly answer that for you.  What features are important to you?  Generally speaking, Hobies come ready for Lowrance gear, so if ease of installation is important to you, you may want to consider Lowrance.  Not that installing another brand is difficult, it's just not as turnkey as ordering the parts kits spec'd by Hobie.  From there, consensus seems to be that 7" screen and smaller is best on a kayak, but who knows... you might prefer a 9" screen.  Sidescan may be important to you, but it's certainly not to me and the community has mixed opinions on what's necessary.

My recommendation?  Head over to West Marine and play with a few fishfinders on display.  See what features seem important to you and which are turn-offs.  Then head back here and explain your findings and we'll help you think of those with kayak and salt water in mind.  For example, you might come back and say "the touch screen was really nice" and it probably is on a boat that stays dry, but on the water it's a pain more than it's worth.

What is the best for a Hobie PA14?  ocean and fresh water fishing.

Did you already exhaust the search button?  There are 4 brands, with more I’m sure.  GPS is pertinent for me.  Lowrance, Garmin, hummingbird, ray marine...I almost made a decision recently and I’m receiving a helix chirp 5 from a buddy so I’m going with the deal over the cash spring.  My next choice was sebast’s lowrance elite 5 that he posted, otherwise, I was going to spring for the Garmin echo map 6”.  Glad I didn’t have to drop 6 bills plus tax.  It’s a genuine mess to choose a FF. 

Been doing a lot of internet research.  Def will be going to the local shops to review features first hand.  I don't have any experience so I am really not sure of what features I will use vs. wont use so I have a ways to go before I purchase one.  Helping a friend install a lowrance elite FS 7 next week in his kayak so that will be helpful on the install side.

Thought I knew a thing or two about FF's, but things have changed so much in the last few years I know I dont know squat now.  Really everything i've owned has been used more as a depth finder and chart plotter rather than a FF.  The only way i've used it is to find structure basically, and never trusted seeing fish icons or whatever my display was trying to show me. 


So are these much much more expensive fish finders worth it, do they really put you on more fish than find structure I guess is the question I have.

Plan your power supply accordingly. A bigger screen will draw a lot more power than a smaller screen.

Tons of options out there. You didn’t mention the year of your kayak. The newer ones with the retractable plate for the transducer will mount pretty much any transducer. The older ones that are “lowrance ready” for a standard lowrance transducer, but you may need to figure something else out for a different transducer. Berley Pro makes some aftermarket mounts, and the search function will show you some other ideas.

I have found myself using the sidescan feature a lot while bass fishing. Once I figured it out I found it useful for what I was doing. I’m the ocean or freshwater trolling I find myself using standard sonar most of the time, and downscan some of the time.

Thanks for the great feedback.

Thought I knew a thing or two about FF's, but things have changed so much in the last few years I know I dont know squat now.  Really everything i've owned has been used more as a depth finder and chart plotter rather than a FF.  The only way i've used it is to find structure basically, and never trusted seeing fish icons or whatever my display was trying to show me. 


So are these much much more expensive fish finders worth it, do they really put you on more fish than find structure I guess is the question I have.

I have the Raymarine Element that has quite a few cool features but I mostly just use the regular sonar. One of the chart plotter features is relief shading. I am super happy with it and use it constantly in the ocean. Not much use for it in the bay though. Here is a picture of the chart plotter on my pad:

I have the Raymarine Element that has quite a few cool features but I mostly just use the regular sonar. One of the chart plotter features is relief shading. I am super happy with it and use it constantly in the ocean. Not much use for it in the bay though. Here is a picture of the chart plotter on my pad:

That looks awesome!  Chart plotting is def something I will needing for the ocean and san pablo bay.

I upgraded from a Garmin Striker 4 to the Humminbird Helix 5. I like the screen size, much easier to read than the Garmin but without being too large. I do like the maps too, they're great. I think it was worth the cost. I paid around $320 + tax for mine new during Black Friday.

This is the exact model I got: Humminbird Helix 5 Chirp DI GPS G2 Nav+ Fishfinder 410220-1NAV (from Walmart)

I upgraded from a Garmin Striker 4 to the Humminbird Helix 5. I like the screen size, much easier to read than the Garmin but without being too large. I do like the maps too, they're great. I think it was worth the cost. I paid around $320 + tax for mine new during Black Friday.

This is the exact model I got: Humminbird Helix 5 Chirp DI GPS G2 Nav+ Fishfinder 410220-1NAV (from Walmart)

You're stokin' me.  Not sure the model I'm getting yet...

I have the Raymarine Element that has quite a few cool features ...

Wow! It might be time to upgrade from my 10+ year old Garmin, the one with a tiny (color!) screen that tells me the depth, spots a few fish, marks bait, and that's about it. I thought that's all I'd ever need, but seeing that picture makes me know that I need a new FF yesterday. If only my antique Garmin would die already--no matter how much I abuse it, it's like the energizer bunny...

I have a Helix 5 but if I had to do it over again I would get a smaller one.

I just use it for basics like depth, bait, schools of fish and structure along with it being a backup GPS (which is critical for safety). 

I prefer to use app on my phone for navigation, fancy maps, and waypoints.  I can set waypoints and other points of interest the night before instead of having to plug in the FF and zoom over to where I'lll be etc.

I'm not sure about other brands but Humminbird electrical connections have been really annoying and constantly falling out of the fish finder.  I've been working all week on mine to try and get them to work for this weekend.

Rock fishing obviously knowing the bottom and seeing fish is important.  Sometimes I find myself staring at the screen too much when trolling and adjusting to what I see, not sure if it even makes a difference.  I usually get slammed when I least expect it, and when I'm seeing perfect conditions underneath me with big marks and my bait right at the perfect spot with the bait ball....nada!

I'm not sure about other brands but Humminbird electrical connections have been really annoying and constantly falling out of the fish finder.

I have this problem too. With the Humminbird, I just bungee near the power cable connection to the fish finder mount, that way even if i kick or move the cable, the power connection stays put.

The Striker had a similar problem where if you put dialelectric grease on the power connection, it tended to slip out.

One thing to consider about the different brands is the community, and company support. For the Raymarine I have found the customer support to be really good the few times I have used it. However, they sell mostly higher end components, and the user forums tend to have conversations about anything but the the fish finders.