Thursday, May 20, 2010

Rigging a Fish Finder - Part 1: Choosing the Right Model

What should you look for in a fish / depth finder for a kayak? Well, the most obvious feature is portability. You need to find a unit that is small enough to carry or mount on a kayak, is powered by a voltage and amp range that can be served by a reasonably sized battery setup, and has enough features to make it useful. You also need to decide how big and how colorful you want the display screen, and what options you have for mounting the transducer. Of course, you have to find all of the above in a fish / depth finder that fits your budget.

There are a few "true" portable fish / depth finders on the market, with battery and transducer options designed for self-contained use, with no real installation needed. One popular series of portable fish finders is the "SmartCast" series by Humminbird. Eagle (a subsidiary of Lowrance) also makes a few models of portable fish finders. Although their performance can be variable, portable models are well suited for those who don't like the idea of making permanent alterations to their kayak.

Garmin, Humminbird and Lowrance / Eagle are probably the four most widely used brands of compact and portable fish finders on kayaks. My suggestion is to do some research on their websites to compare features (you will find that there is a great deal of overlap between Lowrance and its Eagle products) and then look for user reviews. A great place for reviews is Amazon. A quick search on Amazon finds quite a few models available, with plenty of customer reviews for most of them. The prices on Amazon are also pretty good, but when you narrow it down to one or two models, you can verify the best price with a Google Shopping search. For example, here is a quick Google Shopping search for an Eagle Cuda 300 fish finder, sorted by lowest price first.

Since this series will be following the experience of KayakDoc, you will see in his pictures that he chose a Lowrance X50 DS. Remember, there is no right or wrong choice, only the choice that works best for you. The good thing is that since the X50 has a similar general shape, base, cable and transducer to many of the models most commonly mounted in kayaks, the experience will be similar for most of you.

Good luck in your search. Check back for the next installment: battery power.

Good Paddling
The Kayak Sportsman

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