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Author Topic: Looking to put a relatively cheap fish finder on my canoe, any suggestions?  (Read 4285 times)

cpg39

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I'm planning to fish a lot of deeper water this august, especially in search of Kokanee and Walleye that were supposedly stocked in my home lake. I've always wanted to put a fish finder on my canoe, but never really understood what I needed/never had the money.

Ideally I'm looking for some that:

-Can create and save bathymetry (contour) maps of my lake.

-Works accurately in up to 70 feet of water.

-Can be mounted to a canoe.

-Is as cheap as possible.


I know those new ones that you use your phone as the screen for are fairly cheap. Are they the cheapest option? Are there any great value picks out there I should be aware of?

-Thanks a lot

Jethro

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  • I fish, therefore I am... always buying gear
If you want bathemetry you need a headunit with GPS. Probably the cheapest you are looking at will be in the $300 range new, and you'll want a chip for the lake charts which will run you around $150. But for $450 you will have a choice unit with features of the pro units just a smaller screen. My Humminbird Helix 5 GPS fits that catagory, I'm sure they all make something similar. Everything you want the device to do can be had for around $80 complete with say an entry level Garmin or Lowrance unit- except for the bathemetry. That brings you into a GPS enabled unit. Alternatively you could buy an inexpensive sonar unit and use a GPS enabled smartphone for chartplotting by downloading the $10 Navionics BoatUS app. Personally I couldn't live without charts on my headunit now that I've had them and it's a worthwhile purchase.

Mac Attack

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If you want bathemetry you need a headunit with GPS. Probably the cheapest you are looking at will be in the $300 range new, and you'll want a chip for the lake charts which will run you around $150. But for $450 you will have a choice unit with features of the pro units just a smaller screen. My Humminbird Helix 5 GPS fits that catagory, I'm sure they all make something similar. Everything you want the device to do can be had for around $80 complete with say an entry level Garmin or Lowrance unit- except for the bathemetry. That brings you into a GPS enabled unit. Alternatively you could buy an inexpensive sonar unit and use a GPS enabled smartphone for chartplotting by downloading the $10 Navionics BoatUS app. Personally I couldn't live without charts on my headunit now that I've had them and it's a worthwhile purchase.


What he said.

Jethro pretty much nailed it.
You get what you pay for.

boondox

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  • Posts: 1,124
Filed and stream store has the helix 5  g2 on sale right now for $279.99 @$20 off it may come with maps it may not??  not really sure if any thing  for another  $150 you get the maps.. any how best of luck deciding.. by the way humming birds made in usa.. were lowrance and garmin are made else ware..

 



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