THE BEST FISH FINDER FOR SMALL BOATS & KAYAKS

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WHAT MAKES A FISH FINDER GOOD FOR A KAYAK

Fish finders have three main components:

Display - this is the actual unit - the screen and buttons
Transducer - this is the part that sends signals into the water and receives them. After receiving, it sends the signals to the display, which translates it into images we can understand
Power source - On a regular boat, this is your standard 12V marine battery.
Display: In choosing a kayak fish finder, the display size is the most important thing to consider. Anything larger than 5-6 inches will become too clunky and just get in your way - especially since kayaks are not very wide.

Something very big will also be very heavy, so it gets trickier to mount, too - if you use a ram mount on one side of the kayak to mount the display, you are adding 5-10 pounds of weight(from 7 inch plus units).

Bottom line - go for something less than 6 inches.

Transducer: All fish finders that we carry come with transom mount transducers out of the box. You can either mount it inside the hull, where it will shoot through the plastic without a problem, or you can run it through a pipe though the scupper hole. Lowrance also makes a suction cup mount that you can use to stick it on the side/back of your kayak.

Power Source: When you install a fish finder on your kayak, you'll have to set up a power source, too. This can be a standard marine battery put in a waterproof(very important!) box - then you can run the wires from the battery to the transducer and display. If you don't want to do all of that DIY work, you can opt for a portable fish finder, which have waterproof battery packs built into the case. Just pop in some store bought cells and you are good to go.

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FAVORITE MID-SIZE FISH FINDER

Raymarine Dragonfly Fishfinder/GPS Combo - 5.7" Color Display - The Dragonfly is our new favorite fish finder - we don't have enough words to describe how awesome it is. At 5.7 inches, it's suitable for small boats, kayaks, and also good for larger boats and charters, too. It's easy to use(just three buttons needed), and the amazing CHIRP technology shows you incredible life-like images - so you get both 3D SONAR and traditional SONAR. Now you can spot structure and individual fish, too. It's also got a 50 channel GPS, and is really easy to install. It's a little pricier than the other models we have here, but it's well worth the extra cash.

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目前论坛几个大拿的FF基本上都是L和H系列。
两个厂家都有相互平级的产品，但据说HummindBird的技术比Lowrence要先进些，L山寨了不少H的东东。

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GPS or not?

If you have a small boat that has a small motor and you mostly use it in your backyard lake or neighborhood lake, you can shave a few dollars off of your budget by not opting for GPS - you aren't getting lost in your backyard, after all!

If you have the cash to spare, GPS is a good option, since you can mark waypoints - so you don't have to "find" your best fishing spots every time.

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GPS unit:

386ci Fish Finder/Chartplotter - 3.5" Color Display - This little guy is nice and compact, provides great fish finding and GPS, and can mount anywhere on your boat pretty comfortably. Keep in mind though that a 3.5 inch display is about the size of an iPhone, so split screen mode may be a little bit cramped. Nonetheless, it's still a solid choice.

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Non-GPS unit:

Echo 300c Color Fish Finder - 3.5" Display- Garmin echo fish finders are small but mighty. Many people feel that Garmin menus are the most intuitive, and the echo returns are really soli. Anglers have reported seeing great results at speeds of up to 30 knots!

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3D SONAR

3D SONAR is when your transducer sends out a really high-frequency beam that gets you much, much better returns than a traditional SONAR. Known from Lowrance as DownScan Imaging and from Humminbird as Down Imaging, this technology uses a frequency of 455/800 kHz that will show you an incredibly photographic image of the underwater world. The beam angle will be much narrower, though, which means you will see a tighter spot, and the maximum depth will also be less. This isn't a problem if your targetfish live at the deepest in 150-200 feet of water. The image below has traditional SONAR on the right and Down Imaging on the left:

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Lowrance and Humminbird both offer 3D SONAR units - in small packages, and for low prices, too. For example, the 561 DI Down Imaging Fish Finder - is a great choice that has 3D SONAR that you can see really nicely on the grayscale screen. But don't let it fool you - this screen is actually the best performing screen in direct sunlight. With 3D SONAR, you can see life-like images of the underwater world. A grayscale screen is actually better suited to 3D SONAR than 2D SONAR, so the 561 DI is an inexpensive and sturdy choice.

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The Elite-4x HDI Fish Finder is an excellent offering for under $300. The elite series is compact and delivers solid performance with both DownScan imaging and traditional SONAR. The new HDI series also has a larger screen that its predecessors. The 4x is much like its cousin the Elite-4 HDI, but less expensive, because the 4x has no GPS or mapping built in.

[wenxiuxuan]

我看很多鬼佬在Kayak上用的都是这款入门级的Fishfinder。
功能比较全，价格也不贵。

[wenxiuxuan]

我自己本人倾向于用Hummingbird的98系列，如 398， 598， 798， 898， 998， 1198等等。
这些98系列的Fishfinder都有Sideimaging 功能。

[xiaolu]

目前论坛几个大拿的FF基本上都是L和H系列。
两个厂家都有相互平级的产品，但据说HummindBird的技术比Lowrence要先进些，L山寨了不少H的东东。

看来这年头, 搞盗版或山寨版, 乃成功的妈妈(简称: "成功之母").