Portable Fish Finders

[bakerlh]

Does any manufacturer make portable fish finders anymore? The ones with the suction cup attached to the transducer. I prefer them to the drill-the-hole-in-the-hull types. Can anyone recommend a model?


Bakerlh

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

Eagle and Lawrance both make portable cases for their regular console mounted locators. The suction cup mount for the transducer is also available. Check here on iBoats. If you don't find it here, check Cabelas and Bass Pro or your local boating supply department store or marine dealer.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

Hummingbird and Eagle still make prortables.

My dad picked up an Eagle Cuda 168 portable last year.
Works on 8 AA batteries. Hint: Get a set of rechargeables.
I don't see them in the iboats mall, but bass pro has them for $99.

 

[bassboy1]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

Hummingbird and Eagle still make prortables.

My dad picked up an Eagle Cuda 168 portable last year.
Works on 8 AA batteries. Hint: Get a set of rechargeables.
I don't see them in the iboats mall, but bass pro has them for $99.

Better yet, we got a set at Costco for I think under 30 bucks. Came with four AAs and 2 AAAs and a charger that will charge either doubles or triples.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

You need to be careful with some devices that specify AA or AAA batteries. Alkalines are rated at 1.5V per cell while NIMH/NICADS are 1.2 - 1.3V per cell. Some devices don't like that voltage difference. My GPS for example has a setting for either alkaline or NIMH/NICAD. In the case of the Eagle, 8 alkaline cells amounts to 12V. 8 Nicads/NIMH amounts to 9.6 - 10.4V. But -- if it works ok and doesn't drop out at low voltage it's not a problem.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

Bore you with a short story.

Back when sounders first hit the market, I couldn't afford a boat; so when I went fishing, I rented one.

Needed a portable for that and it worked great. I think it was in kit form that you assemble....like a "Knight Kit"?

The other thing I did with it was that I wanted to fish an abandoned causeway and I knew a creekbed went under it but knew not where.

The portable solved that problem nicely.

Mark

 

[roscoe]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

Good point Silvertip.
I never even thought about the different voltages.
I called dad today and asked him what batteries he was using.
He said "Rayovac rechargable alkalines." I don't know what voltage they put out, but they work.


Oh yeah, the portable CUDA is $99, not the batteries.

 

[bakerlh]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

I hook my current Portable directly into the boat starter battery. Any problem with this on newer fis

h finders?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

No -- if it takes 8 AA batteries, that's 12 volts. Your starting battery is 12 volts. Volts are volts. It's too many or too few of them that creates problems.

 

[Boatist]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

There are ways to mount a transducer with out drilling holes. They will stick better than suction cups also but you still have to run the cable over the transom or do a shoot thru hull mounting.

 

[MRS]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

I just pick up the eagle fishmark 320 portable it is with the suction cup mount it was $200.00 but the resolution is sweet. At cabelas they have the x96 lowrance portable for $249.00 I think it is a little better than the one I got but mine will work just fine in the jon boat. Check out cabelas the eagle and the lowrance units I believe they both come with gel type batteries and a charger. I also have hooked up a few portables to the boat battery and never had a problem. Hope this helps........

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

Roscoe -- rechargable alkalines should measure 1.5V. Same as a conventional alkaline.

 

[planktonguy]

Re: Portable Fish Finders

I've used Eagle's Fisheasy 245DS for the past year and I have nothing but good things to say about it. The suction cup has never come off on my aluminum jon boat although I use a lanyard on it just to be safe. The Cuda 242 is supposed to be very similar, but I liked the dual frequency tranducer (DS) since you can use it in both deep or shallow water (where I use it the most). I changed the batteries only once and we were out averaging twice a week for the summer. Cheers.

Does any manufacturer make portable fish finders anymore? The ones with the suction cup attached to the transducer. I prefer them to the drill-the-hole-in-the-hull types. Can anyone recommend a model?
Bakerlh