There are previous posts about depth finders/fish locators. Has anyone found any cool devices or would like to share their long time favorites?

I'm running the Lowrance Elite 4x. Very nice unit at low cost.

Hummingbird Piranha Max 230, took it out of the cradle, lots of dead weight and bulk there. My company makes a small lightweight mount for the thwart, takes a few seconds to adjust or remove. Been testing it all summer, so far so good, loving it.

Is the Lawrance Elite able to run on AA batteries?

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but how are most people attaching the transducer to their canoe? Epoxy to the hull? Or is there other, less permanent ways? Again- sorry for the butt in...

quote finman: "Not meaning to hijack the thread, but how are most people attaching the transducer to their canoe? Epoxy to the hull? Or is there other, less permanent ways? Again- sorry for the butt in..."

I just use the included suction as I run it on my Tandem, now my solo and any other rental boat. I took the factory mount apart, its meant for a stern mount. For side mount I simply removed the bracket and screwed the transducer directly to the suction cup, smaller lighter, and works great.

I have a lowrance xc67 with the transducer mounted inside my souris river with an oil based caulk called lexel. it has much better holding power versus a silicone or acrylic caulk and not so 'permanent' like epoxy would be if it becomes necessary to remove. It will run down to under 7.5 volts which takes something like 20 hours with regular batteries.

d

quote finman: "Not meaning to hijack the thread, but how are most people attaching the transducer to their canoe? Epoxy to the hull? Or is there other, less permanent ways? Again- sorry for the butt in..."

I just of a bit of water in between the ribs under my seat and set the transducer down in the bottom of the cane. Shoots through the hull easy. The drag from the suction cup mount bothers me. I was going to permanently mount it in the bottom but just never got around to it---seems to work fine--maybe I occasionally kick it over.

T

All the new units are great and will work fine (Garmin Echo, Lowrance X4, Humminbird etc etc.). These newer units cost way less than the older units once did, work better than previous more expensive models and are super small and light. Only you will know what features you need. A lot of people just are looking for depth, with good 'gray line' separation of the bottom. All of the units can be converted to AA batteries, quite easily. Lots of info here and over at quietjourney.com on how to do that. I would say that color is not needed at all, although some people like it. Its is nice of course but consumes much more power. So if you are miles from anywhere and just looking for the edge of that mid lake reef to hit some walleyes, you want your batteries to last.....Units like the Garmin Echo come in various power consumption models (with more features of course). Again, look at the wattage, then determine what you really want. Most transducers will shoot through the hull and in my opinion this is the way to go. I think the only materials that might be an issue are aluminum and thick foam-cored boats. You should not assume it will not work with you boat though. Just go out to you local lake, get a zip lock with some water in it and put your transducer in there and then place it on the bottom of your boat. Rumor was that you couldn't shoot through cedar strip hulls but I do with mine no probs. I siliconed a foam cut out the shape of my transducer puck to the bottom of my canoe. Dip my hand into the lake and dribble a few drops into the foam cut out. My transducer sits in there snugly and that is that. Works like a charm. By using silicone you can easily remove the whole works if you need to. You also maintain the portability of your unit to use in any boat (with your suction cup etc.). Finally, I just want to encourage people to take the leap and convert their units to AA batteries. This is by far the way to go. This allows you to buy the 'regular unit' at greatly reduced price over the 'in the box' portable units, it lets you use AA batteries, which are the best in terms of weight to power output, you can get rechargeable AA's, you can use AA with the rest of your gear as well (camera, flashlight etc), AA's weigh much less than D cells and lantern batteries, and its easy! It may seem intimidating at first but a bit of reading and you will see how easy it is. Good luck good fishing!

Moonman.

+1

quote Ragged: "Hummingbird Piranha Max 230, took it out of the cradle, lots of dead weight and bulk there. My company makes a small lightweight mount for the thwart, takes a few seconds to adjust or remove. Been testing it all summer, so far so good, loving it. "

+1 on the unit and clamp set up. I set my transducer on the bottom of the canoe.


Ragged - what company/mount?

I purchased the Marcum Showdown Ice Troller (runs on AA's) this spring and took it on my May BW trip. It rained hard and moisture got into the unit the first day. I wasn't too happy. I contacted Marcum and there was a defect in some of the older units. I just got off the phone with them and my new unit should be here today or tomorrow (1 week turn around)....might get here before I leave for my trip! I will report back with results.

It seems like a nice unit and it worked well until the moisture issue. Looking forward to using while hole hopping on the ice also.

MagicStik

Kind of fun to modify. My cousin uses vaseline to mount internally (unfortunate word choice.)

quote Whichwaysnorth: "Is the Lawrance Elite able to run on AA batteries?"

yes, I have it running on 8 AA's, should last about 40 hours on that set up according to the specs Lowrance gives.

And to the thread hijacker, mine is siliconed to the hull. I have a MN2 and it sits in the space behind the stern seat where they don't have the extra foam floor. I have it protected by a piece of downspout I cut to fit the hull and siliconed in place.

My mount is a RAM mount that attached directly to the unit, not a baseplate which saved some weight. It is mounted on the thwart in front of the stern seat.

I'll put some pictures up later to show the final set up. Battery pack stays in a thwart bag.

quote MagicStik: "I purchased the Marcum Showdown Ice Troller (runs on AA's) this spring and took it on my May BW trip. It rained hard and moisture got into the unit the first day. I wasn't too happy. I contacted Marcum and there was a defect in some of the older units. I just got off the phone with them and my new unit should be here today or tomorrow (1 week turn around)....might get here before I leave for my trip! I will report back with results.


It seems like a nice unit and it worked well until the moisture issue. Looking forward to using while hole hopping on the ice also.


MagicStik"

I was waiting to see how this worked for you. In the mean time I found a vexilar. I thought this would make a good ultralight set up. Hopefully the newer version is more water resistant.

Where would a guy find an adapter to connect their unit to a AA power source? also what contraption is used to hold the AA's? is it a retail part or a do-it-yourself contraption?

What you need is an 8 cell AA battery pack adapter. 2.50 or so at Radio Shack. I put mine in a waterproof plastic food container. Lock Lock brand I think from Walmart for about 5.00.

Just made a small hole in the top of an end wall of the container, then after inserting the batteries into the battery pack, I ran the wires out the hole. Then I sealed the hole with silicone. Then proceed to connect the battery pack wires to your power wires on your unit. The top of the container has those hinged pieces that swing down and lock on the bottom part so changing batteries is dead easy but the whole thing remains waterproof. See pics below.



and here is the foam cutout my transducer sits in



Let me know if you have any questions. The whole process is very easy.

Moonman.

Thank you very much moonman! I paid a visit to radio shack as soon as you posted your response! you are beyond correct this process was incredibly fast and easy! i like to say thank you to every one who posted and to people who have further questions (IE the hijacker ;) ) to ask!

Lesson learned here!!! I'll start my own posts from now on- no more hijacking for me!!!

Mooman - would you mind emailing me? I have a question for you unrelated to the topic of this thread.

Thx!

quote finman: "Not meaning to hijack the thread, but how are most people attaching the transducer to their canoe? Epoxy to the hull? Or is there other, less permanent ways? Again- sorry for the butt in..."

I've got a Piranhamax 170 and just lay the transducer on the floor of the canoe under the rear seat. As long as there's a little bilgewater, it works just fine. Make sure your canoe is composite or aluminum with no foam core. Only drawback is that you don't get exact water temp.

quote Hoaf: "
Mooman - would you mind emailing me? I have a question for you unrelated to the topic of this thread.


Thx!"

Sure, need an email address...

I purchased the Humminbird PiranhaMAX 230 Portable last year. This unit came with the standard transducer (and suction cup mount) and a castable transducer. I don't own a canoe so the removable suction cup is great. I also rigged the castable unit to tow behind the canoe when trolling (detailed in a BWJ article). The advantage is that you do not have to deal with the transducer cable when towing the wireless unit. I use a spring creek rod sentry to hold my pole.

The unit uses AA's and is easy to carry, however, it does take up more space in the pack then I would like. I have not tried separating the unit from the base as described earlier. I have looked at mounting it on the transom as detailed the an earlier copy of the BWJ and wiring a battery pack. I would recommend the unit given my experience. No matter which unit you get it is great having a depth finder/locator along on the trip.

quote Moonman: "All the new units are great and will work fine (Garmin Echo, Lowrance X4, Humminbird etc etc.). These newer units cost way less than the older units once did, work better than previous more expensive models and are super small and light. Only you will know what features you need. A lot of people just are looking for depth, with good 'gray line' separation of the bottom. All of the units can be converted to AA batteries, quite easily. Lots of info here and over at quietjourney.com on how to do that. I would say that color is not needed at all, although some people like it. Its is nice of course but consumes much more power. So if you are miles from anywhere and just looking for the edge of that mid lake reef to hit some walleyes, you want your batteries to last.....Units like the Garmin Echo come in various power consumption models (with more features of course). Again, look at the wattage, then determine what you really want. Most transducers will shoot through the hull and in my opinion this is the way to go. I think the only materials that might be an issue are aluminum and thick foam-cored boats. You should not assume it will not work with you boat though. Just go out to you local lake, get a zip lock with some water in it and put your transducer in there and then place it on the bottom of your boat. Rumor was that you couldn't shoot through cedar strip hulls but I do with mine no probs. I siliconed a foam cut out the shape of my transducer puck to the bottom of my canoe. Dip my hand into the lake and dribble a few drops into the foam cut out. My transducer sits in there snugly and that is that. Works like a charm. By using silicone you can easily remove the whole works if you need to. You also maintain the portability of your unit to use in any boat (with your suction cup etc.). Finally, I just want to encourage people to take the leap and convert their units to AA batteries. This is by far the way to go. This allows you to buy the 'regular unit' at greatly reduced price over the 'in the box' portable units, it lets you use AA batteries, which are the best in terms of weight to power output, you can get rechargeable AA's, you can use AA with the rest of your gear as well (camera, flashlight etc), AA's weigh much less than D cells and lantern batteries, and its easy! It may seem intimidating at first but a bit of reading and you will see how easy it is. Good luck good fishing!


Moonman."

Great post.

I have used a Vexilar clc200 for several years now. Don't need the color feature, but love everything else about it. I use it on my boats as well as canoes. I mount it with a mounting bracket I bought from crazy creek? don't remember, but with the suction cup it works well on all craft.