Size Of Fish Finder

[Angry John]

I am looking at fish finder /gps units and was looking at the 800 series hummingbirds.  Is this to large to have in a YAK or should I be looking at a smaller unit.  It seems like this size has the best options and will be easy to see.  Additionally I am looking at getting a boat in a few months once the winter sales start and don't want to wish I got a larger unit.  Is there to much of a good thing when dealing with sonar units???

[BASSPATROL247]

There can never be too much of a good thing omo..as for a kayak and a 800 series being too big nobody should know better than you if it is, hows ur yak setup?? Do you have somewhere to put a ram mount? If your buying a boat next year i would get the 800 even if its a bit big for your yak because it will not be too big for your boat. As for being able to see it good the bigger the screen the better definition and detail youll see. If i remember righg the 7,8 and 900 series all had the same resolution or pixels..that being said remember in a kayak you will be very close to the screen at all times ao a smaller screen may work well but in your boat youll be farther away..

Lil tip with SI that i was given and its true no matter screen size, the farther out you scan on each side(you can look 300 ft, 150ft each side) the more detail you will lose at what your looking at. When im searching for bait,fish or structure wich is mostly my case i turn one side off and only look about 75ft to one side and the picture is way better, lot easier for the transducer to scan a small area and get more detail than a big area because its not as focused....

[Wayne P.]

The larger the display, the less pixels per square inch they will have, but the displayed subjects will be larger and easier to see.

Additionally with a larger display, multiple views will be larger.

There will be and additional Humminbird 7" display series out soon for a lower price, the Helix 7.

That will give you a choice of a lower price standalone model, or a unit that can share data with another unit at a higher price with the 800 series.

[Comfortably Numb]

I think the Helix 5 would be great on a yak. Thenadd a Helix 7 when you get the bigger boat

[Angry John]

My eyes suck and I fish mostly with one of my two kids in a 12 foot nucanoe.  I have a ram mount but I need to look at 800 series to see if they can be ram mounted.  I plan on running the map function a lot so half of a small screen for sonar seems to be a big loss.  This will be my first sonar unit, as I now live in WA and sight fishing the good looking spots does not work well for me here and I have gone two seasons now without a decent topwater bite to help out.  These fish seem to be all trout eaters and the lakes here have no real features to target like points and humps that I can study and look for while on the water.  Dam salad bowls.

[Comfortably Numb]

Consider the Garmin 93sv with a 9" screen and great price point.

 

Is you lake even mapped or were you going to map it yourself?

[Wayne P.]

My eyes suck and I fish mostly with one of my two kids in a 12 foot nucanoe.  I have a ram mount but I need to look at 800 series to see if they can be ram mounted.  I plan on running the map function a lot so half of a small screen for sonar seems to be a big loss.  This will be my first sonar unit, as I now live in WA and sight fishing the good looking spots does not work well for me here and I have gone two seasons now without a decent topwater bite to help out.  These fish seem to be all trout eaters and the lakes here have no real features to target like points and humps that I can study and look for while on the water.  Dam salad bowls.

 

Yes, they can be RAM mounted--just attach the RAM mount to the included gimbal mount. You can get RAM mounts for all sorts of electronic devices- sonar units, radios, phones, computers, etc

[Angry John]

Consider the Garmin 93sv with a 9" screen and great price point.

 

Is you lake even mapped or were you going to map it yourself?

I use the navionics site and they have good maps but I don't know if the small lakes in the area are mapped on the chips.  I would think the larger ones are.

[Wayne P.]

I use the navionics site and they have good maps but I don't know if the small lakes in the area are mapped on the chips.  I would think the larger ones are.

The maps on the Navionics website and on the Navionics Mobile App are current maps.

 

If you get a unit that reads Navionics mapping, what you see on the Web App is what will be on the map card after you purchase it and do an update.

A new purchase of Navionics mapping includes a year of Freshest Data Updates.

The data is updated on the website daily "somewhere".

I think they advertise 2000 edits a day around the world.

[ww2farmer]

The smaller 4" ones are great if you can get them close enough to your face to see anything on them. I run Lowrance Elite 4's on the bow and console. I have zero issue's seeing things in detail on the console graph in any of the split screen modes because I am sitting down and close to it. On the bow however, I will be going up to a 5" or maybe even a 7" screen as soon as funds allow (probably 5" as I fish out of a small alum. bass boat and front deck space is tight) because on split screen mode, it's just to small to see when I am standing up and looking down on it. On full screen it's fine.

[Comfortably Numb]

I agree 4 or 5" screen is OK unless you have sidescan

[flyfisher]

i recently picked up the helix 5 SI for my kayak and it does a good job.  Of course i would like a larger screen but it is what it is and i am happy with what i am using at this point and don't plan on upgrading any time soon.