Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 13, 2022 Global Moderator Posted January 13, 2022 Pretty substantial step up from my little Lowrance with the 4" screen and no SI or DI that I had on it. 9 Quote
Super User MN Fisher Posted January 13, 2022 Super User Posted January 13, 2022 Nice upgrade there, man! (Personally...I'd be happy with a used Echomap that worked...) 1 Quote
Super User Choporoz Posted January 13, 2022 Super User Posted January 13, 2022 I didn't really upgrade until about my 4th or 5th year of kayak fishing. Now, I'd never want to be without SI and GPS again. Lots of days it wouldn't make a difference....but lots of days it makes all the difference 1 Quote
Super User Choporoz Posted January 13, 2022 Super User Posted January 13, 2022 It is funny....I remember the exact date, time and place when I decided i was through with the basic 5in FF. End of year (Oct) tournament and I found them hitting dropshot on smaller, isolated brushpiles. I had good idea where 5 or 6 such piles were. Problem was that without SI, nor GPS, it took sometimes 20 minutes to find them and position well, even when I had reasonably good familiarity with the lake. I was shopping for new FF the next day. 1 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 13, 2022 Author Global Moderator Posted January 13, 2022 2 minutes ago, Choporoz said: It is funny....I remember the exact date, time and place when I decided i was through with the basic 5in FF. End of year (Oct) tournament and I found them hitting dropshot on smaller, isolated brushpiles. I had good idea where 5 or 6 such piles were. Problem was that without SI, nor GPS, it took sometimes 20 minutes to find them and position well, even when I had reasonably good familiarity with the lake. I was shopping for new FF the next day. I wouldn't even try to fish offshore with my old one. Once it got deeper than 10', it was hit or miss if it even read the bottom, let alone cover and fish. One thing I can give it credit for, if it marked fish, there was for sure fish there. 1 Quote
Super User FryDog62 Posted January 13, 2022 Super User Posted January 13, 2022 I'm new to kayak fishing, but thought I would mostly fish the shorelines. However, I'm now very glad I added a 7 inch graph with side imaging... using it a lot more than I thought. You being much more experienced with the kayak will probably get even more out of your new electronics than I have. Enjoy! 1 Quote
Dirtyeggroll Posted January 14, 2022 Posted January 14, 2022 16 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said: Pretty substantial step up from my little Lowrance with the 4" screen and no SI or DI that I had on it. You were not supposed to do this. You were my inspiration to keep my kayak simple. Really the last line of defense between the bait monkey and me adding electronics to my kayak. Hahaha Looks nice! also looking forward to that video of what you’ve learned about how to efficiently rig your kayak. 1 Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 14, 2022 Author Global Moderator Posted January 14, 2022 2 hours ago, Dirtyeggroll said: You were not supposed to do this. You were my inspiration to keep my kayak simple. Really the last line of defense between the bait monkey and me adding electronics to my kayak. Hahaha Looks nice! also looking forward to that video of what you’ve learned about how to efficiently rig your kayak. I'm going to make one, had planned on doing it a week or so ago, but decided to wait until after I got this thing added on. If I was just going to fun fish, I wouldn't have gone with something like this. I looked hard at something with just gps and DI, but I really felt like SI could have helped me in a few cases last year when I was pedaling past areas that looked like they might have been worth a few cast, but didn't want to potentially waste the time on them. 1 Quote
bassh8er Posted January 14, 2022 Posted January 14, 2022 On 1/13/2022 at 12:19 PM, Bluebasser86 said: Pretty substantial step up from my little Lowrance with the 4" screen and no SI or DI that I had on it. Congrats! Thought you were a Garmin guy though? Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 15, 2022 Author Global Moderator Posted January 15, 2022 1 hour ago, bassh8er said: Congrats! Thought you were a Garmin guy though? I have Garmins on my Stratos but I'm not sponsored or anything. I'll switch my kayak to Garmin if they want to send me one ? This was just the best price I could get one a unit with the features I wanted. Quote
Super User FishTank Posted January 18, 2022 Super User Posted January 18, 2022 On 1/13/2022 at 1:19 PM, Bluebasser86 said: Pretty substantial step up from my little Lowrance with the 4" screen and no SI or DI that I had on it. I am picking up a new kayak and they have two of these. I am not sure how much but they told me that they were a good deal if I was interested. If you don't mind me asking, how much did this set you back? Does it have both side and down imaging? I am thinking of getting either this or the HDS Live. I am still learning and thinking on which one. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 18, 2022 Author Global Moderator Posted January 18, 2022 49 minutes ago, FishTank said: I am picking up a new kayak and they have two of these. I am not sure how much but they told me that they were a good deal if I was interested. If you don't mind me asking, how much did this set you back? Does it have both side and down imaging? I am thinking of getting either this or the HDS Live. I am still learning and thinking on which one. I got it for about $550 I believe? I bought it during Black Friday and held onto it to be a Christmas present for myself ? It does have SI, DI, GPS, quite a few nice features. 2 Quote
Super User FishTank Posted January 18, 2022 Super User Posted January 18, 2022 1 hour ago, Bluebasser86 said: I got it for about $550 I believe? I bought it during Black Friday and held onto it to be a Christmas present for myself ? It does have SI, DI, GPS, quite a few nice features. Awesome. That gives me a good place to start. Thanks 1 Quote
Super User gim Posted January 19, 2022 Super User Posted January 19, 2022 On 1/14/2022 at 7:50 AM, Bluebasser86 said: but I really felt like SI could have helped me in a few cases last year when I was pedaling past areas that looked like they might have been worth a few cast, but didn't want to potentially waste the time on them. @Bluebasser86 are you able to adjust the settings to get a clean image in a kayak with side scan? My Lowrance units all say that the optimum speed is 5 mph and when I go any slower the refresh rate is way off. I have Lowrance HDS Carbon units. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 19, 2022 Author Global Moderator Posted January 19, 2022 12 hours ago, gimruis said: @Bluebasser86 are you able to adjust the settings to get a clean image in a kayak with side scan? My Lowrance units all say that the optimum speed is 5 mph and when I go any slower the refresh rate is way off. I have Lowrance HDS Carbon units. I can adjust the settings on it but haven't been on the water with it yet to see how it reads. I have it flush mounted with a Navarre mount that he custom builds for the transducer and kayak so I'm hoping for good results. Quote
Global Moderator Bluebasser86 Posted January 23, 2022 Author Global Moderator Posted January 23, 2022 On 1/19/2022 at 9:27 AM, Dirtyeggroll said: What are you using for power? Well I tried one of these like I used for my last graph but it didn't work ? https://www.ebay.com/itm/290788643683 I can power on and change screens but it won't read depth or temp. Not sure if it's the battery or something else. Quote
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