Best New Fish Finders for Offshore and the Shallows

This year will be remembered for many things – Covid-19, a presidential election and skyrocketing boat sales among them. But it’s also been a huge year for advances in consumer electronics and, specifically, in fish finders.

It’s long been said that technology breeds technology, and that has absolutely been the case in 2021 as electronics manufacturers try and leapfrog each other to the front of the pack. Most years you see smaller, incremental improvements that are more evolutionary than revolutionary, but this year it seems like Mars and Venus aligned just right and we have a tsunami of breakthrough gear all hitting the market at once.

Whether you’re bent on trolling deep waters far offshore or probing the shallows for hidden hotspots, every major fish finder manufacturer has something amazing on offer for 2021. Here’s a peek at some of the best new fish finders for 2021.

Furuno NAVNet TZtouch3 TZT19F

Furuno NAVNet TZtouch3 TZT19F

Its name may be a mouthful, but Furuno’s NAVNet TZtouch3 TZT19F touch-screen fish-finder brings a boatload of power and high-tech while remaining intuitive and easy to use with familiar smartphone swipes, scrolls and pinches. Powered by a fast quad-core processor for lightning-fast response time, the unit includes a powerful internal 1kW TruEcho CHIRP and DFF3D multi-beam sonar for 120-degree port-to-starboard viewing at up to 650 feet. Its bright, 19-inch LCD display yields clear images in any lighting conditions; PIN code security protects stored data from theft while cloud compatibility protects against accidental waypoint loss.

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Garmin Panoptix LiveScope

Garmin Panoptix LiveScope

Garmin Panoptix LiveScope delivers highly detailed, easy-to-interpret live scanning sonar images of structure, bait and fish swimming all around and ahead of the boat in real time, even when the vessel is stationary. That capability is further enhanced with the optional Perspective mount, which allows easy adjustment of the transducer to suit different fishing techniques – exploring up to 200 feet ahead when trolling, searching bottom up to 200 feet below when jigging, or employing an overhead angle displaying bottom up to 50 feet away when fishing in shallow water. Each mode renders incredibly sharp, real-time scanning sonar images.

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Humminbird MEGA 360 Imaging

Humminbird MEGA 360

Presenting a unique, high-resolution 360-degree view around the boat, Humminbird’s MEGA 360 Imaging beam rotates with reach of up to 125 feet in every direction around the boat to deliver clear images of structure, bottom cover and fish whether the boat is in motion or stopped. Of key importance to anglers, the transducer on the MEGA 360 does not mount on the trolling motor itself but independently of it, allowing it to maintain a constant orientation in use regardless of boat position or heading without compromising the sonar image. Custom viewing options allow users to choose how sonar returns are displayed on the screen, including split-screen views and a zoom function to focus on key areas of interest. Six rotation speeds allow easy optimization of image quality and refresh rate at any depth.

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Lowrance Active Imaging 3-in-1 Transducer

Lowrance Active Imaging 3-in-1

Lowrance says its Active Imaging 3-in-1 transducer provides superior clarity and the highest resolution images of fish and structure at a longer range than any other structure imaging technology. Believe it, because this banana-shaped transducer is the real deal. Featuring CHIRP, SideScan and DownScan with FishReveal technology, Active Imaging enhances the already impressive capabilities of compatible HDS Live, HDS Carbon and Elite Ti2 fish-finders with even more refined detail, substantially greater range and exceptional, photograph-like clarity.

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Raymarine Element HV

Raymarine Element HV

Available with a choice of 7-, 9- and 12-inch displays, Raymarine’s Element HV fish-finder/GPS features seven built-in sonar channels from a single all-in-one transducer. Hyper-Vision 1.2mHz, super-high resolution Down-Vision, SideVision, and Raymarine RealVison 3D sonar technology delivers precision target imaging and fish identification capability, letting anglers see structures, vegetation and fish with life-like clarity. Element features an onboard quad-core processor for instantaneous chart redraw, super-fast signal response, and smooth RealVision 3D image rendering. Intuitive keypad controls work with wet hands or when wearing gloves – a real bonus when fishing early or late in the season.

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Koden Si-Tex CVS-128B

Koden Si-Tex CVS-128B

If you’re the kind of angler who likes to have their cake and eat it too, then you’ll love the new CVS-128B from Koden Si-Tex. For starters, it’s offered with two transducers that allow users to fine-tune optimal high and low frequencies from 24 to 210 kHz – and in just 0.1 kHz steps so you can really home in on specific fish-finding capabilities while reducing interference from other boats. What’s more, you can even view two different frequencies side-by-side in real time on its 8.4-inch LCD screen. An enhanced digital signal filtering technology provides enhanced target separation, allowing anglers to pick big predators out of schools of baitfish all the way down to depths of 3,600 feet.

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