Garmin Fish Finders Buyer’s Guide

Garmin fish finders can help to ensure that time on the water is well spent and modern technology means you can mark the spots to return to later. They can also mark boat ramps and docks so you can find your way back to where you started.

Most modern fish finders combine GPS with sonar to record and display both location and underwater characteristics. They are regarded as being particularly useful for fishermen keen on deep water fishing and off shore fishing where it may be hard to judge depth.

Garmin is a leading fish finder manufacturer and offers the latest technology to allow fishermen to track locations of great catches which they might want to re-visit.

But they are not a magic wand, and those using Garmin fish finders need to familiarise themselves with how they work and what they can and cannot do. Newcomers are advised to practice and find schools of fish and note their depth and your results for future reference.

Experts advise avoiding schools of fish that seem to be huddled up or tightly hugging the bottom as they are often inactive and hard to catch. But this could point to better fishing nearby. For example, similar fish tend to occupy the same type of territory in a body of water.

There are also safety reasons for investing in Garmin fish finders, such as knowing the depth of the water in an area that you are not familiar with. Certain models update in real time so that you know instantly what is below, to the side and in front of the boat.

Indeed, Garmin has a fish finder designed to provide skippers with knowledge of changes in depth and obstructions while also providing a continuously updated two-dimensional display of what is up ahead.

Other Garmin fish finders offer a three dimensional view of what is under the water and what fish might be there. Software enhancements allow the three dimensional view to be manipulated to show views from different perspectives. Some models offer the ability to zoom, pan, tilt and rotate the image. Some even show fish in different colours.

Garmin Striker Plus

With a wide variety of Garmin fish finders available, it pays to check the details before deciding on which model to buy. At the middle end of the budget range is the Garmin Striker Plus 7CV Sonar/GPS Combo which includes Quickdraw Contours to create contoured maps.

This model has WiFi compatibility so it can be connected to mobile devices and built-in GPS for marking and therefore returning to spots where the fishing is good, all with a seven inch display unit.

Another feature is a crystal-clear transducer with CHIRP ClearVü sonar capabilities. Garmin says it delivers an incredible view of the terrain, structure and activity below your boat.

When it comes to having useful technology, the Quickdraw Contours mapping software allows you to create up to two million acres of contoured maps so you can return to hidden structure and terrain that’s likely to hold fish, while integrated GPS lets you easily mark hotspots or check your boat’s speed.

Shop for a Garmin Striker Plus here.

Garmin ECHOMAP Plus

At the top end of the range is the Garmin ECHOMAP Plus 94sv Chartplotter fish finder, which includes CHIRP traditional sonar and has a nine-inch touchscreen which copes with the brightest sun condition.

This line of Garmin fish finders has pre-loaded charts, Quickdraw Contours mapping software which creates fishing maps on screen as you fish, and everything links up to mobile devices. Transducer transom and trolling motor mounts are included and a quick release bail mount makes it easy to remove and take it with you so there is no messing about with plugging and unplugging wires.

Shop for a Garmin ECHOMAP Plus here.

Garmin Striker 4

But you don’t need to pay a lot for basic Garmin fish finders. Among the budget models is the Garmin Striker 4 with Transducer 3.5 GPS Fishfinder with a CHIRP traditional transducer.

It comes with ClearVu scanning sonar, which shows what is in the water around your boat. It is a high frequency sonar that provides near-photographic images with detailed representations of objects, structure and fish.

Although it is much simpler than the more expensive models, this fish finder is easy to use and to install with a keyed interface with dedicated buttons. This particular model has a 3.5-inch screen, but five- and seven-inch displays are also available.

It uses a waypoint map to easily view, mark and navigate to locations such as brush piles, stumps and docks and reaches a maximum depth of 1,500 feet in freshwater and 750 feet ins saltwater.

The CHIRP sonar sends a continuous sweep of frequencies which provides a wider range of information and is able to create crisper fish arches with better target separation, according to the manufacturer. A built in flasher is said to be ideal for ice fishing or vertical jigging.

Shop for a Garmin Striker 4 here.

Garmin GPSMAP 547xs

With the Garmin GPSMAP 547xs model, chart plotting and fish finding are combined. This five-inch display screen model includes both coastal and inland maps and can be flat, flush or ball mounted, providing easy visibility day or night.

With the integration of a 10 Hz GPS/GLONASS receiver, this fish finder also refreshes the position of the boat and heading up to 10 times per second. It displays a constant on-screen location and proves to be incredibly accurate when marking waypoints and navigating.

The technology with this device allows it to be viewed and controlled form other devices, such as mobiles and tablets, providing enhanced situational awareness. Using your digital mobile device and marine-specific app, you can even record a movie of your chartplotter screen to share with friends and family.

While this fish finder is at the pricier end of the range, it has lots of extras such as dual microSD card slots for adding maps, 5,000 waypoints and 100 routes. Advanced Echo HD-ID sonar lets you record sonar returns in relation to the boat’s position so you can locate and remember the next hot fishing spot.

It also has a maximum depth of 2,000 feet in saltwater and details like a bottom lock, sonar recording, sonar history rewind, water temperature log and graph and even tide tables. There is also a transom mount transducer.

Shop for a Garmin GPSMAP 547xs here.

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