20 Best Value Fish Finder (2022 Updated)

First, installation was a bit of a pain but it ended up great. I power it with a 20V 2ah DeWalt battery and it works just fine even if they do not recommand it. Lasts about 8 hours. I was not gonna carry a super heavy lead-acid battery in a kayak that is already loaded with camping gear.

Being that I do a lot of kayak camping-fishing trips on large water bodies having a GPS/tracker was a must for me. Just got back from a trip and that feature has been great for not getting lost in difficult situations.

The user frendliness reminded me of an old Garmin GPS, not great. Far from Google map. Menus are a little difficult to get used to but. Contour mapping is nice. Sonar is great and powerfull. Could follow my jig all the way down 150′ of water easy.

So far Clearview has been useless. You can not see any fishes on that mode. Wich is the point of a ”fish finder”. Split screen is awesome. Another con is that when you need to bring it inside your house to add waypoints or else you will need an extra power cord at $50, Ouch! So all in all it is very good but I could have done without the extra cost of CV.

Happy fishing.

I installed this on my 13 foot boat for Gulf coast creeks and shallow water fishing. The chart for this device is like a blank sheet of paper, it does not have land, water or navigation markers. The only information the chart will display is where you have been, the depth contours that your device recorded or from the Garmin Active Captain application which shares depth contours from other users.

I use my cellphone apps such as Google Maps and Navionics for the big picture if I am in unfamiliar areas. Depth and voltage alarms are very handy. The fish-finder display options are as detailed as most inshore fishing could require.

The screen size is the smallest I would use on any boat, easy to see and interpret at a glance while moving. Very satisfied.

I have a small 12’ rowboat and this is my first ever fish finder. Mounted this unit on an ammo can and the transponder on the trolling motor. Would be nice if it had the option to add a battery to make this a package.

I’ve had the unit on the water for a total of about five hours. Improved instructions and the ability to have a tutorial mode to learn the unit before I hit the water would be helpful. The unit is pretty user intuitive once you spend the time to get familiar with where things are located.

It took me about 20 minutes to get the QuickDraw contours feature to work. Deepest water I was in was about 20feet. I could easily follow my jig, as I raised and lowered it, on the screen. The one thing I did notice is that the lake I was on has two small islands, larger of the two would be approximately 20’ x 40’, while using the quick draw feature it did not show a land mass or show a blank area on the map.

The islands are nonexistent and on the display are really under two feet of water even though I could beach my boat and have a picnic without getting soggy sandwiches. The screen was easily viewed with a straight on look giving it the best brightest clear view.

From the side the screen seemed dull. The cord on the transducer is about 20’ long while the power cord is only 3’. This isn’t a big deal for me since I’ve got the battery in and unit mounted on an ammo box.

Just thought it was worth mentioning. Mounting the transponder on the back of my little rowboat would not work due to the riveted seam sticking out. If it were shimmed out with treated plywood I could have probably made it work but then the transponder would be permanently mounted on the boat with the wire exposed to all Mother Nature fury.

My boat is parked outside. Overall this unit is exactly what I expected to get. I still need to play around with it and continue to understand all the features and options it can do to improve my fishing trips but I’m pretty satisfied and would definitely buy it again.

What would make this a five star review would be: the addition of a small tube of marine chalk for transom mounting of the transponder. Longer power cord Battery option package Case option like the striker cv4 package Better instructions Tutorial mode.

I recently bought a Lowrance HDS Live 9” unit to replace a Lowrance HDS Gen 3 unit on my saltwater bay boat. After one trip to the Gulf of Mexico, I am pleased with the HDS Live unit and how Fish Reveal works.

It was quite easy to target fish on submerged rigs with the 3 in 1 transducer so I will give this unit a rating of 5! However, my rating for Lowrance is at best a 3 based on the lack of support from Lowrance technical staff! I have owned Lowrance / Eagle units since 1981 starting with the paper graphs.

Most of my units ran great but I did have significant problems with a few sonars and the support from Lowrance was less than acceptable!!! I will only discuss my HDS Gen 3 unit in this review. Beginning last year, my HDS Gen 3 unit started having sonar issues for both chirp and down imaging.

The sonar would stop working or just index at a slow rate plus periodic touch screen problems. I was able to resolve issue sometimes with soft / hard resets / touch screen recalibration. I finally called Lowrance technical support.

The technician told be my transducer had failed and it needed to be replaced. Based on my internet research, I absolutely did not believe this was the problem and I was able to evaluate the HDS Gen 3 unit on my other boat confirming that the HDS Gen 3 unit was the problem, not the transducer! I also visited a local dealer in SW Arkansas to confirm my thoughts, too.

This HDS Gen 3 unit was bought in September 2016 as part of a Skeeter Bay Boat purchase. I was extremely disappointed that this unit failed in 5-6 years. My expectation was for this unit to run for many years without any problems.

I have other Lowrance units that run 10 times the hours of the HDS Gen 3 unit without any problems. I am extremely disappointed with Lowrance technical support, and this is something you should consider before buying a Lowrance system.

I considered Humminbird and Garmin but chose Lowrance because of their reputation. Unfortunately I was disappointed. Support from Lowrance is simply nonexistent. On trying to pair my Power Poles ( as Lowrance advertised as a feature) I had issues.

I have worked in IT and Telecom for over 30 years so I should have found this easy. I followed written and YouTube instructions and it didn’t work. After two hours on the phone I was transferred to Level 2 Support.

After 45 minutes on the phone with them I was asked “What brand of Power Pole are you trying to connect?”. I told them that I was trying to connect the only brand that Lowrance will interface with but the model is a Blade.

Over three hours in I gave up. The Live mapping is FAR WORSE than anything on the market. I had and used Insight Genesis service. I have a Humminbird Helix 7 ($600) that is far better than this $3400 HDS Live.

The HDS units sow 8’ contour lines over the top of shore lines that are 4’ out of the water (zoom into photos). If Lowrance had tested this on the water for 10 minutes they would know the Live mapping is not ready for release.

They advertise the ability to interface your cell phone. It works but they don’t tell you that you cannot respond to text messages if you have an iPhone. To their credit: the side imaging is very good.

Fish reveal is very good and makes the most of the available screen size. As the industry leader Lowrance should hold themselves to a higher standard. People work hard for money that these graphs cost and they deserve a working product that has good support.

I’ve owned the striker 5 ice fishing bundle for one year now and use it year round (using a separate transducer during the summer). I’m thankful that I did my research and compared all the different units before buying this.

It saved me a lot of money for a boatload of features that cost way more money with other brands. -quickdraw mapping with something like 2M hectars of storage space (this is only in the summer) -a basic GPS for saving tracks and waypoints -you can run the flasher and split the screen with another feature (for that matter you can separate the screen with up to 3 different settings) I often use the flasher and tradition sonar together while icefishing -the battery lasts me multiple trips onto the water, I’m never worried about it losing power and if I do stretch its life a little far I just turn down the brightness and that adds another hour or more.

-the case is rugged -it has CV so thats an added bonus if you use this unit during the summer DOWNSIDES -you cant upgrade the GPS to have maps -you cant download any software so it could support SV This is the unit to buy if you’re on a budget.

Summer and winter, this thing goes with me on every outing.

UPDATE: I tried to update my previous 5 star review but it wouldn’t let me. I’m updating to 3 stars because following installation I discovered that GPS feature does not come with any maps/charts nor can any be uploaded.

Very disappointing. 7SV will generate its own maps and waypoints can be set but there is no land reference on the screen. Why it is designed this way I do not know. I would return it for a different model but by the time I installed it, it was too late to return.

Other than no maps, the 7SV works fine. IE: The GPS pic (lower left on screen) is what it actually looks like in real life. Make sure you read all the details and know what you are getting prior to ordering any of the SV models.

I purchased this unit for my pontoon boat. I wired it in myself, as I did for all of my instrumentation. Very easy only an idiot would have issues wiring it in properly. There were no problems with the unit when removed from the packaging.

I would suspect any issues like that could be easily exchanged had I encountered an issue. I would give this 5-Stars if there was a dash mount option as I had space for it in my dash. I fabricated brackets myself and it looks and works great.

What I found appealing about this feature is the SD card I can purchase with all the lakes I use this boat in. The color screen is bright and easy to read in bright sunlight, as you would expect. My goal for the unit is to understand bottom contours and shallow depths and an insurance to preventing lower unit or prop damage.

I have set up my gauges to include Depth, Speed, Time, Sunrise/Sunset & Water Temperature. The main screen has my make plotter displayed. It has provided my with accurate and fast data while underway.

I would recommend this to anyone that is looking for a great entry level unit that has many features of much more expensive units.

This product works as advertised but the challenge is the screen size. It’s extremely difficult to see bass using side imaging or down imaging on such a small screen. Everything is compressed so it’s the difference between looking trying to find Waldo in a “Where’s Waldo” book in a large 13×11 book size picture like a 12” screen in book versus a large index card with the same image.

I’ve played with the side imaging rage to reduce it to around 15’ on each side for better results, but it’s still a challenge seeing bass and now with a reduced capability. I should have purchased a larger unit because this is virtually unusable for me in a canoe even with it only 2-3 feet in front of me.

I have a trolling motor propelling forward so it’s not that I’m stationary trying to use side imaging. I have to get extremely close to try and make out the image. Again, the product does what it says but you just can see well.

Forget standing trying to view it. I wish there was a way to connect a larger monitor that merely duplicates what’s on the head unit.

Purchased this unit to replace my 80’s fish finder with expectations that it would out perform the fish finding capabilities of my old unit. This is great for navigation and observing bottom structure but it fails greatly as a fish finder.

With fish ID and fish alarm turned on, fish can swim directly under the transducer and NO alarm or image observed. I reinstalled my old unit and with the use of a floating transducer setup I could clearly and accurately compare bottom structure and depth between the two units.

When fish would swim under my boat my old (Not hummingbird) fish finder would immediately identify the fish and I did clearly see the image of the fish but Nothing of the fish observed on my new hummingbird unit.

Do not get rid of your old unit too fast!.

Took it out on a local lake with my inflatable boat. It tells you depth, temperature and showed fish that we were able to catch (some Burbot). Way cheaper and way more portable than any other fish finder with a screen since you are already carrying your phone for the screen.

I plan to use it for ice fishing too, can’t wait.

I bought this for the local ponds (~10 acres). The sonar works great and paints a clear picture of where the fish are hanging out. I found two new spots the first time I used it and caught fish within the first two casts.

I’m still trying to understand how to use the mapping tool correctly.

Super Easy to use, charges fast and has not gone dead yet and I have fished for 6+ hours. Starts up right after hitting the water and has a nice and simple readout that can be understood by novice or advanced sonar users.

The pricepoint is great as well. I am casting from bank with a 6’9 Medium Fast with 20lb Braid. I WOULD RECOMMEND A Heavier action and Medium Heavy Rod, but it works well even on this lighter srtup.

I recently had a warranty issue with my Elite Ti2. I called Lowrance and got a very nice person on the phone. We talked about the issues the unit was having and it was determined that I needed to return the unit to be tested.

I tracked the shipment, and the day it was received they tested it found it was bad and sent a new unit the same day. What else can you ask for? I have read a lot of nasty reviews and comments about Lowrance having bad customer service.

My personal experience has been has been great. I have owned Lowrance products for over 30 years. They have addressed every problem I’ve had over the years. I think some of the people that write nasty comments were probably just as nasty when they called Lowrance to begin with.

Be nice and work with the technician and they will take care of you. It’s always worked for me.

I bought this based on an in store demonstration where the fellow showed me active imaging. I was initially looking for a Ti2 7″ to mount to my bow to match the Elite Ti2 12″ on my console but they didn’t have any.

So this is what I bought based on the guy saying words to the effect of “This is what you can do with it” and showed me a demonstration of the live imaging. What he failed to say, or if he did say it, it was not clear, that I would need double the cost of the unit to buy the Lowrance ActiveTarget Live Sonar at an additional $1499.

00 plus tax. Lowrance owns some of this too, they use very techie descriptive but non-committed words to imply that the unit comes with everything you need but fails to state clearly that it you want the active imaging, whip out your wallet again.

So the reality is that I now use it with pretty much the same features as my Elite Ti2 12″ at a slightly higher price than I would have paid for a Elite Ti2 7″ but no active imaging, thus the 3 stars.

But In my mind, the way this is described by both Lowrance and BPS it was all deceptive. Perhaps it just the way of the world today but I expected more.

Fantastic electronics. It has made a tremendous difference in my fishing success. I have used it with great results for kokanee in the lakes, coho/chinook in the ocean as well as lingcod and rockfish.

Amazingly easy to use, especially with the touch screen interface. Watch a ton of YouTube videos on how to set up and tune your transducer for the best results for your fishing conditions. critical. Being able to see fish rise to hit your bait while troling or jigging gives you a huge edge.

I highly recomend this fish finder/gps. combo.

The unit seems good, but it is hard to get working properly. The raymarine forum hasn’t been working since june 2020 so it is hard to get technical assistance. I have the element HV connected in a NMEA2k network to an emtrak B921 AIS.

The element is not displaying any AIS locations. The AIS appears to be transmitting on NMEA according to its diagnostics, by the element does not have any diagnostics like the MFD axiom to actually troubleshoot.

I cannot see any settings to fix this. I have a navionics map sd card which I have selected as the map source. When I first used it, the proper level of detail displayed. Now it seems to have switched to extremely low resolution.

I can’t find any setting which fixes this. The GPS location is accurate and I am 99% sure the navionics card is not yet corrupted. The element should be able to obtain power from the NMEA2k network. However this doesn’t seem to work.

It will only power on if separate power cable that connects with the nmea2k cable into a single connector is connected to the battery. Lastly the unit should have shipped with a HV100 transducer but this was not present.

I have contacted support but this has not yet been resolved.

I would give the Element 7HV a 3. 5 rating so far – after about 1/2 a dozen uses so far. The unit’s speed and responsiveness when switching screens is excellent, as advertised. The function of the hypervision, sidevision, and downvision has been quite good.

However the standard CHIRP function has been quite sensitive to noise – I have had to frequently adjust the sensitivity and noise rejection settings to get a reasonable, usable display and I often lose the depth reading when the setup is not just right.

Also, I recall reading or watching a video somewhere that suggested that several desirable features may be added in the future with software updates – for example, perhaps the ability to use a remote display app like you have in the past with other products.

However, the website shows the most recent software update to be over a year old at this time. It would be nice for the user base to know what updates may be available in the hopefully very near future.

I bought this unit for my kayak and could not be any happier! I was moving up from another brand (Lowrance Hook 2 7) that did not last 2 years. Upon installing and using the Element 7, the first thing that was very clear is it is night and day different.

It should be since it is in a much higher price range. The images are crystal clear, the functionality is quite simple and user friendly. I still have a lot to learn with it but feel like I will be very happy for many years to come! To be fair, there is one negative that I have noticed.

When on a mapping screen, there is a lag between movement of my kayak and when it shows on the screen. I heard Gene Jensen mention the same thing so I know it isn’t just me. I wish it updated the on screen icon a little faster.

Aside from that I am very happy with my purchase. It feels like it is built very solidly, actually has some weight to it. I am very hopeful that it will last many years.

I CAUGHT 40 WALLEYES IN 2020 FROM MY BOAT. INSTALLED MY HELIX THIS SPRING AND BOATED OVER 180 WALLEYES THIS YEAR. THE SIDE IMAGING HAS BEEN GREAT FOR FINDING WEED EDGES, FISH CRIBS, ROCKS, ETC. THE CLARITY OF THE DOWN IMAGING AND 2D SONAR HAS BEEN INCREDIBLE FOR IDENTIFYING FISH.

THE NEW LAKEMASTER MAPS YOU CAN RUN ON THIS UNIT PROVIDE GREAT DETAIL. I LOVE THE 3 BUTTONS THAT CAN BE USED TO PRESET VIEWS. I HAVE ONE ON MY LAKE MAP SHOWING MY WAYPOINTS AND DETAILED CONTOUR LINES, THE SECOND IS MY SIDE IMAGING AND THE THIRD IS A SPLIT SCREEN BETWEEN DOWN IMAGING AND 2D SONAR.

I BOUNCE BACK AND FORTH CONSTANTLY BETWEEN THESE VIEWS. I HAVE AN ICE CONVERSION KIT ON ORDER SO I CAN USE MY UNIT FOR ICE FISHING. I ALSO HAVE A 360 UNIVERAL MOUNT ON ORDER THAT I HOPE TO HAVE MOUNTED ON MY BOAT FOR THE 2022 WALLEYE OPENER.

I’VE SPENT HOURS RIDING AROUND WITHOUT WETTING A LINE JUST PLAYING WITH MY ELECTRONICS AND LEARNING THE WATER. ALSO CATCHING A LOT OF CRAPPIES JUST BECAUSE I SEE THESE BIG SCHOOLS MOVING UNDER MY BOAT THROUGHOUT THE WATER COLUMN.

I’M STILL LEARNING THE CAPABILITIES OF MY UNIT WHILE BOATING A GOOD NUMBER OF FISH. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT.

My first fishfinder was a simple Humminbird Piranha. Did the job, but I wanted more. Got a great deal on a different maker’s 7 inch top of the line. Big mistake. Never worked properly. Terrible, incomprehensible manual.

A lemon. Dumped it for a Helix 7 MSI G4. WOW! What a difference. Way better than the other fishfinder. Incredible sonar. The Summary Guide got me started quickly, and the simulations are terrific. Easy to set up and easy to use.

Wish I had stuck with Humminbird all along.

First off, finding any unit these days is difficult at best. Everyone is buying boats and the pandemic and all. I was lucky to find this as a former display model at a fantastic price. My old 917C died (mostly my fault), and I really liked that one for all the features it had (Navionics built in was a big plus).

This Helix 8 is a suitable replacement model. It is familiar to use, but I’m still figuring out some of the screen settings, the menu is expanded from previous generations. I wish I could have re-used my old transducer, but alas, this is the newer technology.

The old power cable worked, cutting down installation time a bit. The bigger screen is nice, but harder to keep clean. Keep a good screen cleaning cloth on board! The information presented on the screens is as good as before.

Again, this unit is familiar and works well. The one star removed (4/5) is for no protective cover. The older units at least came with that white plastic shell to cover them. Some other brands include them.

Give us something at least.

it’s ok but cheap made. sealed just with second glue. enters water. then stops working for a while. report will show , disconnected or to shallow. that will mean water inside. but water inside will damage the battery.

anyway its weak. you can not disassemble it. so better would be that the unit would be sealed at least with some kind of silicon glue. and wrapped around with clear silicon tape for extra seal or bumper hit protective features.

now I did it better.

Just recently received my unit and being completely terrified to start the learning process. I’m 67 and like most my age technically challenged ,I did spend time learning on YouTube doing the best I can to prepare and highly recommend doing the same.

Well Geezers Fear Not! I took my time programming in the driveway and glad I did. I fish tidal creeks for bass and speckled trout through the winter creeks and they are pretty narrow so Side Imaging was my main interest.

I set everything for a 15’max and 50′ wide and proceeded to the river. The detail with Mega Imaging was incredible and as I made my way down the creek in total amazement. I came to the last bend in the creek and notice many shadows on SI just like the manual could it be? Yes, I turned around to fish into the current and proceeded to catch 15 trout in the next half hour.

To say I was excited is the understatement of the year. I have always been envious of the bass pro’s and didn’t realize that it was now within reach for the average guy. I realize I have a pretty narrow focus of use but have already using a lot of other features and expanding my knowledge and it is awesome.

I recently talked to a guy that has a Mega 360 and has never seen a fish on it, he said I never adjusted anything. Take you time and tweak!.

A good unit – easy to use. Like other reviewers, I found the lack of any user documentation frustrating. I had to go online to find a manual for the Hook2 series. However, most of the manual dealt with navigation, down scanning and other features that the 4X doesn’t have.

Even the diagrams were for higher end models and took a little working out which buttons related to which features. Only about six pages were relevant. Common Lowrance! – it can’t be that hard to provide half a dozen pages with 4X specific diagrams in the box.

Especially given that many customers will be buying this outfit as their first sounder. I purchased this unit to provide a second screen down at the transom (I also bought a second battery [deep cycle, 7Ahr] for around $45.

This saved wiring in to my existing electrics and also a drain on my main battery). My main unit, with navigation, down and side scan and other bells & whistles is up the front and difficult to see when fishing down the back.

I use it off shore and offer these couple of tips for others thinking of doing the same: 1) switch off the 200kh frequency of your main unit as the signals will confuse the transducer of the 4X; and 2) if there is any current and you are using burley in anything over about 15 meters, you probably won’t see the fish as they will be down current and out of the cone range.

I bought this fish finder on a budget because the salesman talk me into it. Worst mistake I’ve made dealing with my boat. Since day one it’s been issue after issue! Would not work properly for day one.

First hour or two seemed fine, then bam! Issue after issue. The screen keeps glitching, will not read depth accurately or at all, the unit keeps black screening on and off; now the unit will not turn off at all.

It I’ll power down and instantly turn itself on! Did a hard reset. Still having issues. I’m a Lowrance guy, but this is purely a waste of money and time!! Highly disappointed! Only been out on the water twice.

I’m down with it!!!.

I should have listened the the bad reviews posted. however I took a chance and bought one. I wanted something simple to mount on my trolling motor on the bow. All I really wanted it for was contour and depth, I have a nice fish finder on the console.

The initial startup was fine. I turned fish ID on and was good to go, then I had to turn the ID off. It littered the screen with fish, false fish. I figured I could turn it off and not use that feature.

Then about 10 minutes into use it started glitching all over. The graph started registering the wrong depth, by hundreds of feet. Then it would level off and be fine. Then it was doing it all the time.

I would shut it off and turn it back on and it would be fine for a couple of minutes and then go crazy again. registering the wrong depth back and forth between 200 and 30 feet. It was enough that I finally shut it off completely.

Long and the short of it. I have an older Lowrance that does not have a lot of features that this one is suppose to have, however I wanted to get something newer than my 20+ year old fish finder for the bow.

I should have just used my trusty old one or got another older model on ebay that was proven. I have a hook reveal on the console and it is amazing. Just wanted a simple fish finder up front on the bow, and this is not it.

Save time and money and get something else from Lowrance.

Well the current fishing environment is going technical. Whether the technology is overkill from the days of using a Silent-Sixty flasher is up to each’s opinion. The basic concept has not changed, assist one in catching more fish.

If you watch the latest bassmaster classic you will notice participate’s are not getting their line wet until they mark a fish. This product is not to that level yet, but Humminbird/Garmin have the tech to do such things.

Once you figure out the technology, this product brings a unique future to the table, 3D imaging under a grand. Another benefit is a 3 year warranty. Ultimately if you don’t want to pay for Panoptix or Humminbird 360 Imaging the Element might be your huckleberry.

Depending on your depth this product transducer will sweep a range between 170khz-210khz. Compared to Garmin and Humminbird transducers, it’s not nearly the range of the GT52/54 or Humminbird Mega. Competition in the sonar market is good for consumers, it allows one to make choices based off their wants and budget.

Back to square one, is this product an improvement over a Silent-Sixty Flasher? Yes. Does it offer a competitive advantage? No. Will it allow me to out-fish a bassmaster or PWT fisherman? No. Did I lean towards this product based off the warranty? Yes.