anyone use the humminbird fishin buddy 140c?

[RyanMac14]

I have a small jon boat that I toss in and out of the back of my pickup truck so regular transducer mounted fish finders will not work. Just wondering if its worth it to spend 250 on this or if its unreliable.

[Mikeps326]

I have the hummingbird 500 series for 2 yrs and I'm still trying to figure it out lol when I'm drifting it's great, but when I go over 2 miles you can't really read anything and I can't figure out why I can't ever see a thermocline! Confusing electronic but I know if you learn how to use it, it should be great to find structure and drop-offs.

[justin1982]

I bought one of these last year. It's not the color model but I think it helped me. It was great for depth and surface water temp. It also showed weed lines very well. I'm not on a boat a ton so I didn't really get to work out all the kinks but the mode that shows a "fish shape" is unreliable and the side view was eh. But all in all, I couldn't find anything that resembled this and it is very easy to transport and screw onto the boat. Just remember to remove it from the mount when you move the boat, it gets stuck in the water and could break the mount.

[RyanMac14]

Justin you mean simply when i decide to move spots I have to pull it out of the water?

[Chrisper4694]

I'm in a Jon boat too. I rigged a regular ff to a milk crate with a pvc arm to hold the transducer in the water. I can bungee it to the front of the Jon boat or kayak interchangeable. I even replace the pvc arm with a piece of foam and use it as an ice ff unit. It gets the job done.

[justin1982]

Justin you mean simply when i decide to move spots I have to pull it out of the water?

Yea just lift it right out

[Polelock]

I use the 110 on my inflatable.. Shows depth and structure just fine...

[NJSquatch]

If you want to rig up your existing FF Check out these guys http://www.fishfindermounts.com/. They have magnetic transducer mounts and other types of mounting gear for fish finders on smaller boats including small 12 volts.

I have an old portable Humminbird that uses a suction cup to mount the transducer on the boat. Worked pretty well when I was in RI fishing out of a jon boat and using a TM. AH the good old simple days.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Humminbird-reg-Portable-Transducer-Mounting-Hardware/1244624.uts?productVariantId=3024867&srccode=cii_17588969&cpncode=44-37828543-2&WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=03298622&rid=20

[bigfishy]

Gr8 link squatch.....Especially the first one.....I have zero intensions purchasing ANY of their products, but the pictures alone, get the wheels turning and bring out other gr8 ideas....TY:D

[CMJeepster]

Check out these threads: http://www.njfishing.com/forums/search.php?searchid=308540

[yumasdad]

Check the GARMIN units, they have thru hull transducers. Used them on kayaks before by mounting in a foam block glued to hull. A little bit of water in foam block under the transducer was it needed to work.
Lots of links out there for mounting instructions for this set up.

[RyanMac14]

Nothing comes up when i click the link. I ordered it so I will test it for myself and see how it goes.

[CMJeepster]

Nothing comes up when i click the link. I ordered it so I will test it for myself and see how it goes.

Hmmm... Weird. Search "140c" and you'll get 4 threads. Here's my write-up on one of those threads:


I've been using the Fishin' Buddy 140C (color & sideview) for a year now on my kayak in mostly freshwater. It's been great for both finding fish and being able to observe the bottom for structure & holes, etc. on bodies of water that I'm not familiar with. The sideview is nice to be able to locate fish hiding along a bank / in cover and the downview easily & accurately allows you to find out where the fish are in the water column. Heck, I pulled in my first lake trout last Saturday at Round Valley using the unit to find the depth of the fish and vertically jigging a Binsky Blade.

I like that it uses 6-AA batteries that I can pick up anywhere in the U.S. should mine die. I usually keep a spare sent in a ZipLoc in the kayak just in case. I am going to buy two sets of rechargeables soon though. Battery life can vary depending on conditions, but I've gotten about 16-20 hours of operation out of a set.

Is it worth the ~$250 that I spent on it from WalMart.com? Absolutely! It's helped me be able to find fish while prospecting unknow-to-me bodies of water and land fish that I wouldn't have found had I not had it.

The only drawback that I can think of is that I need to remove it if I'm paddling with a purpose as the drag that it creates makes it wobble and slows me down. It's a 8 second operation, so not a big deal.

Any specific questions?

[RyanMac14]

Great write up thanks. I have never used a fishfinder before so any tips for beginners. Also recommended settings that you have played with?

[CMJeepster]

Great write up thanks. I have never used a fishfinder before so any tips for beginners. Also recommended settings that you have played with?

This is my first one, so I can't compare it to anything. Like I said above, I wanted an easy-to-use, easy-to-install, basic unit. This is it. I'm in a kayak, not a bass boat, so this fits my bill on many levels.

BTW, I picked up some Duracell rechargeable AAs at Sam's on Friday that I will be trying out in the unit. More on those later.