Humminbird Fishin Buddy Fish Finders?

[Chrisper4694]

I have a Jon boat that I transport upside down on my roof rack so nothing is attached to it permanently. For a fish finder I rigged it up in a milk crate which gets strapped down in the seat with a battery in it and head unit attached to the front then a pvc arm that twists to hold the transducer in the water. I use this for my Jon boat, kayak, and ice fishing all interchangeable.

[justin1982]

I have a fishing buddy. As said before, it's great for locating drop offs, holes, etc and water temps. I'm still figuring everything out on it but for the price and convenience I think it's the best bet

[catfishonthelake]

I used to have a fishing buddy and it got the job done, but the 6 C battery thing was a total pain sometimes. If you have a few more bucks to burn, I HIGHLY recommend the Humminbird 345c Portable. It's a self-contained unit in a carrying case that has a rechargeable battery and a transducer with a suction cup. It has a bunch of different modes and even a flasher mode for ice fishing. They sell a separate ice transducer, but you can definitely tweak the one it comes with to work through the ice. I think Lowrance has a portable unit too and so does Garmin. The all have a case that sits right on your deck, bucket floor whatever, have rechargeable batteries and suction cup transducers. I think they're a better alternative. That's my 2 cents.

[jimmythegreek]

If your budget is 300 go get yourself the new humminbird HELIX model, you can get a GPS chartplotter/sonar for under 300, and they are NICE. The other thing you could do is search ebay like catfish suggested, and get a portable setup, this way you can easily suction the ducer to the boat, and also use it for ice fishing. You can also make a bag/base for ANY fishfinder and buy a transducer for ice, they are not expensive. I made mine for under 100 bucks via ebay and includes the ice transducer

[RyanMac14]

Thanks for the advice all. I own a small jon boat that gets transported upside down in the bed of my pickup so anything permanent is pretty much a no go. These units with the suction cup transducer seem interesting but seem a bit awkward. I cant help but picture myself popping it off in the summer when weeds get high or roughing it up upon coming back in onto shore. Any more specfic info on how well they work and specific models?

[CMJeepster]

For me, the best option (simplicity, etc.) was the Fishin' Buddy. it's not for everyone or every appication.

[Eskimo]

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Originally Posted by catfishonthelake

I HIGHLY recommend the Humminbird 345c Portable. It's a self-contained unit in a carrying case that has a rechargeable battery and a transducer with a suction cup.

Very interesting option. My kayak is a sit-on-top. I can't for the life of me see how I could mount one of those self-contained fish-finders with the bow clamp, but it appears I can just stick this portable unit between my legs.