Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fish Finder?

I have a minipontoon (5x10) that I use a lot on our pond (19 acres). Love to fish from it!

I'd like to get some electronics for it.

Wants:
A good enough screen that I can see it easily on a sunny day.

Something I can leave on the boat 24/7 without falling apart.

I want to be able to see fish and structures. Preferably with the ability to see the size of fish and kind of determine what the structure is.

Budget is less than $500 ($200-300 preferred)

Brand and model? What do I want. Just to be honest... I have never owned fishing electronics before so I don't have a clue!

Garmin Striker 4 is on sale at bass pro shops for $100 right now.
I had one at the helm of my river jet boat for quite awhile. I wanted one on my pond hopper boat but they were out of stock
at the time so I bought a Striker 4 Plus (currently $160), put it at the helm of the jet boat and moved the old one to the pond hopper.
They are good basic sonar units. Nothing fancy but they will show you what's down there.

I've got a Garmin 93sv up front on the big boat. Those are around $700 now. I paid $1000 for mine on sale a few years ago.

All that said, for your budget the Garmin Echomap UHD2 52cv ($400) would be my choice. Those have a larger screen than the
Striker 4 and the chart plotter is built in so you can store waypoints (very nice for tagging your favorite brush piles/stumps/etc.).

I have no recent experience with Hummingbird or Lowrance so can't comment on those.

No matter what you land on I'd recommend that you remove it when not in use unless the boat is stored under cover.
The Garmin units have a base that mounts permanently to the boat so it's easy to pull the sonar unit off when you're
not using the boat.

Great advice from Augie.

Even my old gear comes out with three twists on two threaded connectors. If your boat is too small for storage, maybe put a lawn and garden shed or bin on the bank and keep your gear in there. UV, sideways rain, and freeze/thaw cycles are rough on even the best of gear.

Your 19 acres is a lake to most of us! Do you know all of your fish spots from parts that stick up above water level or features on the bank, or do you have some spots that are in deeper water that are unmarked? If you need the GPS, then pay for that. If not, then maybe start with the $100 model. See what you like and don't like and save up for the pricier equipment after you confirm your needs in your pond?

If your water is pretty clear most of the year, then the actual high dollar video viewers may work better for your size and species identifications?

You guys have me researching and digging into this stuff! I think the 7-9 inch screen is going to be important to me. I don't want to have to fight to see what's on the screen. Otherwise I have no clue what features I want. I very much doubt I'd use a waypoint or map of any sort. Just want to see what's in the water. So many choices and options!!!