Hey!

 

I’m getting an OT Sportsman 120 PDL and will be moving to Minneapolis this year. I’m looking at joining some kayak bass tournaments and am looking at getting a fish finder with sideview. Brand, I’m unsure on and will do more research. The thing I keep seeing is you’ll want 9in fish finder when using side view. Is it really worth spending the extra money? Would a 9in unit be overkill for a kayak? Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Respectfully,

Chris

Had a 7 inch, upgraded to a 9 inch, not to big for a kayak and certainly not overkill. 

11 minutes ago, Dens228 said:

Had a 7 inch, upgraded to a 9 inch, not to big for a kayak and certainly not overkill. 

Thank you! Worth the $ for the difference?

1 hour ago, Chris Shonefeld said:

Hey!

 

I’m getting an OT Sportsman 120 PDL and will be moving to Minneapolis this year. I’m looking at joining some kayak bass tournaments and am looking at getting a fish finder with sideview. Brand, I’m unsure on and will do more research. The thing I keep seeing is you’ll want 9in fish finder when using side view. Is it really worth spending the extra money? Would a 9in unit be overkill for a kayak? Any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Respectfully,

Chris

You're in my exact same shoes, getting a 120 PDL here in the coming months and looking to rig it.  Everyone I have spoke to said that bigger is always better.  The $100 difference that usually comes with going from 7 to 9" is always worth it.  

 

What brand are you thinking of?  I see alot of garmin reviews, Raymarine seem nice but more expensive.  Not sure what else

23 minutes ago, Denny said:

You're in my exact same shoes, getting a 120 PDL here in the coming months and looking to rig it.  Everyone I have spoke to said that bigger is always better.  The $100 difference that usually comes with going from 7 to 9" is always worth it.  

 

What brand are you thinking of?  I see alot of garmin reviews, Raymarine seem nice but more expensive.  Not sure what else

Hey Denny! Looking at the Garmin’s a bit more. I know the sportsman isn’t setup for the Garmin trans but Garmin has some pretty good sales that make it worth it. Plus, I tried Garmin at BP and really like it. It also comes with maps preloaded unlike HB where you have to pay an extra $100 for the card. Also, it’s touchscreen. Will probably mount the trans to a ram mount or yak attack arm. 
 

What were you thinking of?

13 minutes ago, Chris Shonefeld said:

Hey Denny! Looking at the Garmin’s a bit more. I know the sportsman isn’t setup for the Garmin trans but Garmin has some pretty good sales that make it worth it. Plus, I tried Garmin at BP and really like it. It also comes with maps preloaded unlike HB where you have to pay an extra $100 for the card. Also, it’s touchscreen. Will probably mount the trans to a ram mount or yak attack arm. 
 

What were you thinking of?

That is literally exactly what my plan was.  Going to go with a Garmin Vivid 9sv and probably a ram mount.  Which were you looking at that came with a touch screen?  I know the 9SV isnt and thats actually a pro in my mind as my fingers are usually a mess while I go fishing and not having to touch the screen seems better in my eyes but not positive. Im a green horn, only ever been on the bank fishing 

3 minutes ago, Denny said:

That is literally exactly what my plan was.  Going to go with a Garmin Vivid 9sv and probably a ram mount.  Which were you looking at that came with a touch screen?  I know the 9SV isnt and thats actually a pro in my mind as my fingers are usually a mess while I go fishing and not having to touch the screen seems better in my eyes but not positive. Im a green horn, only ever been on the bank fishing 

None of the Strikers (Plus or Vivid) have touch-screen - that's on the Echomaps.

(gonna break in a 7cv in the spring)

2 minutes ago, Denny said:

That is literally exactly what my plan was.  Going to go with a Garmin Vivid 9sv and probably a ram mount.  Which were you looking at that came with a touch screen?  I know the 9SV isnt and thats actually a pro in my mind as my fingers are usually a mess while I go fishing and not having to touch the screen seems better in my eyes but not positive. Im a green horn, only ever been on the bank fishing 

Ha! I could be wrong. But either way it looks like the way to go. I heard BP has a big spring sale and will look at picking it up around then. We’ll see if they can come back down to 550-600.

1 hour ago, Chris Shonefeld said:

Thank you! Worth the $ for the difference?

Yep

25 minutes ago, Chris Shonefeld said:

Ha! I could be wrong. But either way it looks like the way to go. I heard BP has a big spring sale and will look at picking it up around then. We’ll see if they can come back down to 550-600.

Another thing to note - the built-in maps are NOT on the Striker. Again, Echomap for those.

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

Another thing to note - the built-in maps are NOT on the Striker. Again, Echomap for those.

Ah thats good info, I could probably use that around here...

2 hours ago, Denny said:

Ah thats good info, I could probably use that around here...

Same here!!

There's a few things to keep in mind here. The first thing to note is the screens on most 7 and 9s are the same number of pixels overall, so the 7 will be sharper looking. The best advantage of the 9" model is that it will be easier to see in bright sunlight, and using traditional, clearvu and sidevu all at once is a little larger and easier to see. If you have sidevu full screen, the 7" shouldn't be a problem.

 

The other thing to keep in mind is where are you going to mount it. If you mount it on the side of the boat, I would go with a 7", as 9" might get in the way a little. The 9" on my Bonafide 127 is center mounted on the dry pod, and it's not too big.

 

You should be fine mounting a Garmin to you Sportsman. I got my kids EchoMap UHD 73sv on sale at BPS for Xmas, and my youngest has an Old Town Topwater. I haven't mounted the transducer yet, but I will this spring. The mounts included should work fine from what I've seen on people's Youtube installs.

 

Finally if you can get a deal on an EchoMap maybe in BPS's spring sale, I'd say it's worth it. Even if you fish the same small lake or two so the maps aren't a huge deal, the touchscreen interface is much easier to use.

^^I second Boomsticks' opinions.  I went with the Striker Plus 7sv in the fall (just before the sales and new vivid model came out).  I later looked more closely at the EchoMap and in retrospect would go with that one for the extra money to have the touchscreen.

 

I have used my Striker several times now and it is easy to use and intuitive with excellent images.

 

I don't fish many lakes with maps available, but they would be nice to have.

 

I have learned that there is a navionics app that can be used on your phone to help zero you in on areas of interest on lakes that have maps, so that can supplement a unit without maps but obviously has the drawbacks of requiring using the phone too and I'm sure is not nearly as effective as having on your fishfinder.

 

 

3 minutes ago, snake95 said:

I have learned that there is a navionics app that can be used on your phone to help zero you in on areas of interest on lakes that have maps, so that can supplement a unit without maps but obviously has the drawbacks of requiring using the phone too and I'm sure is not nearly as effective as having on your fishfinder.

Or on your tablet. I'll still be using my 8" Galaxy Tab for maps until I've built up the Quickdraw maps for my lakes.

I have both Helix 5 and 7.  I usually end up taking the 5 at a rate 4:1 over the 7.  It's just easier, and stays out of the way.  I do my fair share of video game fishing, but often I'm not staring at the screen.  The only time I feel like it's too small is when I want to see the map, the DI, and the chirp.  That's rare, and usually I'm seated and paddling/pedaling, so the size isn't really that bad.  

I’m new to all of this.  
 

but I really took safety into consideration.  I laid out my boat and went to great lengths to leave enough “landing area” for me to climb back aboard should I fall out by accident.  For me. I have to slide on from the left and get my belly-button dead center of boat.  That means I have to have room for half my torso to overhang the right side of the boat.   I went with a 5” screen, but I think I could make a 7” work.  9”?  Nope. Too big. In warm water, I could disconnect the ram ball.  Cold water?  Hell no!  I’m getting back on ASAP. 
 

just something to consider.