Does anyone have an opinion on a portable depthfinder to buy?

I have looked at Humminbird and Lowerance.

My girlfriend got me a hawk eye f33p portable fish finder for Christmas and it works awesome.

I compared it to my buddy's hummingbird and the depth was relatively close to each other. Also, it shows weeds and rocks, so to test it, I went to areas I knew had weeds, and the graph worked very well. Just tonight I fabricated a way to have it mount on my Coleman boat.

depends how much you want to spend. i have a piranhamax 160 for my jon boat. it works alright, pretty good for the money. if you got a thick wallet i would look into the 385 ci. has most of the bells and whistles a guy could ask for. i think lowrance has their elite 4 series in a portable version too.

You can make any unit portable. I have a portable setup for a Humminbird 1198c SI to use on some else's boat when needed.

how can you make any unit portable?

It is simple, just need a base to hold the display, a bracket to hold the transducer and a power supply.

With the 1198c SI, I had to add an additional bracket to hold the GPS antenna.

I have used that unit by holding it in my lap when scanning for a pattern on someone else's boat. I got power from their battery using alligator clips on a power cord and have used the cigarette lighter type receptacle on some other boats. "It ain't rocket science".

Same thing with the smaller 798ci SI, but it has an internal GPS antenna so that is one less piece of hardware to deal with.

I have mounts in my den for those units and get 12V power from AC/DC adaptors.

One of my more compact setups in my den.

yeah getting the voltage isn't the problem...im a gse in the navy...and engineer...the problem is, is that im gone 8 months out of the year and the reservoir I fish at is owned by the city...and the boat that they rent out are aluminum and only ran on trolling motors...so to mount the tranducer would be a little difficult the screen isn't the problem.

yeah getting the voltage isn't the problem...im a gse in the navy...and engineer...the problem is, is that im gone 8 months out of the year and the reservoir I fish at is owned by the city...and the boat that they rent out are aluminum and only ran on trolling motors...so to mount the tranducer would be a little difficult the screen isn't the problem.

One of the most popular mount locations on bass boats for the transducer is on the trolling motor.

That is your solution. If you rent the motor, just be prepared to attach your transducer to their motor. All it takes is a large stainless steel hose clamp and a couple of pieces of tape to hold the cable on the shaft.

That is about a 1 minute install.

Here is two transducers on the bottom of a trolling motor:

Suction cup used to stick the transducer to the transom of the boat. I've used this with a friends portable fish finder for years, we've never had it come off when stuck to the transom or anything. Its the easiest way to keep the transducer portable, and they are available for all major brands of fish finders.

Thanks Wayne you have been a great help !

You're making things wayyyyy too complicated.

Suction cup used to stick the transducer to the transom of the boat. I've used this with a friends portable fish finder for years, we've never had it come off when stuck to the transom or anything. Its the easiest way to keep the transducer portable, and they are available for all major brands of fish finders.

Yeah that's just the way I am man

You're making things wayyyyy too complicated. Suction cup used to stick the transducer to the transom of the boat. I've used this with a friends portable fish finder for years, we've never had it come off when stuck to the transom or anything. Its the easiest way to keep the transducer portable, and they are available for all major brands of fish finders.

That is a good attachment in SOME cases, I haven't had much luck with it on an aluminum hull though, especially a painted one like a lot of jon boats are.

Works great on fiberglass and very smooth plastic.

That is a good attachment in SOME cases, I haven't had much luck with it on an aluminum hull though, especially a painted one like a lot of jon boats are.

Works great on fiberglass and very smooth plastic.

I've never had a problem, its been used on a few different boats. My old aluminum 12' Aerocraft, 12' fiberglass, a chunk of wood with a piece of sheet metal screwed to it hanging off the side of a kayak, up to a 20' inboard Four Winns. Not once have we had it come off or anything.

I have an Elite 5 DSI and its mounted in a pelican case. I just open the case and run the power to battery using alligator clips, and the transducer down the trolling motor with a Lowrance trolling motor mounting accessory. The accessory just holds the transducer in a covering that uses a steel hose clamp. Then I just use strap tiesdown the shaft of the trolling motor. 5 min install. I also have a friend that used a small cooler just large enought to hold a 12 volt deep cycle battery, screen, wiring and transducer. He uses a cover for the screen, and a bag for the accessories and it all stores inside. When in use just attach the screen o the base on top of the cooler and run the transducer down the trolling motor like stated above. Works great. The pelican case that I use doesnt have its own power supply but most boats do. Its very easy to transposrt and will do a great job of protecting your investment from bumps dings and the elements.