# Depth/fish finder?? 1st one



## rowdy235 (Aug 5, 2021)

I just picked up a Garmin Striker 4 for my 12' fiberglass. Its an awesome unit for the price point (right around $100 on sale), has very clear sonar readings and a built in GPS! I like it so much I am looking at a bigger one to replace my aging humminbird matrix on my pontoon.

I don't know if there's a published spec for minimum depth (like maximum) but I've had this read in as little as 2 feet of water.


----------



## spc7669 (Apr 15, 2015)

I have the Garmin Striker 7 on my Towee. Watch for them to do on sale and you can save some bucks. Very easy to use.


----------



## cdmalgee (Oct 15, 2020)

I have a little higher end Garmin that hasn’t had any troubles. Had a Lowrance HDS for years without any issues. There isn’t a minimum depth that I’ve found - I’ve been poling before and realized it was still on reading 0.5ft.

If you call any of the manufacturers they can’t seem to grasp the concept that you don’t care about trying to find fish with it. I primarily use mine to track paths that I use during the day near low tide so I can run pretty wide open at night, occasionally mark waypoints on productive (or dangerous) oyster bars, but rely on it for location when I’m deep in marshes - because of that, I prefer a higher end unit for display quality.


----------



## mpk1996 (Aug 6, 2020)

For shallow in shore boats, are depth finders/fish finders even worth it?


----------



## BrownDog (Jun 22, 2019)

mpk1996 said:


> For shallow in shore boats, are depth finders/fish finders even worth it?


i don’t run any electronics on my boat and do not feel handicapped in shallow water.


----------



## NealXB2003 (Jun 8, 2020)

I turn the sonar off on mine most of the time in inshore waters in Louisiana and look at the map. In the coastal Louisiana areas, the map card is really satellite imagery (not data points and contour lines from a survey like you see in deeper areas). Sonar is not that useful to me in water depths less than 2', and even less so if grassed up. I have a helix 7, by the way.


----------

