Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

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freelancer27
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Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by freelancer27 » Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:05 am

Hi guys!

I am absolutely stocked! I got an amazing deal on a basically new 2019 Pro Anger 14.

Now, to the next task of finding the right Fish Finder for my needs.

Since I am bit of a newbie in this regard, I am hoping to get some inputs from the community on this.

Requirements:

* At least 7 inch
* Down and side scanning
* good, robust quality
* Compatible with my hobie (I do not have the tools nor the know how to do a lot of custom work)
* Price should be (including the battery, transducer ) under 1000 USD


Thanks all!

Cheers,
Seb.

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by Hobie-Wan Kenobi » Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:39 am

I ran a Humminbird 899 on my PA12. 8in wasnt too bad on the Hobie. If yours cane with the flat platform that goes on the H-Bar, you can use a C-Clamp or other means to attach it. Really secure. I do that on my PA17. I did some easy modifications to make it work as cheap as possible.

I used PVC to attach mine at first.

There are attachments (RAM I think) that would allow you to attach the transducer to the rear handle.
IG @hobie_wan_kenobi_fishing

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by freelancer27 » Fri Dec 20, 2019 11:51 am

Hobie-Wan Kenobi wrote:
Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:39 am
I ran a Humminbird 899 on my PA12. 8in wasnt too bad on the Hobie. If yours cane with the flat platform that goes on the H-Bar, you can use a C-Clamp or other means to attach it. Really secure. I do that on my PA17. I did some easy modifications to make it work as cheap as possible.

I used PVC to attach mine at first.

There are attachments (RAM I think) that would allow you to attach the transducer to the rear handle.
Thanks for the feedback!

Options that I currently consider:

* Hummingbird Helix 7 MSI GPS G3 NAV
* Hummingbird Helix8 MSI+ GPS G3N
--> What is the difference between 'side imaging' and 'side imaging +'. Is it that the later just goes deeper, but has the same clarity, etc.?
* Lowrance Elite-7 Ti2 Fishfinder/Chartplotters

* Lowrance Elite-9 Ti2 Fishfinder/Chartplotters

What are your thoughts?

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by bwjay » Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:21 pm

You can find an Garmin echoMAP Plus 93sv (9", side imaging, touchscreen) for around $600 right now. They were $600 everywhere around Black Friday, some people are still offering the deal. Stupid good deal for what you get!

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by freelancer27 » Mon Dec 30, 2019 5:29 am

bwjay wrote:
Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:21 pm
You can find an Garmin echoMAP Plus 93sv (9", side imaging, touchscreen) for around $600 right now. They were $600 everywhere around Black Friday, some people are still offering the deal. Stupid good deal for what you get!
Thanks!

Yeah I was at a (poorly equipped) West Marine in Tampa Florida the other day (while on vacation) and I have to say that the Garmin and Raymarine options are interesting as well! Especially the Raymarine's 3D scan was interesting.

Still need to learn a lot more before i can make an educated decision.

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by freelancer27 » Tue Dec 31, 2019 4:38 pm

bwjay wrote:
Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:21 pm
You can find an Garmin echoMAP Plus 93sv (9", side imaging, touchscreen) for around $600 right now. They were $600 everywhere around Black Friday, some people are still offering the deal. Stupid good deal for what you get!
Was today at the Westmarin in Marin City (their flagship store) and talked with a very knowledgable and objective guy there.

What I really did not understand before was that one needs a special transducer to get all of the special featues (mega side imaging, 3d scan, Live scope, etc.). And these transducers are quite big (unfit for a kayak) and cost another 1.5k USD on top of the fishfinder itself.

With all my research, I did not understand that. So was very happy to learn that.

He also walked me a bit through the different modesl (Hummingbird Helix, Lowrance Elite, Garmin Echomap and Raymarine Element).

He said that for his money he would go with the ECHOMAP™ UHD 93sv and the GT54UHD-TM Transducer which I could get for 999 USD (+ tax) or the Ray Marine Element with HV-100 Transom-Mount Transducer for 1050USD.

Would power it with this: NOCQUA Pro Power Kit Battery Pack 10.0 Ah

What do you guys think on the guy's input and the options?

Leaning towards the Garmin as of now.

Thanks all and Happy 2020!!!

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by bwjay » Tue Dec 31, 2019 7:16 pm

freelancer27 wrote:
Tue Dec 31, 2019 4:38 pm
bwjay wrote:
Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:21 pm
You can find an Garmin echoMAP Plus 93sv (9", side imaging, touchscreen) for around $600 right now. They were $600 everywhere around Black Friday, some people are still offering the deal. Stupid good deal for what you get!
Was today at the Westmarin in Marin City (their flagship store) and talked with a very knowledgable and objective guy there.

What I really did not understand before was that one needs a special transducer to get all of the special featues (mega side imaging, 3d scan, Live scope, etc.). And these transducers are quite big (unfit for a kayak) and cost another 1.5k USD on top of the fishfinder itself.

With all my research, I did not understand that. So was very happy to learn that.

He also walked me a bit through the different modesl (Hummingbird Helix, Lowrance Elite, Garmin Echomap and Raymarine Element).

He said that for his money he would go with the ECHOMAP™ UHD 93sv and the GT54UHD-TM Transducer which I could get for 999 USD (+ tax) or the Ray Marine Element with HV-100 Transom-Mount Transducer for 1050USD.

Would power it with this: NOCQUA Pro Power Kit Battery Pack 10.0 Ah

What do you guys think on the guy's input and the options?

Leaning towards the Garmin as of now.

Thanks all and Happy 2020!!!
Panoptix/Livescope is a whooole different thing, man. None of the other big brands have anything like it. It's not like it's a missing feature that you have to pay extra for; it's a whole new thing that is awesome and earns its price. But it is quite spendy.

As for transducer mounting, the GT54UHD ain't gonna be small. My GT52HW (from the 93sv) is a decent size. I'll be putting it on a flexible RAM mount transducer arm.

The UHD units are pretty sweet though and the UHD transducers seem to put out an amazingly detailed image. People seem to be very happy with them. But for $400 less you can get a "still great" Plus 93sv.

I have a 10Ah Nocqua battery and have ran it on my Striker 4 (non-Plus). They advertise 0.25A power draw, so you should get 40 hours of runtime. At 70% brightness on 77/200kHz CHIRP, I got something like 26 hours out of it (hitting the 11.2V voltage alarm pre-programmed). You can lower the alarm but you risk damaging batteries if you drain them too much, and I haven't asked Nocqua what's safe yet. So it's maybe 6Ah of usable juice (stopping at 11.2V) which will probably only give you 5-6 hours on a Plus 93sv with the GT52HW transducer. I don't know if the UHD draws more power but I bet it does, even if only a little bit.

Option 1: Buy 2 10Ah Nocquas and their Y connector to power you for a full day of fishing
Option 2: Buy an 18Ah Amped Outdoors LiFePO4 battery that can be drained almost completely and will definitely give you a full day of fishing, maybe 2 (need to make a waterproof enclosure)
Option 3: Buy a 30Ah Amped Outdoors LiFePO4 battery and never worry about having enough juice (need to make a waterproof enclosure)

Option 1 and 2 probably come out to a similar cost after buying the charger for the 18Ah and making a box. Option 3 is more expensive but you get so much power, you could do a 3 day 2 night camping trip and have the graph running 8 hours a day and still have another day or two of juice.

I hope this helps though I'm sure it complicates things again. :)

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by freelancer27 » Wed Jan 01, 2020 4:44 pm

bwjay wrote:
Tue Dec 31, 2019 7:16 pm
freelancer27 wrote:
Tue Dec 31, 2019 4:38 pm
bwjay wrote:
Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:21 pm
You can find an Garmin echoMAP Plus 93sv (9", side imaging, touchscreen) for around $600 right now. They were $600 everywhere around Black Friday, some people are still offering the deal. Stupid good deal for what you get!
Was today at the Westmarin in Marin City (their flagship store) and talked with a very knowledgable and objective guy there.

What I really did not understand before was that one needs a special transducer to get all of the special featues (mega side imaging, 3d scan, Live scope, etc.). And these transducers are quite big (unfit for a kayak) and cost another 1.5k USD on top of the fishfinder itself.

With all my research, I did not understand that. So was very happy to learn that.

He also walked me a bit through the different modesl (Hummingbird Helix, Lowrance Elite, Garmin Echomap and Raymarine Element).

He said that for his money he would go with the ECHOMAP™ UHD 93sv and the GT54UHD-TM Transducer which I could get for 999 USD (+ tax) or the Ray Marine Element with HV-100 Transom-Mount Transducer for 1050USD.

Would power it with this: NOCQUA Pro Power Kit Battery Pack 10.0 Ah

What do you guys think on the guy's input and the options?

Leaning towards the Garmin as of now.

Thanks all and Happy 2020!!!
Panoptix/Livescope is a whooole different thing, man. None of the other big brands have anything like it. It's not like it's a missing feature that you have to pay extra for; it's a whole new thing that is awesome and earns its price. But it is quite spendy.

As for transducer mounting, the GT54UHD ain't gonna be small. My GT52HW (from the 93sv) is a decent size. I'll be putting it on a flexible RAM mount transducer arm.

The UHD units are pretty sweet though and the UHD transducers seem to put out an amazingly detailed image. People seem to be very happy with them. But for $400 less you can get a "still great" Plus 93sv.

I have a 10Ah Nocqua battery and have ran it on my Striker 4 (non-Plus). They advertise 0.25A power draw, so you should get 40 hours of runtime. At 70% brightness on 77/200kHz CHIRP, I got something like 26 hours out of it (hitting the 11.2V voltage alarm pre-programmed). You can lower the alarm but you risk damaging batteries if you drain them too much, and I haven't asked Nocqua what's safe yet. So it's maybe 6Ah of usable juice (stopping at 11.2V) which will probably only give you 5-6 hours on a Plus 93sv with the GT52HW transducer. I don't know if the UHD draws more power but I bet it does, even if only a little bit.

Option 1: Buy 2 10Ah Nocquas and their Y connector to power you for a full day of fishing
Option 2: Buy an 18Ah Amped Outdoors LiFePO4 battery that can be drained almost completely and will definitely give you a full day of fishing, maybe 2 (need to make a waterproof enclosure)
Option 3: Buy a 30Ah Amped Outdoors LiFePO4 battery and never worry about having enough juice (need to make a waterproof enclosure)

Option 1 and 2 probably come out to a similar cost after buying the charger for the 18Ah and making a box. Option 3 is more expensive but you get so much power, you could do a 3 day 2 night camping trip and have the graph running 8 hours a day and still have another day or two of juice.

I hope this helps though I'm sure it complicates things again. :)
Thanks for the great reply!

Yeah, I think I probably try to get the transducer of the '93sv plus' (if I choose it, still havent completely decided) and try to get it into the transducer area of the PA 14 (somehow installed). There are some vids out there on how to DIY that (lets see if I am savy enough).

For the side scanning ability the transducer would need to stick out of the hull though, no? Is this why you are going with the transducer arm?

Thanks again mate!

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by bwjay » Wed Jan 01, 2020 5:08 pm

freelancer27 wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 4:44 pm
Thanks for the great reply!

Yeah, I think I probably try to get the transducer of the '93sv plus' (if I choose it, still havent completely decided) and try to get it into the transducer area of the PA 14 (somehow installed). There are some vids out there on how to DIY that (lets see if I am savy enough).

For the side scanning ability the transducer would need to stick out of the hull though, no? Is this why you are going with the transducer arm?

Thanks again mate!
You do need line of sight for side imaging, which is indeed why I am going with the arm. I can also raise it easily. On the Hobie you can pull up the center console where the transducer is mounted (at least on the Outbacks), but not on my Topwater 120PDL. I'll be able to flip it up and down when going shallow. Even with Hobie's solution, I think the arm is a great option since you're guaranteed to clear the hull and it's super easy to raise/lower on any kayak if you ever end up switching (or travel somewhere on a kayak fishing trip and rent a kayak there).

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by freelancer27 » Wed Jan 01, 2020 6:44 pm

bwjay wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 5:08 pm
freelancer27 wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 4:44 pm
Thanks for the great reply!

Yeah, I think I probably try to get the transducer of the '93sv plus' (if I choose it, still havent completely decided) and try to get it into the transducer area of the PA 14 (somehow installed). There are some vids out there on how to DIY that (lets see if I am savy enough).

For the side scanning ability the transducer would need to stick out of the hull though, no? Is this why you are going with the transducer arm?

Thanks again mate!
You do need line of sight for side imaging, which is indeed why I am going with the arm. I can also raise it easily. On the Hobie you can pull up the center console where the transducer is mounted (at least on the Outbacks), but not on my Topwater 120PDL. I'll be able to flip it up and down when going shallow. Even with Hobie's solution, I think the arm is a great option since you're guaranteed to clear the hull and it's super easy to raise/lower on any kayak if you ever end up switching (or travel somewhere on a kayak fishing trip and rent a kayak there).

Yep the 2019 models introduced this new feature (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqvRcZgl9Xs)

I would like to keep it as compact as possible, hence my desire to install the side scan transducer in the 'Lowrance -ready transducer tray'.

I think I have to call Garmin & Hobie to ensure that it works.

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by bwjay » Wed Jan 01, 2020 7:17 pm

freelancer27 wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 6:44 pm
bwjay wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 5:08 pm
freelancer27 wrote:
Wed Jan 01, 2020 4:44 pm
Thanks for the great reply!

Yeah, I think I probably try to get the transducer of the '93sv plus' (if I choose it, still havent completely decided) and try to get it into the transducer area of the PA 14 (somehow installed). There are some vids out there on how to DIY that (lets see if I am savy enough).

For the side scanning ability the transducer would need to stick out of the hull though, no? Is this why you are going with the transducer arm?

Thanks again mate!
You do need line of sight for side imaging, which is indeed why I am going with the arm. I can also raise it easily. On the Hobie you can pull up the center console where the transducer is mounted (at least on the Outbacks), but not on my Topwater 120PDL. I'll be able to flip it up and down when going shallow. Even with Hobie's solution, I think the arm is a great option since you're guaranteed to clear the hull and it's super easy to raise/lower on any kayak if you ever end up switching (or travel somewhere on a kayak fishing trip and rent a kayak there).

Yep the 2019 models introduced this new feature (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqvRcZgl9Xs)

I would like to keep it as compact as possible, hence my desire to install the side scan transducer in the 'Lowrance -ready transducer tray'.

I think I have to call Garmin & Hobie to ensure that it works.
You might as well give it a shot; no transducer with side imaging is going to fit if the GT52HW doesn't fit. They're all a decent size from what I've seen. At that point you might as well go with an arm.

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by freelancer27 » Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:11 am



Option 1: Buy 2 10Ah Nocquas and their Y connector to power you for a full day of fishing
Option 2: Buy an 18Ah Amped Outdoors LiFePO4 battery that can be drained almost completely and will definitely give you a full day of fishing, maybe 2 (need to make a waterproof enclosure)
Option 3: Buy a 30Ah Amped Outdoors LiFePO4 battery and never worry about having enough juice (need to make a waterproof enclosure)

Option 1 and 2 probably come out to a similar cost after buying the charger for the 18Ah and making a box. Option 3 is more expensive but you get so much power, you could do a 3 day 2 night camping trip and have the graph running 8 hours a day and still have another day or two of juice.

I hope this helps though I'm sure it complicates things again. :)

Just ordered option 1 from Nocquas directly. They honored their 20% off + freebees deal and I paid 250 USD shipped with:

* Kit
* extra 10 AH battery
* Plug 'n' Play Cables - 12 foot
* Smart Link Battery Connector
* Viking Concealment Kayak Hatch Plate - Hobie/Pelican (8.5")

I bought the Hobie lowrance kit (same battery kit and only has the extra holder) fir 200 USD (which I will return to where I bought it) and now getting so much more for 50 USD more. Worth it! :)

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by bwjay » Thu Jan 02, 2020 6:33 pm

freelancer27 wrote:
Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:11 am


Option 1: Buy 2 10Ah Nocquas and their Y connector to power you for a full day of fishing
Option 2: Buy an 18Ah Amped Outdoors LiFePO4 battery that can be drained almost completely and will definitely give you a full day of fishing, maybe 2 (need to make a waterproof enclosure)
Option 3: Buy a 30Ah Amped Outdoors LiFePO4 battery and never worry about having enough juice (need to make a waterproof enclosure)

Option 1 and 2 probably come out to a similar cost after buying the charger for the 18Ah and making a box. Option 3 is more expensive but you get so much power, you could do a 3 day 2 night camping trip and have the graph running 8 hours a day and still have another day or two of juice.

I hope this helps though I'm sure it complicates things again. :)

Just ordered option 1 from Nocquas directly. They honored their 20% off + freebees deal and I paid 250 USD shipped with:

* Kit
* extra 10 AH battery
* Plug 'n' Play Cables - 12 foot
* Smart Link Battery Connector
* Viking Concealment Kayak Hatch Plate - Hobie/Pelican (8.5")

I bought the Hobie lowrance kit (same battery kit and only has the extra holder) fir 200 USD (which I will return to where I bought it) and now getting so much more for 50 USD more. Worth it! :)
Awesome. That's gonna be a sweet little setup!!

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by freelancer27 » Thu Jan 02, 2020 7:02 pm

Was at Westmarine today again and played with all their Fish Finder for about 1h.

Here my latest take:

* Hummingbird:
+ Slightly better side imaging than Lowrance
- Completely confusing User Interface
- Unit (Helix series) just felt and looked cheap

* Raymarine Element
+ Great build quality
+ 3d scan included in base transducer
- some limitations in setting up custom graph combinations
- in demo of the unit the side and down scan did not feel as detailed as the hummingbird or lowrance

* Lowrance Elite
+ Decent build quality
+ Touch screen was good
+ UX is the best amongst all units
+ Decent side imaging (behind the Hummingbird) and great down imaging
- Heard some stories that the Lowrance were prone to break

* Garmin Echomaps
+ Good touch screen
+ Good UX
- Graphs looked a bit less detailed than all the above


The guy at WestMarine said that they were going to LA to get trained on the new Lowrance units that will come out in March.

Right now I am torn between the Lowrance (because of the best UX) and the Raymarine (because it has the 3D scan). Will probably wait till I have more info on what Lowrance is coming out with soon.

Cheers.

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Re: Looking for a fish finder for my new 2019 Hobie PA14

Post by borisun » Mon Jun 01, 2020 12:04 am

Stupid good deal for what you get!

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