Garmin Striker 4 with Portable Kit

Exceeded expectations. I've only used this rig for ice fishing so far. ( I purchased the GT8HW ice transducer to go with it) and it performs a lot better than I expected it would. I'm able to adjust my cone angle, frequency, gain, and there's a ton of display settings that you can customize. I did get a little bit of interference with other flashers, but you can navigate around this with the different settings. This doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the more expensive fish finders do, but I was able to see my tiny jig in 30 feet of water clear as day. Also shows fish, depth, and gps coords very clearly. To me, thats all you need, and I love it. The only downfall of this finder is the smaller screen size, although the screen is exceptionally bright and very clear.Comes with the case, a mount for the case, a battery, a battery charger, a stick-on hull transducer mount, a suction cup transducer mount, and an angled transducer.

My husband loves it! Easy to use instructions! Works great! Battery is long lasting. Picture is super clear!

I bought this item because I wanted a fish finder that I could use in the summer and ice fishing in the winter. All my friends use Vexilar flashers in the winter. I was concerned that the vexilars would create interference for the Garmin or vice versa. I ordered my Garmin after reading the reviews but the description did not indicate if it came with a battery or not and I was going on a fishing trip, so I bought a battery at my local store so I would be ready. I was surprised to find that it came with a battery, so now I own a spare. Last weekend I went fishing with my friends at Lake of the Woods, Mn. and fished in heated ice fishing shacks. There were two people in each shack. I used my Garmin on the flasher mode with the transducer that came with the kit and it worked perfectly. There was minimal interference from the devices used even though we were only about 4 feet apart. We were in heated shacks, so I don't know how the cold would affect this Garmin. I did not need to buy a special transducer. I was able to see the fish and my jig near the bottom of the lake in 22 ft of water. We fished for three days and caught an average of 100 to 120 fish per shack each day. I could not be happier with my Garmin. It worked just as well as the Vexilars that cost over $400 and the Garmin is more versatile. I did not have to change the battery at all using it for 10 hours each day for 3 days. I can't wait to try this out this summer fishing from my small boat.

Very accurate and easy to use! I like having the portable case with it also. I use it for fishing in my kayak, and I actually used 20lb outdoor velcro to secure the battery in the case, and then bungee the case right in front of me to padeyes. The wires are tucked away, and I ran one into my dry port for the transducer. I shoot through the hull with the transducer mounted inside my kayak with the foam mounting kit. I give it four stars because you do have to keep the transducer wet at all times. The foam mount will dry out if on the water for too long. The lowest point of my kayak is hard to reach when sitting on it, so I have to paddle to shore and reach back in to pour water back into the mount. I like having it in the hull so I can keep the wires all tucked away. I have not yet decided if I am going to continue to shoot through the hull or buy a transducer arm to drop it straight into the water. If I buy the transducer arm, I will have to buy the longer power cable and mount the battery in the hull (the power cable with the portable kit is only about 1ft long), or have wires running everywhere. It doesn't have maps, but I love being able to store waypoints for ledges, drops and stick piles.

I've been fishing my whole life, but just started getting into ice fishing this past year, now that my family has a cabin on a lake worthy of ice fishing. As anyone who participates in ice fishing, you know everything is pretty pricey when it comes to gear. I didn't have the money to spend $350-450 on a vexlar. After doing a lot of research, I decided to try this Garmin Striker 4 portable kit. I still have a lot of learning to do, but I am very happy with it thus far. I can mark fish and know what i'm looking at. There are so many setting's to help you know what you're looking for, you just have to play around and find out what works best depending on the body of water you're on. The best part about it is that i can use it on my john boat or kayak in the summer time. The kit comes with everything you need. The transducer it comes with works just fine for ice fishing, you just have to rig it up so it is in the correct position when it sits in your hole (plenty of videos on youtube). I went out and used it non-stop for 6 hours in sub zero weather and the battery held up fine. I just charge it up at home when i'm not using it and you should be good to go. Thus far, i really do not have a single complaint for this product and it's $200.00 price tag.

Used the Vexilar last year. Was kind of on the fence being able to justify spending the money for it for a relatively short ice fishing season. However, after one too many days on the ice getting skunked, I was about ready to shell out the dough for a mid-level Vexilar. A bit more research, and I thought this package might do the trick and it would work well for kayak fishing as well after ice fishing season.Saved money, and this package has more power and more functions than what I was planning to get. Also smaller, too.Thus, very happy with the purchase. It was well worth the money.