Best Fish Finder Reviews 2024 – Buying Guide
Are you looking for the best fish finder in the market? There are a variety of fish finders on the market, each with its own set of functions and price range. In this article, we’ll go through some of the top fish finders. Fishfinders normally have only one job, which is to locate the best fishing spot for us. New and sophisticated fish finders now come with more modern capabilities such as new sonar technology, GPS, and more. However, several other factors may influence your purchasing decisions.
Top Best Fish Finder Reviews 2024 – Buying Guide
We will list the best fish finder you can get in the market with a comparison chart. See the features and their benefits while choosing the perfect fish finder for yourself.
| Image | Model | Display | GPS | Editorial Rating | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  | Garmin Striker 7SV | 7 inches | Yes | 4.8 |  |
  | Garmin Striker 4 | 3.5″ 5″ 7″ | Yes | 4.8 | |
  | Humminbird Helix 7 DI | 7 inch 480×800 Resolution | Yes | 4.9 | |
  | Humminbird Helix 7 Si Gps | 7 inch 480×800 Resolution | Yes | 4.9 | |
  | Lowrance Elite 7 Ti | 7 inch 800×480 Resolution | Yes | 4.8 | |
  | Raymarine Dragonfly 5PRO Review | 5 inch | Yes | 4.8 | |
  | Garmin Echo 551dv | 5 inch 480 x 640(VGA) | No | 4.8 | |
  | Signstek FF-003 Portable Fish Finder | 2.8 inches | No | 4.6 | |
  | Hook 7 | 5, 7, 9, 12 | Yes | 4.8 | |
#1. Garmin Striker 7SV
I am a big fan of the striker series of Garmin. Garmin Striker 7SV is a fantastic fish finder with a big display. As the name states, Garmin Striker 7SV comes with a 7 inches long display of 800×480 pixels resolution. Striker 7SV is equipped with lots of features including advanced sonar technologies.
Garmin Striker 7SV offers SideVu scanning sonar and DownVu scanning sonar. The SideVu sonar will let you see what’s beneath the side of your water vessel. On the other hand, the DownVu is focused on providing what’s beneath your boat.
Garmin Striker 7SV uses CHIRP sonar to provide a clear, sharp, and clutterless reading on your screen. It allows better target separation while detecting the smaller objects more easily. Like other good fish finders, Garmin Striker 7SV is equipped with the GPS feature. It’s easy to use, has hard buttons and offers better fish finding ability.
- 7 inches big display with 800×480 resolution
- CHIRP sonar for better fish target and seperation
- SideVu Sonar and DownVu Sonar
- Built-in GPS and waypoints
- Hard button for easy operating
- Built-in flasher for ice fishing and vertical jigging
- You can check your boat’s speed in real time
- Waterproof IPX7
- Reasonably priced
- SideVu needs improvement
#2. Humminbird Helix 7 DI GPS/Fishfinder with Down Imaging Sonar
Powerful Fish Finder With GPS: Humminbird Helix 7 Di is one of the latest best fish finders in the market. It offers a whopping big display of 800×480 resolution. It’s super bright display can be seen at heavy sunlight very easily. This is one of the best fish finders by Humminbird which provides highly accurate data on a big screen.
This powerful fishfinder offers down imaging. Via this down imaging technology, you will be able to see what is under beneath you. High-frequency sound waves are used to create the images which will tell you what’s under beneath you. It gives you the fish eye’s view.
Helix 7 Di offers dual beam, which covers a wide coverage area or detailed narrow area. If you want high accuracy, then you are requested to use the narrow beam. For scanning larger area, use the wide beam. Helix 7 Di is an excellent fish finder for river usage.
- Down imaging sonar: see what’s beneath your boat, canoe or kayak
- High-resolution 480×800
- High brightness: 1500 nit
- Covers a wide area
- Almost accurate data
- Micro SD card reader
- Built-in map of US coastline, inland lakes & rivers
- GPS feature included
- Slightly Expensive
#3. Raymarine Dragonfly 5PRO
Raymarine Dragon Fly 5 Pro is one of the most influential and functional fish finders you can get in the market. It features a 5-inch high definition LED backlit display. It provides incredibly sharp color with viewing angles.
This fish finder has dual channel sonar with DownVision sonar which provides excellent photo-like images. It has internal storage along with SD card support meaning more storage. You can use the essential maps like US lake, rivers & coastline. It has built-in GPS and mobile wi-fi support; thus, it shows sonar readings straight to your phone.
- Maximized fishing experiences
- 5-inch Big display with sharp color: 800 x 480 pixels
- DownVision sonar provides photo-like images
- Mobile app to stream love sonar data – built in Wi-fi
- Micro SD card
- Internal storage cap keeps 3000 way-points with 15 tracks
- Essential maps – US lake, rivers & coastline
- Transducer is slightly tough to install
#4. Signstek FF-003 Portable Fish Finder
Cheap portable fish finder: Are you a big fan of portable fish finders like my friend Sara? She likes portable fish finder as she loves to move a lot. This small fish finder is very powerful in comparison with other ones.It is straightforward to use by enabling the power and casting the sonar sensor from bank or boat.
This is the perfect fish finder for amateur or professional fisherman. It can come conveniently for family vacations too. One of the best features of this fish finder is that it has a fantastic battery life.
Packed with a small 2.4″ TFT LCD display, it becomes pocket-friendly. It shows 512 colors, has a white LED front light for the early morning trips, and lets you read even in direct sunlight. Its sonar detector will use the sound waves to show you to bottom contours along with identifying small and big fishes. The hard buttons of it help you operate it very smoothly and quickly.
- Compact and pocket-friendly design
- 2.4″ TFT LCD Display
- Has white LED front light to guide you on the early morning
- Easy to operate
- Has 100-level sensitivity
- Multi-level depth range
- Detects bottom contours
- Identifies big and small fishes
- Shows water temperature
- Some may not like the small display
What is A Fish Finder?
Fish Finder is one type of device which will allow you to locate fish underwater via detecting the pulses of sound energy which is in sonar. You will be shown a graphical data of whether there are fishes underwater or not. Some of these fish finders will also show you sand, small or tall weed. Some of the best fish finders have other different types of features like GPS, multimedia support, advanced navigational system. Some advanced powerful fish finders even have down imaging system that will provide you with a high-quality picture like image of the bottom and structure. However, these devices can measure the depth of water also. One of the most important things about these devices is that these best fish finders will surely maximize your fishing experience.
How to Choose the best fish finder?
Fish finders have many several functions with add-on features. The main purpose of a fish finder is to find the fishing spot. However, it also depends on the beam, transducer, and other features. We will provide a short review on what can make these into the list of best fish finders.
Transducer
The transducer is one of the most important parts of your fish finder. It is connected with the fish finder device, and it throws a “ping” into the water and listens to the echo. It is a must to have a good transducer system for your fish finder because without a right transducer your fish finder will perform very poorly. Transducers send sonar signal to the water which gets bounced back from the objects underwater & gets picked by the sensor. The outcome is an image which might differ from fish finder to fish finder, but the general reading is quite same. If you are using an advanced fish finder, you might get an image like picture on the screen.
Usually, most fish finders come with a transom mount transducers out of the box. These are pretty easy to install with less effort. However, if you are looking for a more advanced purpose, you may want to go for other transducers like hull through.
To choose the best fish finder, you need to check with the transducer features too. One of the essential features of the transducer is the cone angle. We have written about the cone angle below.
Cone Angle
Cone angle is significant features to choose the good fish finder for yourself. Assume the cone angle as a point from the beginning of the transducer. It starts spreading from the point and the deeper it goes, it becomes wider. Please note that the more it widens and goes underwater, the more it loses its sensitivity. Usually, the cones range from 9 degrees to 60 degrees. Normally the transducers come with a cone angle of 16 to 20 degrees. Most of the time, 20-degree cone angle is good for most anglers.
Beam
Most of the transducers have a single beam. More advanced transducers come with dual beam, triple beam, side beam and more. These superior beams offer you the service to cover more water beneath your boat. This option comes very handily when you are looking for fishes in a big lake or river. If you are looking for the best fish finder, try to get a fish finder with at-least dual beam.
Frequency
A good angler will always choose the best fish finder with proper frequency. It is related to the angle of the cone. Usually, fish finders come with a 50,83,192, or 200 kHz frequencies.For shallow water use 192 & 200 kHz.For deep water use 50 kHz.
If you are going for fishing in shallow water, it is advised to choose a fish finder with high frequency as it will allow you high-resolution display. If you are going for saltwater then selecting a low frequency will be better.
Please note that high frequencies show great detail of the bottom, but a lower frequency comes best at the deep water which will display a wide area of the bottom. Most of the fish finders come with dual or multiple frequency transducers like 50/200 kHz.
Power
Power is another factor that you need to check while getting a fish finder. The power of fish finder is measured with wattage (w). Usually, if the wattage is higher, your device will show faster and accurate readings. However, if the wattage is low, then it will take more time to show the data.
However, if you are looking for fish in shallow water, then low wattage will do the work for you. But if you are going to fish in big lakes then you need a more powerful unit. Usually, 600 watts is enough for shallow water and for serious anglers it is recommended to use a fish finder with 1000 wattage or more.
Display
The display is another important factor while choosing the best fish finder. If your fish finder has a big screen, it can offer more data easily. Advanced fish finders come with color display along with other features. Advanced fish finders with big color display come with high resolution and great image like pictures of the objects below your boat.
GPS
Most of the advanced fish finders come with a GPS option. It is basically included in the device which will help you to find the spot you previously found. This will even help you to navigate through the lakes, rivers or in the ocean. This actually helps to minimize your effort to find the best fishing spot you found previously. Get the Best GPS Combo Fish Finder.
If you follow these steps, then you will be able to purchase the best fish finder for yourself. You have to identify the requirements and then study this fish finder buying guide and purchase one.