Has anyone ever tried one of these??? There are about half a dozen different models and I was curious if anyone has tried em. Would be fun to cheat with boaters I figure the Humminbird ones would be good but I was not sure if they were worth the $$$ and would love to hear from someone who has used one.

http://www.amazon.com/Humminbird-SmartCa...3325&sr=8-7

http://www.amazon.com/Humminbird-SmartCa...325&sr=8-14

http://www.harborfreight.com/portable-fish-finder-94511.html

My first fishfinder that I used on my kayak was one of the eagle portables a lot like that harbor freight one. It wasn't much good as a fish finder but I mainly used it mark depths, find creek channels, locate humps, or set myself over brushpiles.
It truly wasn't that great for anything tho...

Can you even tell if there are any fish down there? Or does it just not mark anything well enough?

You can't tell. It may say there are and it is just disturbance, noise, or garbage in the line. Or there may be a ton of fish and it just doesn't see them. Like I said I basically just used it for locating structure that I kinda sorta knew where it was at anyway...

Right on. Thanks for the tips! If anyone else has any experience feel free to share. I may buy one of the cheapo ones to check out structure of areas I have not fished.

If I was gonna try any one of those out it would be the castable one from hummingbird.
The problem with the corded 'ducers is that you have to toss the 'ducer out to where you want it and the act of tossing it out there damages the cord slowly but surely each time you toss it.
I didn't have this issue on my kayak of course because I was just dropping it in the water beside me but that's the scoop on the corded ones as far as bank fishing goes. It will even tell you in the instructions not to throw it. It just doesn't mention that fact when they are advertising it for bank fishermen...

I have Humming bird model RF-15. Its good. It marks depth and fish as well as temp and structure very well. I have tested it many times and found it to be very accurate. Works well from the bank. Range is only about 100 feet in calm water, half that if there are lots of waves... Battery life is good. Nothing bad to say about mine. That being said there is a thread on the crappie board asking about them and a bunch of guys said they are junk... so go figure. I like mine, never go fishing without it.

+1

So on the Humming bird model RF-15, I read somewhere that you can not change the battery on the green part you actually cast out and when it dies you have to buy another one?? Was this wrong?

Nope, you got it,from my understanding,You buy a replacement transducer for around 25 bucks..REI sells them locally I believe...I think you get a good amount of hours out of them.500ish in the water,auto shut off when out.If I remember right.
Been wanting the RF15 for awhile..Bet its a good little unit.

Most of the guys in the crappie section also dropped a grand or two on their FF so consider the source....

That is true; however let me share this... I got the first one of these back in 2001, the RF-5, they don�t make that model anymore... When that unit got damaged (stupid moving company) I got the RF-15 last year. I can still use the original, now 10 year old transducer with my new unit. I did buy a new "transducer" as the one that came with my original RF-5 did not show temp. Most new models come with the new transducer, but mine was open box and did not. A new one was 25$ on Amazon... All the new models have temp compatibility. The battery in the transducer is activated by contact with water... so be sure to store it in a dry place to avoid it coming on accidently and draining the battery... I have heard complaints about battery life on these allot of it is from mist or dew, storing the transducer out side while camping or in a damp shed etc. Just be sure to keep dry when not in use and I bet you wont have a problem. One drawback, these are NOT for high speed boats. By high speed I mean anything over 5-6 MPH. I use mine on my Sea Eagle and its fine, but with the trolling motor on high it will cut out...max speed that seems to keep strong good return is 3-4 mph... Same for if your casting from shore, you cant reel it back at very high speed... That�s the only downside I have seen with mine. I have used it side by side with more conventional fish finders and it performed just a well in some cases better than unit that were much more expensive. Side imaging it is not, but if want something portable for shore or small boat, yak, toon whatever, I would suggest this model.

I have the Hummingbird castable model and have used for years from my canoe, kayak, pier and bank and it works great. Has marked tons of fish for me and I've only bought one extra transducer cause I figured the original should be going dead soon so I wanted the spare on hand. Still haven't taken it out of the package. I'd buy another one if I had to but mine is still working fine.

Awesome information! Thanks for the help guys! I will probably nab one up soon.

How do you think it would do on say a river with high flow? Maybe if you kept in the calm areas it would be fine?

Welcome mrbreeze88 to TFF!

I would guess that high flow river would be just like reeling it in fast or going fast in a boat...anything over 3-4 mph and it tends to cut out some. Calm area should be fine flows that are not raging should be fine.