Yes, I like that video and it does look like fun to me too at least if I were a bit younger.

What about the Raymarine Dragonfly-4 pro with chirp sonar/GPS combo with down vision and conventional sonar along wit c- map essentials. For $149

You get what you pay for, IMO.

Humminbird leads the industry in sonar. Lowrance is second, but their units don't quite match the quality and operation of Humminbird. Simrad, Garmin and the rest all rank below.

If you pay less, you get less; in this case, a lot less. Save your money and buy a unit that does the job you want it to. Other wise, you will spend your money and never get the results you wanted.

I have a garmin echo map 95sv and HB 699hdsi sitting in the closet...worried I would knock the 95sv with my feet getting in and out. Thoughts on this......

All the brands are good these days
I'd choose an option depending on the size and shape of the transducer and how it fits in the scupper or transducer shield cavity. The quality of the return you get with a level, protected transducer outweighs any small differences between the different brand technologies

Best 2D lowrance
Best mapping lowrance
Best downview raymarine
Best sides scan humminbird
Best forward view garmin

I had a 7 inch unit for a while, overkill IMHO and mine burned thru the battery charge too fast.

So I went to the other extreme with a Garmin Striker 4. With my 10% veteran discount it was just over $100 at Tackle Warehouse. I mounted the transducer in the hull with duct seal. I couldn't be happier with it. The places I fish 99% of the time aren't mapped anyway, so I don't need the mapping. And the little Garmin works great shooting thru the hull.

Even without a map of the lake you're fishing in the database you can still set waypoints on structure and cover and find your way back to the truck or to your fishing spot on dark nights or when the fog gets thick.
As far as power consumption goes, so long as you match the correct battery (size and type) to your FF
and factor in how long you're going to be running your FF and you maintain your battery, there should be no issue with battery life, IMO.

The Striker has a GPS function, just no maps. Imagine a blank canvas, I have lots of waypoints stored on mine.

The Garmin 70dv i used before had a tremendous draw, 2.5 mA. A standard 7 ah deer feeder battery wouldn't even last 3 hours. I used a 15 ah battery with it, which should have been good for 7 hours or so. The Little Striker 4 draws about .5 mA and would last for days on the 15 ah battery.

I mostly want to know how deep it is, and where the drop offs are. I'm with you Pelican, if you're just going to beat the banks, a fishfinder isn't worth much.

Cool Lot's of good info. My trolling motor and fish finder will be on the same battery. I'm thinking about hooking up a small solar trickle charger the kind that are used for a car that go on the visor. Any thoughts?

Once the battery is completely charged the trickle charger should keep it going all day. They r light and compact

Using a lipo from my rc stuff.....5.2ah.....get about 3 hrs out of it on the garmin echomap

It'll take one heck of a solar charger to keep up with a FF or a TM let alone both.