What is the best type of fish finder for finding crappie on a kayak?

Not sure about the crappie part, but I put a Lowrance Hook 7 on my kayak and the power connection corroded in 3 saltwater trips. Unit was dead. Bass Pro warrantied it and said they've have a rash of returns on Lowance units lately. I swapped it for a Hummingbird Helix 5 which isn't as user friendly (menus are harder to navigate), but it has held up so far.

Buy the biggest one you can afford. My Grandson has a Garmin Stryker 4 on his kayak. If you are on a tight budget, its not bad. 5" or even better, a 7" would be better. If you can afford one with down imaging even better. Side imaging would be a real WOW.

It mostly depends on what you are willing to spend.

The Garmin Stryker is abut $100-$120

Helix 7 Side Imaging is about $600

You cn probably find a Garmin 93SV used pretty cheap right now. They just came out with an upgraded version and lots of folks that have Livescope are upgrading to the newer version. I have one of the 93SV units and it has worked flawlessly for the year I have had it.

Lots of other good ones in between those two prices. Bigger ones will require a bigger battery. The Stryker will run off of AA batteries if set up for them. A 7AH motorcycle battery is better.

Wayne

Garmin Livescope

I will second what luenthewind said.

I have the Lowrance Elite 7 TI with tripleshot transducer. I have it just in front of my kayak seat. Good size for sonar, downscan and side scan up to about 30'.
Beyond that need to enlarge the image to see things well on side scan. I have missed several things on side scan out wider that I have caught when replay the logs at home.
Figure in how good your eyesight is and where you will mount the finder into your equation.

As for corrosion, I have about 170 outings on my unit in fresh water with no issues. I take it on/off the kayak each outing.

I use the Nocqua Pro 10AH Battery.. It is about the size of your fist and I have run my finder for over seven hours in daylight(maximum brightness) on a charge.
Link did not show up, I use the Nocqua 10AH Lithium Ion battery.

You did not mention anything about ability to save waypoints or showing maps.
If you go this route, which is very useful, and want to save some money, think about genesismaps.com for your maps. Get the basic maps that come with unit then get the maps for lakes you are interested in free from genesismaps.com.
It is a social mapping site, you can send your logs in and they will update their maps and make them available in a couple of days. You do not even have to send in any logs to get maps.
They do not cover the whole lake but cover those areas where kayakers frequently are which is close to the ramps and put in locations. You can go see what they have for where you are.
If your finder allows saving logs in an outing or 2 you can send in enough information to have their maps reflect an area you like that is not currently covered.

A finder will make a big difference in your fishing.
Best of luck which ever direction you go.

I had a Lowrance Elite 7 Ti on mine and Ocelot gave some good advice on them.

My vote would be for Garmin Striker 4

I'm looking at a new fishfinder as well. Going large this time.. I've been using an Elite 4 and have been putting it in my lap, taking it off every time. Ready to mount something big.

I had Helix 7 when it 1st came out. Purchased the Garmin 73sv last year. I think the newer HB have a slightly better side image. However I really like the Garmin a little better cause it has a separate DS ducer. HB on the 7 is blended. Have to go to 9 inch HB to get 3 element ducer.

I just got a Hook9 for my PA14 and love it!