GarminStriker Plus 4 with Dual-Beam Transducer and Protective Cover, 4.3" LED Display, 1.1 lbs, Fishfinder, Plus 4 Model

After using this on ice this past winter, I cant figure out how vexilar can still sell their very limited performance product at their exorbitant prices. I'll chalk it up to redneck herd mentality.Until purchasing this I have never used or borrowed sonar, so it took some time to learn to read. I used it through ice, in 6 to 40 feet of water. I got the most accurate results running dual frequency and a-scope. The low freq cone is very wide, allows you to see fish come into your area, while the high freq shows fish at your lure.While stationary on ice, fish appear as red blobs of various length, instead of "arcs", because you're not moving in a boat. I was easily able to distinguish my hook, air bubbles, individual minnows, minnow schools, mud / weed layers, and any fish not laying on the lakebed.In my experience, the auto gain would run high making thicker bars. I became accustomed to adjusting the gains any time I changed depth, or weed density.I mounted the supplied transducer to the end of 3/4 plastic pipe drilled with holes at intervals for an adjustable cross bar. I would get fuzzier readings if the transducer was not 3 inches below ice.My teenage son and I greatly enjoy the mapping capability. The deeper the water the wider the reading. In 20 feet of water I could drill holes 60 feet apart and not suffer map gaps. This would obviously be easier in a boat, and im looking forward to experiencing it this summer.I ran this with a voltage transformer on my Milwaukee tool batteries for amazing portability. 7 hours continuous in 10 degrees F would tick 1 dot off my 5ah battery.While drilling holes or wrestling fish I often flung water onto the face of the machine with no damage.If there is a downside to this unit. It would be the few button and menu interface.Learning the ridiculous amount of features and getting setup to your liking takes alot of button chasing back and forth, which is greatly reduced once you get it setup to your style of use. It would also be great if the buttons had some light, but for $160, the capability is still staggering.

This is a very well-made death finder. I love the case.

Everything still has its plastic on etc, nothing indicating used but it saved me over $30! The transducer alone costs this muchIt fell of my kayak once and I was glad to find it floats, I figured the saltwater would kill it anyway but months later it chugs on just fine. A good buy at this price

Got the striker plus for hard-core marine fishing in the Caribbean on a 28ft fiberglass canoe with outboard, knowing that I would have to upgrade to a chip version and a more powerful xducer for deep water. Very user-friendly took just few hours playing with simulator mode and customizing settings. Didnt like that everything seems directed at bass fishermen in kayaks on freshwater, even the simulation did not range more than 50ft or so depth. Xducer mounted easily onto a doubled meat cutting board fiberglassd onto the transom...mine is about half inch ABOVE the bottom of the boat to avoid debris in the harbor and fish trap ropes at sea ripping off the unit.Picture clarity is perfect up to 8kt then deteriorates. Depth numbers and bottom reading lock out at about 12kt, so when sounding I have to slow down. Reads the bottom great in 120ft depth no issues. For deeper I have to play with the gain and change settings a lot. Better to stay in a CHIRP mode and narrow the cone angle than to mess with frequency. After several minutes it sometimes manages to paint a fuzzy bottom with trenches and hills down to about 480ft. Poor picture and very slow return deeper, no matter the gain or frequency. Couldn't really tell if the depth figures were accurate compared to the amount of line I was catching fish on. Was set to mark dinner size fish, which it did pretty well, especially in mid water. Smaller fish on the bottom were hard to detect. But bigger fish hiding between the crevices were seen.GPS picks up super fast and seems very accurate, but the navigation reacts very slowly to turns, causing me to zigzag a lot if I didn't backup with external references. Homing in on a close in waypoint can be a challenge. Don't really like the guidance presentation, a big arrow pointer like on the handheld GPS would be much better. But it did the job.Great product, The three things I didn't Ike are the nav guidance, that the fish alarm is so low I can barely hear it with the engine running, and the pwr and xducer cords look very delicate and the plugs look susceptible to corrosion. Would strongly recommend the Plus.Been on the water again with the striker, using coordinates taken from Google maps. Accuracy within 50ft. Very happy with the GPS navigation now that I understand it, you have to get moving for the guidance to work. Now I'm making my own routes! However as expected its time to upgrade the transducer. On chirp 200hz I got it to read down to 280ft, but on chirp 77 it took so long to sound that it became frustrating. Occasionally I would get stable depth #s as deep as 1050ft after sitting stationary over 10 min, but no bottom picture at all. Deeper than 400ft or so was a waste of time, I would drift faster than it would sound. Upgrading to the 600W GT-15. Seems like the only deep water upgrade for striker. Otherwise I would not leave the dock without my striker.

I have it on my 16 feet inshore boat, I use it in rivers and in lakes in Colombia; roughest conditions. I used it with a lot of rain and sun and moist and it still works perfectly. Very easy to use, intuitive, and for the money you are getting A LOT. It already paid itself. The only REGULAR aspect is its support to the dashboard, the device tends to come off and fall.

Was just as advertised was easy to install

Always had good service and dependability from garmin. Installed the unit, tried to turn it on, nothing... I know I had ground, power lead to hot wire, but checked it with probe, not V.O.M. Will recheck power and voltage and do an update. Hope its my fault looking forward to using nav and seeking out BIG FAT BASS

It has a much larger screen size than i expected. I actually used the split map/sonar screen alot and can see great. Worked perfect for me on a recent fly-in fishing trip. It really made all the difference in finding and catching fish for me. I powered it with Expertpower 12v 7a batteries EXP1270 ( amazon prime also) and got 31 hours continous run time each battery. Battery at full charge 13.5v and unit died when battery hit below11.5v (unit displays voltage of battery on screen). Love it - and im a big Humminbird Fan. P.S. Its definetly rain proof!