LiveScope, Side Imaging, and Portable

Comparing the flagship sonar products of just a generation ago to today’s best fish finders is like placing a Model T side-by-side with a modern sports car. The basic concept is the same, but the user experience, and technological capabilities are light years apart.

Part of that is due to what GPS has unlocked in terms of mapping and coordination with sonar, part of it is due to new technologies like forward facing sonar, and the rest is just a refinement of what was already there — clearer pictures, better target separation, and faster processing speeds.

To help you choose your next fish finder, I talked to top bass fishing pros and weekend anglers to get their input about what latest models have to offer and their limitations. I also leaned on my experience using the units on my bass boat and friends’ boats.  

How We Chose the Best Fish Finders

I spend plenty of time in my own bass boat, plus those of freshwater and saltwater guides around the world. Perhaps most significantly, however, I’m frequently in the boats of the top bass pros. They get the best products out there, receive training from brands’ engineers, and seek to eke every bit of capability out of their units. I love watching them utilize a perfectly-tuned graph and then asking them not only what they’re capable of doing, but also what they wish they could do better.

I spend plenty of time in my own boat and those of other weekend anglers. We’re not necessarily Luddites, but we generally prefer a “plug and play” approach. Which fish finders are easiest to learn and easiest to operate effectively? For many of us, that matters more than max ability.

The Best Fish Finders: Reviews and Recommendations

Best for Forward Facing Sonar: Garmin EchoMAP Ultra 2

Key Features

• 1280×800 resolution
• 2 microSD card slots
• Built-in CHIRP Sonar
• 10 or 12-inch screen
• Built-in Garmin Navionics+ mapping
• Price: $1,900 to $3,100

I’ve been running Garmin ECHOMAPs at the bow and console of my boat for several years and they’ve been the most pleasurable electronics experience of my more than three decades of boating. Everything about them is simple to set up and adjust, with no bugs or hiccups along the way. They provide crisp pictures, excellent mapping and simple wireless networking, not just to each other but also to a Garmin trolling motor, if you have one. The ActiveCaptain App makes it easy to update the units as necessary. The standout feature, though, has been the LiveScope at the front of the boat. I’m not a pure “scoper,” but it enables me to catch more fish every time out – simply by keeping my eyes open. Garmin was the OG in terms of forward facing sonar, and with each transducer change and software update they make it easier and easier to be more deadly. It’s amazing what the pros can do with LiveScope and an EchoMap, everything from telling what type of fish they’re seeing to whether it’s catchable. Even in the hands of someone like me it immediately makes you a better angler.

Read the full Garmin Echomap and LiveScope review to learn more.

Best for Mapping: Humminbird Xplore

Key Features

• Screen Size: 9, 10, or 12 inches
• 1280×800 resolution
• Dual Micro SD slots
• Prices: $1,300 to $1,700

I’ve owned Humminbird’s Helix and Solix units, and I always felt that they provided the best side-imaging capabilities, along with quality mapping. These Xplore models ratchet everything up a notch, making life far better for those who are mapping and waypoint addicts. The touchscreen is incredibly fast, and allows anglers to get to their favorite tools without delay, and the new waypoint management system provides space for 10,000 waypoints. That means you can graph day and night, building a tournament game plan, and we sure that you’ll be on “the juice” when money’s on the line. They’ve improved everything else, too, including picture clarity and visibility in bright sunlight. I’ve always liked Humminbird’s menu organization, but watching top pros operate these systems they seem even easier and more intuitive. It’s even better if you have a Minn Kota trolling motor, because the One Boat Network makes things seamless.

Looking for information on Mega Live vs LiveScope? Read our full article to learn which is best for you.

Best Value: Lowrance Eagle Series

Key Features

• Screen Size: 4, 5, 7, and 9 inches
• CHIRP sonar
• Single frequency
• Prices: $120 to $999

You don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get reliable and feature-rich performance from a sonar unit. The biggest unit in the Eagle series, with all of the available bells and whistles, is still under a grand. That top tier Eagle Eye includes DownScan, SideScan, forward facing sonar, and quality mapping applications. Perhaps most importantly, it features Lowrance’s heritage of durability and sonar performance, so you can be sure you’re getting what you paid for. A 7-inch model in this series, maximized for use, will provide everything most weekend anglers need at the console, if you’re not blinded by the fact that it’s not necessarily what the top bass pros use. Plenty of guides, in fresh and saltwater, make a living with the Eagles, using it for mapping and finding fish alike. They’re easy to view, easy to set up, and run flawlessly on a comparatively low amount of power.

Best for Mirroring: NBT 

Key Features

• Screen Size: 16, 18, or 22 inches
• 1920×1080 resolution
• Touch screen
• Price: $3,000 to $4,000

When we started seeing what looked like large screen televisions on the pros’ boats a year or two ago, at first I was convinced that we’d gone too far and jumped the shark. There’s no question that these jumbo units cost more than the average angler had planned to spend, but in some respects it actually demonstrates maximum efficiency and saves space. If you were planning to have two or more Garmin units at the front of your vessel, you can instead replace them with a single one of these, and then have all of your necessary views in a single place. If you want multiple LiveScope transducers, or up to six split screen boxes, or just want to see a single view blown up as large as possible, this is your go-to. Between the size of the screens and the quality of the picture, you’ll see the underwater landscape more clearly than ever. The screen is polarized with an anti-glare coating, so you’ll be able to see effectively no matter what angle the sun is at. You’ll still need to mount your data centers elsewhere, but outwardly nothing provides a cleaner look or more information in a single space.

Best Mid Price: Lowrance Elite

Key Features

• Screen Size: 7, 9, 10, or 12 inches
• 1280×800 resolution
• CHIRP sonar
• Transducer Options: ActiveTarget Live Sonar, Active Imaging 3 in 1, HDI Transducer, All Season Pack
• Mapping: High resolution, bathymetric 1-foot contours on more than 15,000 lakes in the USA and more than 9,400 lakes in Canada
• Touchscreen
• Integrated wireless, NMEA 2000, and Ethernet connectivity
• Full touchscreen control of Power-Pole anchors and Ghost Trolling Motor
• Prices: $800 to $2,300

If you want feature-rich performance, including ActiveTarget, but you can’t stomach the price tag associated with any brand’s premier lineups, this is a sneaky and cost-effective way to gain powerful performance. It features Lowrance’s ActiveImaging 3-in-1 sonar, providing clear resolution, along with quality mapping and wireless compatibility of other boating accessories. Just a few years ago, this would’ve been the best of the best, and for most weekend anglers you’ll see no meaningful drop off in performance from costlier models. There are some comparative shortcomings – like only a single slot for a Micro SD card, but that may be a distinction without a difference. If you’re limited on price, it might be worth it to get a larger Lowrance Elite, rather than a slightly smaller version a higher priced screen.

Read our full kayak fish finder review to see more options.

Key Features

• 7-inch display
• MEGA Side Imaging
• MEGA Down Imaging
• Dual Spectrum CHIRP
• Low Q CHIRP transducer
• SwitchFire Sonar dual display modes
• Built-in Humminbird Basemap of charts and maps of more than 10,000 lakes
• NMEA 2000 networking
• Bluetooth
• Includes transducer, mounting hardware, power cable, and gimbal mounting bracket

The Apex and Solix electronics are at the top of the lineup, but Texas offshore wizard Keith Combs says he likes the Helix because it’s very user friendly. “It does everything I need it to do and it’s very simple and user-friendly, while remaining crystal clear. I have great down-imaging, side-imaging, and now front-looking with Mega Live. That’s something that no other company can offer me,” he says.

The Helix units are available in screens sizes from 5 inches up to 15 inches, the Solix comes in 10-, 12- and 15-inch models, and the Apex comes in 13-, 16- and 19-inch models.

Read our Humminbird Helix 7 review to learn more.

Best New Transducer: Humminbird Mega Live 2

Key Features

• Forward Mode, Down Mode, and Landscape Mode
• Compatible with XPLORE, SOLIX, and APEX fish finders
• Price: $1,500

Garmin was the clear front runner in the forward-facing sonar race and their closest rival was Lowrance’s Active Target 2. But, the release of Humminbird Mega Live 2 shifted that dynamic. This new transducer improves target separation, clarity, and cuts noise. Basically, it works better and is easier to use than its predecessor. I wouldn’t rip out a Garmin LiveScope+ unit, but if you’re starting fresh and especially if you want to use a Minn Kota trolling motor and Raptor shallow-water anchor, the Mega Live 2 is a great option. The seamless integration of Humminbird, Minn Kota, and Raptor into the One-Boat Network makes your life easy and now you don’t have to compromise when it comes to FFS performance.

Read Next: 7 Forward Facing Sonar Tips: Settings, Mounting, and Techniques Explained

Key Features

• 7-inch display
• Two rod holders
• Dual Spectrum CHIRP Sonar
• Interference Rejection
• Adjustable Sonar Zoom
• GPS
• Humminbird Basemap with over 10,000 lakes
• Autochart LIVE user-mapping
• Includes Lithium battery

Humminbird is renowned for its clear 2D Sonar, ultra-precise Side Imaging, LakeMaster mapping, and more. From coast-to-coast—and even along the coast—both freshwater and saltwater anglers have turned to Humminbird for their sophisticated fish-finding capabilities. Built for use throughout the calendar year, from open water through ice season, the Humminbird Ice Helix 7 CHIRP GPS G4 All Season pack offers anglers everything but the kitchen sink. For starters, it features crystal-clear Dual Spectrum CHIRP Sonar with ¾-inch target separation so you can clearly see fish and structure. The unit also features CHIRP Interference Rejection, which has six settings to keep competing sonar signals from cluttering the screen when you’re in a fish house full of anglers.

The Adjustable Sonar Zoom hones in on fish, whether tight to the bottom or suspended high in the water column. This feature provides 2x zoom on the flasher screen and up to 16x zoom on the 2D sonar view. The unit features a built-in GPS with Humminbird Basemap (more than 10,000 water bodies) and is compatible with both LakeMaster and Navionics maps. Additional features designed specifically for the ice angler include AutoChart Live ICE while allowing anglers to create real-time 1-foot contour maps.

The Humminbird pack also includes everything you need to use it on one of the best jon boats, canoe, kayak, or in other portable applications during the open-water season, including a transom mount CHIRP transducer, suction cup transducer mount, fish finder gimbal mount, and power cord. All fish-finding information is featured on a full-color, 7-inch HD LCD display with tons of adjustable brightness for day and night use.

Also, know that the Humminbird Ice Helix 7 CHIRP GPS G4 All Season pack is compatible with MEGA Side Imaging and MEGA Live with the purchase of separate transducer systems.

My father-in-law and I tested the Humminbird Ice Helix 7 CHIRP GPS G4 All Season pack from a 14-foot aluminum boat powered by a Minn Kota Endura transom-mount trolling motor, exactly the kind of setup many purchasers of a portable fish finder will be outfitting.

We fished an abandoned rock quarry in central Iowa that is populated with largemouth bass, sunfish, crappies, and pike and where we had never used electronics before. Although both of us had intuited depths and structures in the quarry over 20 years of fishing it—the Humminbird unit supplanted many of our guesses as to where drop-offs, ledges, breaks, and flats were located.

For example, the Humminbird’s crisp CHIRP 2D Sonar revealed a break in the southwest end of the quarry where the depth plummeted from 12- to 30 feet a good distance away from shore. We had never fished this area prior to what the Humminbird revealed. Did we catch fish? Yes, half-a-dozen good-sized largemouth bass, all on football-head jig and plastic combos worked down the break. Good find.

Speaking to the unit itself, it’s relatively quick to start up, and its menu system is easy to understand. While the quarry wasn’t featured in the built-in base maps, we were able to utilize its 2D Sonar and Down Imaging to great success to learn more about the quarry’s depths and fish-holding spots. —Jim Edlund

How to Choose the Best Fish Finder

Budget

It’s possible to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on sonar and GPS units these days. Some anglers want more than one front and aft. Remember, each component you add has a multiplier effect in terms of additional needs – from batteries to wiring to transducer. Assess what you really need and put the money into that.

Features

With down-imaging, side-imaging, mapping and forward-facing sonar all on offer, it’s easy to get carried away and try to get everything. Sometimes less can be more – you’ll want to be graphing and fishing, not scrolling through menus. Buy what you need and look for units that can be upgraded through software or additional components if you decide you need them later.

Necessary Add-Ons

As noted above, the days of the $300 top-of-the-line sonar unit are over. Now, mounts and transducers and black boxes cost more than that by themselves. You might want to add locks for security, or covers so they don’t get damaged trolling down the highway. For my forward facing sonar, I added a zero-degree mount that cost just under $200. It’s made a huge difference in the integrity of my picture, but to be honest it was something I didn’t plan for.

Power and Space

More screen space provides more information, but only if you have the battery power to run it all. Low voltage will result in lower performance. Some anglers are adding dedicated batteries and wiring harnesses, which adds not only cost, but requires space and increases complexity. There’s also the safety factor – the higher and wider you pile your screens, the harder it can be to see past them while motoring down the lake or river.

Why Do You Need a Fish Finder?

Electronics on a boat serve a variety of purposes, related to both fish location and safety. Sonar in its varied forms allows a boater to know how deep the water is and what lies beneath the surface. Is there a point or hump underneath you? Is the bottom hard or soft? Are there baitfish or gamefish in the vicinity? A simple depth finder can also prevent you from running aground.

Mapping technology in the form of GPS allows newcomers to a body of water to break things down more quickly. You see where it’s safe to run, and where there are obstructions or obstacles. Furthermore, if you locate or catch fish in a particular type of area—say a long-tapering point or a 5-foot deep flat—you can quickly identify similar spots and see if a pattern emerges. Some models even tell you the tidal phase for your precise location, further enhancing both safety and fish-finding capabilities.

How Should Electronics Be Mounted?

Traditionally, most serious and best anglers have placed one electronics unit on the console of their boat and one on the bow, often with different features. For example, side-imaging may be more useful while driving, and front-facing may be more useful while operating the trolling motor. Often both units are networked to share GPS waypoints and other information.

If two units stretches your budget too far, it’s possible to put a single graph on the console on a swivel, and then rotate it depending on where in the boat you stand or sit.

Among top guides and professional anglers, the recent trend has been to run a total of four or five units, with varying functions on each screen, but this effort can quickly get up into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Things to Consider Before Buying the Best Fish Finder

As noted above, most of the earliest sonar models simply provided two-dimensional readouts. “Flashers” sent a “ping” to the bottom which bounced back to the unit. The amount of time that it took for the signal to return indicated the depth, and the length of the light on the unit indicated bottom hardness. Fish or other items that got in between the surface and the bottom in the unit’s cone-shaped signal were represented as “blips” and it took practice to decipher what they were. Eventually, these signals were replaced by two-dimensional drawings, either on paper or in pixels, that showed a more distinct picture of what was under the boat, although not precisely in real time.

Next came mapping, first through LORAN technology and then through GPS. Through either an internal or external “puck” the electronics units receive a location signal and then draw a picture of the map on the screen in front of you.

Subsequently, other sonar technologies were added. Side-scanning sonar allows a boater to idle along and shoot a beam out up to 150 feet off either or both sides of the boat to locate schools of fish, cover and structure. Down-imaging sonar provides a different version of the traditional two-dimensional picture, allowing boaters to use them separately or in concert to gain a complete picture of what’s under the boat. And front-imaging sonar, usually mounted trolling motor, allows you to see fish within casting range and them present a lure or bait to them. It also allows you to gauge their reaction to your offering in real time.

Read Next: How to Read a Fish Finder

Final Thoughts on the Best Fish Finders

No matter which brand, model or size of sonar you purchase, you’ll need to make sure that your best fish finder is rigged properly to get the most out of it. That starts with having sufficient battery power. Modern units will drain subpar batteries in a heartbeat, potentially stranding you on the water and rendering your expensive “computers” into costly paperweights. 

You’ll also need to use the appropriate transducer, rigged straight and at the proper depth, to get true pictures at all speeds. Depending on where it’s mounted, you may want to buy some sort of shield or protector to prevent it from getting knocked off by the next stump you hit.

Heavy gauge wiring will also limit the degradation of information and prevent interference. In fact, some anglers have gone to dedicated high-tech wiring systems to ensure that they have a crisp and uninterrupted picture at all times.

Additionally, while many high-end units come with mapping software pre-loaded, there are a variety of aftermarket chips that can enhance the experience. Some are even built by local guides to include unmarked boat lanes and hazards.

Remember, you don’t need to have the biggest screen or the most powerful models to use electronics correctly or efficiently. Get what you can afford and what suits your needs, but remember — no one every complained about having too much computing power or a screen that’s too big. When in doubt, get the best that you can.