Chartplotter/fishfinder for my kayak

Been looking at the Lowrance Mark 4, and the Hummingbird Piranha max 176i for my yak. Any of y'all use a GPS/fishfinder on your kayak for the salt? I'd like to be able to type in coordinates. Both under two hundred bucks.

Any suggestions

you might want to check the reviews out before you buy. im looking at the Humminbird 581i HD DI GPS/Fishfinder Combo to upgrade from my hb170 its a nice little unit. and gives water and temp reading. but i want to see structure and mark fishing hole

I am running a HB 386.

Randy
the 386 looks cool. Do you know if any manufacturers offer a short wired transducer(6' or under 10') for the kayak crowd. Sure would be a nice to not have all that extra cord tied up under the unit or in the yak.
If ya talk to any at any of the shows you go to since your a celebrity, throw that at them!

Pulled the trigger on a Mark4 on ebay for $150, now to figure out a good mount setup for the yaks

mark 4mounting

Here's the problem, I have two kayaks that I paddle frequently and I want to be able to use the GPS/FF on both. I figured that if I mount the transducer to a PVC pipe and attach a piece and 90 deg ell to my milk crate for my kayaks that would solve my problem. I bought a waterproof box from Academy to mount the FF to and drilled a 1" hole in the top for transducer/ff wiring to pass thru. I sealed the upper lid with "duct seal" from Home depot to keep water out of the box. I am powering the unit with a 12v cordless drill battery that is kept in the box and can be easily removed for charging. The battery supplies power for the whole day on the water. The 1/2" PVC pipe drop for the transducer gurgles just a bit when paddling the kayak but works great and will fold up out of the way if it hits anything. The GPS function works great for our salt trip and I was able to follow contours and depths to find deeper holes to fish in.

Here's the box, but I don't have any milk crate pipe pictures yet.

In the picture I have a big 12v battery similar to a power wheel battery, I was concerned about weight so I used my battery off my milwakee cordless drill 12v lithium battery to save weight. I made a small harness using a two prong trailer connector and two flat spade connectors, to connect the battery, I bought from Oreillys. I used a multimeter to determine which terminals on the battery where + and - then inserted the flat spade connectors into the battery slots. I also marked the battery to make it easier to reconnect after charging the battery. With the smaller batteries the GPS/FF unit runs all day.

I place the box in front of me on the kayak floor and route the transducer wiring next to the seat and then back to the PVC pipe 90 ell. I have a tankwell behind the seat on my kayaks to place the milkcrate/tackle holder.

Here's a few picks of the battery connections and the transducer mounted to the PVC.

The power tool battery is a nice touch. I don't believe I've seen that before. Thanks for the tip.