So far fishing on the Wis.river has not produced any fish!. So now it's time to buy a fish finder I'm not looking to spend thousands but hundreds 200 - 400 maybe 500.

Lots of good units out there in that price range. I mostly use mine to find structure like main points weed beds rock piles and then start looking for micro structure like a stump or a break in the weeds a low spot on the rock pile. Then start hunting fish in that area.

There alot of rocks and whatever in the Wis. river .

when I was researching this is what I found that was in 2021 and I think it is still a good unit today
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/739009/pn/010-02550-00

screen size is the down side but a set of readers is a lot cheaper than a larger screen as nice as they are , you don't add a ton of features for the price jump in screen size , big screens are nice , but $$$

I don't actually need readers to see the screen partially because it is arms length away right where I need to hold my phone to see it with my distance glasses on. I am going to need them for tying knots way before I won't be able to see the screen. I was out fishing with my neighbor yesterday who has a pair of reader sunglasses when it started to get dark it got harder to tie knots.

I have bifocals now so bases covered either way. just not bifocal sunglasses.

this doesn't have maps , those cost a bunch more , it does have auto draw mapping , I use this find my route in day then I can run it at night knowing what is coming because it remembers the depths and shows me my tracks and it is my data , with river levels any data not taken very recent could be feet off in depth.


for $420 you can get into the Vivid 7 which would be a nice screen size
there are also dual transducer models if you want to run side scan also not sure what they cost

If you want to hold off a bit Garmin has some killer sales aroun Black Friday. You could probably pick up a 73sv at that time for under $500. I’ve used a lot of fish finders over the years. Garmin is probably the best bang for your buck. Especially when you get one on sale.

definitely worth watching the sales , Garman just did a 200 dollar off sale on the Alpha200 with TT25 dog track & train system

The river has alot of things to break the engine and I would like to see them first. Everything is money today!!! Just look at the hummerbirds fish finders I don't think there a hood one in the hundreds most of the units ate thousands.

even the ritziest electronics around can't prevent everything , look at Jbyrd taking out his lower unit and hull damage that was a floating log just below the surface

sand bars move , but if you marking your hazards by day you can then run decent avoiding stuff on your way back to the dock at sun down or night.
good lights can help with some of the floating stuff , some.

but if there has been flooding up stream and you have been watching tree after tree floating down the channel while fishing it is wise to pack it up and head out before you can't see any more and use caution

Like everyone else said, I’m a big fan of Garmin. Eric

I never heard so much good about Garmin. How is the down-imaging and side-imaging?

I'm a humminbird guy, but Garmin is best bang for the buck.

If you can wait till spring the new models come out and you can find huge discounts on last year models. Like half price


I run a garmin but wish I would have done hummingbird because of being able to hook trolling motor and downriggers up to them.

that clearvu shows small stumps it is rather impressive for a view I don't know about side I don't have that.

this might help show what it looks like

here is the vivid 4 clearvu

how quick draw contours works

Thanks for the info.