I’ve spent almost the majority of my adult life using marine electronics and fish finders, and I have to say that they make fish finding a hell of a lot easier. Whether you’re offshore or in a big lake or river system, these devices help you find fish-holding structures, spot baitfish a lot more.
Garmin devices are without doubt one the most user-friendly and regularly voted some of the best fish finders on the market. So join me as we look at the best Garmin fish finder reviews so you can find the perfect one for your fishing needs.
| Image | Product | Details | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Best Fish Finder On A BudgetGarmin Striker Plus 4 with Dual Beam |
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 | Best ValueGarmin Striker Plus 7Cv |
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 | Best Garmin Fish FinderGarmin EchoMAP CHIRP Plus 93sv |
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 | Best Garmin Fish Finder For Offshore FishingGarmin Echomap Chirp 74Cv |
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 | Best Kayak fish finderGarmin Striker 4cv |
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 | Best Side Imaging Fish Finder On A BudgetGarmin Striker 7sv Plus |
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Our Best Garmin Fish Finders
Garmin Striker Plus 4 with Dual Beam
Best Fish Finder On A Budget
Specs
- Size Display: 4.3 inch
- Display: Color
- Touch Screen: No
- Waterproofing: IPX 7
- Power: 200 W RMS
- Frequency: 50/77/83/200 kHz
- Sonar: Dual-beam, CHIRP, Flasher
- GPS: Yes
- GPS Memory: NA
- Transducer: Included
- Depth: 1600 ft fresh, 750 ft saltwater
- CHIRP: Yes
- Water Temp: Yes
- Wi-Fi: No
- Bluetooth: No
- Water temperature: Yes
Pros
- Crystal clear color display
- Portable and versatile
- Good for kayak fishing
- Built-in GPS capabilities
- Very affordable price tag
- Features a flasher for vertical fishing
- Self-mapping with Garmin Quickdraw Contours Mapping
- Dual-beam CHIRP sonar technology
- Detailed sonar images with great image quality
Cons
- Charts are not compatible
- The display is pretty small
The Garmin Striker Plus 4 is the best Garmin fishfinder for anyone who is shopping on a budget or wants a portable fish finder. The Garmin Striker Plus 4 is a GPS combo fish finder meaning it comes with both traditional sonar and GPS features to boot.
The dual-frequency sonar on these Garmin sounders uses CHIRP technology to give you accurate images of anything that is under your vessel down to around 750 ft, which is more than enough. You’ll be able to see depth changes, your speed, fish-holding structure, and find more fishing spots than ever.
This portable small fish finder features a flasher too which allows you to fish vertically which is the key to a successful fishing trip when jigging and particularly when ice fishing. Add the GPS technology and every fishing spot you find can be saved plus you can use it for navigation and to know your speed.
The one annoying thing about these Garmin fishfinders is that you can not add pre-loaded mapping but it will build custom maps for you of the area you fish using QuickDraw to within 1ft of accuracy.
Garmin Striker Plus 7Cv
Best Value
Specs
- Size Display: 7 inch
- Display: Color
- Touch Screen: No
- Waterproofing: IPX 7
- Power: 500 W (RMS)
- Frequency: 50/77/200 kHz, CHIRP (mid and high), ClearVü 260/455/800 kHz
- Sonar: Chirp, Traditional sonar, ClearVü
- GPS: Yes
- GPS Memory: NA
- Transducer: Included
- Depth: 2300 ft fresh, 1100 ft saltwater
- CHIRP: Yes, and ClearVü
- Water Temp: Yes
- Wi-Fi: Yes
- Bluetooth: No
- Water temperature: Yes
Pros
- Affordable
- Includes CHIRP sonar and DownImaging high-frequency sonar
- Incredibly detailed picture-like images
- Easy to use and it’s durable too
- Quickdraw Self Mapping builds charts for you
- WiFi links to your smartphone and Garmin Active Captain
- Large 7-inch screen which splits into 3 views
Cons
- Not very portable
- Adding charts is not an option
The Garmin Striker 7Cv is one of the best Garmin fish finders around if you’re looking for good value and want to mount a fishfinder on a boat.
This GPS fishfinder is pretty much an upgrade of the Garmin fish finder above but it comes with more scanning sonar features, more power, and a much larger screen making it easier to read the crystal clear imaging.
This Garmin fish finder features CHIRP technology and a Garmin feature called ClearVu which is Down Imaging. This allows you to find more fish as you can use the CHIRP will looking for hot spots and when you find a potential one, see almost picture-like images using ClearVu of what’s down there. It also scans a bit deeper, hitting a maximum depth of 1100 ft in saltwater.
When you combine this with the GPS, the seld mapping, and the screen you can split into 3 to see all these bits of data at once, there aren’t many places for the fish to hide. This unit also comes with WiFi connectivity so you can connect it to your phone for notifications while you’re fishing and access the Active Captian App which lets you share mapping.
This is also a super value fish finder and its one drawback is that you can’t add charts to it. It would suit any fishing enthusiast on a budge who fishes in large areas like the sea or lakes but it’s not quite good enough for the professionals.
Garmin EchoMAP CHIRP Plus 93sv
Best Garmin Fish Finder
Specs
- Size Display: 9 in.
- Display: Color
- Touch Screen: Yes
- Waterproofing: IPX7
- Power: 500 W (RMS) / 4,000 W (peak to peak)
- Frequency: 50/77/200 kHz
- Sonar: Dual, CHIRP, ClearVu, SideVu
- GPS: Yes
- GPS Memory: 32Gb micro sd card
- Transducer: Included
- Depth: 2300 ft fresh, 1100 ft saltwater
- CHIRP: Yes
- Wi-Fi: Yes
- Bluetooth: No
- Water temperature: Yes
Pros
- Simple user interface
- Great maximum depth
- Large 9 inches touch screen
- Screen splits into 4 to see everything at once
- Awesome CHIRP, down, and side-scanning sonar
- Record, rewind, replay sonar data
- Accurate GPS and you can add charts
- Wifi for data sharing and remote control
- SD card slot for easy data transfers
- Works with charts and includes LakeVu maps preloaded for free
- Incredibly accurate sonar imaging with great target separation
Cons
- Pretty expensive
- A little complicated for a novice angler to use at first
The Garmin echoMAP CHIRP Plus 93sv is the best Garmin fish finder around in my opinion as it comes with all the premium features you could ever want. It’s thus perfect for anything from fishing in bass lakes to going offshore in search of marlin and tuna.
Exactly what sets these Garmin fish finders apart from the others is that they are a side scan fish finder that you can also add charts to. This means you get CHIRP sonar, down and side imaging thus allowing you to use CHIRP & ClearVu to see what is under your boat, and SideVu to see what is on either side of your boat up to 300 ft. This lets you cover a lot of water very quickly and it’s immensely useful when drift-fishing too as it shows you where to cast.
Adding to this, these Garmin fish finders also let you add inland maps and offshore maps that help you with navigation and finding fishy spots no end. The maps will show you exactly where depth changes are, help you avoid hazards, and bring you in safely through rough inlets. It even comes with LakeVü G3 inland maps with integrated Navionics data for free pre-loaded.
On top of all this, the GPS fishfinder also comes with Wifi, for sharing data, controlling trolling motors, and more. Plus, it has a key-assisted 9-inch touch screen making scrolling through features easy and when your hands are wet, you can use the keypad – such a great design feature. The screen is crystal clear and you can split it into 4 views to see all the data you need at the same time.
This is without doubt one of the best Garmin fish finders today and it would suit anyone who loves going out to sea or fishes in large lakes and has a big budget. It can be a little complicated to use for anyone new to Garmin fishfinders due to the many features but after a while, it becomes quite easy.
Garmin Echomap Chirp 74Cv
Best Garmin Fish Finder For Offshore Fishing
Specs
- Size Display: 7 in.
- Display: Color
- Touch Screen: Yes
- Waterproofing: IPX7
- Power: 500 W (RMS) / 4,000 W (peak to peak)
- Frequency: 50/77/200 kHz
- Sonar: CHIRP, Dual-beam, ClearVu
- GPS: Yes
- GPS Memory: 1 microSD card
- Transducer: Included
- Depth: 2,300 ft freshwater, 1,100 ft saltwater
- CHIRP: Yes
- Wi-Fi: No
- Bluetooth: No
- Water temperature: Yes
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Pros
- Great networking and Wifi
- Super accurate GPS
- Excellent sonar technology including CHIRP & ClearVu
- Records and replays sonar data
- Large 7-inch touchscreen is easy to read and use
- Works with charts and includes blueChart® G2 coastal maps preloaded
- Comes with Quickdraw custom HD mapping software
- Compatible with the force™ trolling motor
Cons
- Can take time to learn the many features
The Garmin Echomap Chirp 74Cv is pretty much a downgraded version of the Echomap 9SV above as it has all the same features except for SideVu and it has a smaller screen but 2 inches.
You might be wondering why I’ve labeled this as the top Garmin fish finder for offshore fishing and that is because SideVu isn’t very useful apart from in certain circumstances (mainly on lakes), so why pay the extra?
For SideVu to work properly you’ll need to be in a depth of fewer than 50ft of water, be able to drive in a straight line, and be going under 5 knots. If you’re trolling offshore, none of those things are possible since you fish at 6 knots or above for pelagics, the waves ensure you can’t drive in a straight line, and it’s deeper than 50ft.
What these Garmin fishfinders do have is all the features you need for offshore fishing such as CHIRP, DownImaging, GPS, and charts. In fact, it even comes with bluechart G3 coastal charts with integrated Navionics data preloaded.
You can use the charts to find good fishing spots where there are features like canyons, ledges, and mountains, and then use the GPS & Charts to navigate there safely, and the use CHIRP to find shoals of bait and more.
On top of this, the networking is excellent and you can link it to VHF, AutoPilot, trolling motors, and other Echomap units too, so you can run two of these at once. It might be a little complicated to work out the features at first but it doesn’t long to master.
Garmin Striker 4cv
Best Kayak Fish Finder
Specs
- Size Display: 3.5 in.
- Display: Color
- Touch Screen: No
- Waterproofing: IPX7
- Power: 300 W (RMS)
- Frequency: Traditional: 50/77/200 kHz, CHIRP (mid and high), ClearVü: 260/455/800 kHz
- Sonar: CHIRP, ClearVu
- GPS: Yes
- GPS Memory:
- Transducer: Included
- Depth: 1,750 ft freshwater, 830 ft saltwater
- CHIRP: Yes
- Wi-Fi: No
- Bluetooth: No
- Water temperature: Yes
Pros
- Super affordable
- Very portable for ice and kayak fishing
- Includes a built-in GPS and Quickdraw self-mapping software
- Comes with CHRIP and DownImaging scanning sonar frequencies
- Includes a flasher for vertical fishing
- Provides accurate sonar imaging
- The clear color screen is easy to read
Cons
- The display is pretty small
- You can’t download maps to it
The Garmin Striker 4cv is one of the top Garmin fishfinders if you’re looking for an affordable portable unit that does everything you need it to.
Similar to the first fish finder in the article, these Garmin fishfinders are small, so small they will fit in your pocket which makes them highly portable. They are perfect for taking to an ice hole or adding to your kayak every time you go out fishing.
Between the Garmin Striker 4 vs 4cv, the Garmin Striker 4cv comes with both CHIRP and ClearVu (DownImaging) meaning you can use CHIRP scanning sonar for finding potential hot spots and switch to ClearVu to get all the details and see if it’s worth fishing. In addition, there is a flasher which is great for vertical jigging and ice fishing.
On top of this, these Garmin fish finders come with GPS and they self-map. This allows you to know your speed, mark good spots, and navigate all while the fish finder builds you a custom chart of the area.
The downsides of such a small unit are that the screen is a bit small and you can’t add charts to it but that’s not such a big deal when ice or kayak fishing.
Garmin Striker 7sv Plus
Best Side Imaging Fish Finder On A Budget
Specs
- Size Display: 7 in.
- Display: Color
- Touch Screen: No
- Waterproofing: IPX7
- Power: 500 W (RMS)
- Frequency: Trad. 50/77/200 kHz, CHIRP (mid-high), ClearVü and SideVü 260/455/800 kHz
- Sonar: CHIRP traditional sonar, ClearVu, SideVu
- GPS: Yes
- GPS Memory: Internal
- Transducer: Included
- Depth: 1,750 ft freshwater, 830 ft saltwater
- CHIRP: Yes
- Wi-Fi: Yes
- Bluetooth: No
- Water temperature: Yes
Pros
- Crystal clear sonar imaging
- Simple and quick to use
- Crisp 7 inch screen makes seeing data easy
- The screen splits into 3 for multiple data views
- Very affordable for the features
- Includes, CHIRP, Down, and SideImaging
- Comes with a GPS and self-mapping
- Wifi for the Active Captain app & smartphone notifications
Cons
- Charts cannot be added to this unit
If you’re looking for the cheapest side imaging fish finder from Garmin (SideVu) then this Garmin Striker 7sv Plus is the Garmin fishfinder for you as it’s very affordable for the features it has.
This fish finder comes with all the sonar you could want including CHIRP, ClearVu (DownImaging), and SideVu which sends out sonar waves on both sides of your boat. It’s the perfect Garmin fishfinder for use in lakes and rivers as you’ll be able to see exactly what is on either side of your boat up to 300ft and beneath you up to 1,750 ft in freshwater.
These Garmin fish finders also come with GPS for easy navigation, marking good spots, knowing your speed, and more. Plus they also feature the self-mapping software QuickDraw that makes custom maps for you.
All this super accurate data will be displayed on a super crisp 7-inch screen that you can split into 3 to see CHIRP, SideVu, and your GPS all at the same time. You’ll never miss a fish again unless you doze off.
If that wasn’t enough, the fish finder also comes with Wifi allowing you to share and download other people’s QuickDraw data, get smart notifications from your phone, and get fishing data from the Active Captain App’s Garmin fishing community.
The only drawback, as with all the Striker Units, is that you cannot add any charts to it.
FAQ
Where are Garmin Fish Finders Made?
Garmin fish finders are manufactured in Taiwan.
How to Link Garmin Fish Finders Together?
You can link Garmin fish finders together by connecting them to the same Garmin Marine Network. This will allow you to share data between the two devices.
What Garmin Fish Finders can use Live Scope?
The Garmin Panoptix LiveScope LVS12 and the Garmin Panoptix LiveScope LVS32 are the only Garmin fish finders that can use the LiveScope feature.
What are The Frequencies used in Garmin Fish Finders?
The Garmin fish finders use high frequency sonar waves in the range of 200 kHz to 400 kHz.
What Garmin Fish Finders have Side View?
The Garmin Panoptix LiveScope LVS12 and the Garmin Panoptix LiveScope LVS32 are the only Garmin fish finders that have side view technology.
Does Garmin make a good fish finder?
Yes, Garmin makes a good fish finder, in fact, they are excellent. Garmin fish finders are super reliable, they won’t let you down in a time of need, and they are increidbly easy to use. The software is incredibly user-friendly, the features are world class and do as they say they do, and the company has your back once you own one of their units.
Is Garmin better than Humminbird?
I would honestly say yes, Garmin is better than Humminbird but only just. These two manufacturers are pretty equal when it comes to great value, great features, awesome customer support, and make some of the best fish finders in the market today. But, I’d say that Garmin fish finders are easier to use when compared to Humminbird units, but that’s my experience and I’m sure other fishermen have found the opposite.
How Do I Choose A Garmin Fish Finder?
There are three main things to think about and balance when it comes to picking the right Garmin fish finder – budget, purpose, & features.
Budget
Whatever you do, don’t blow your budget and go for something out of reach for no reason. The most affordable Garmin options have a lot of capabilities such as the Stiker series and they are very affordable.
That being said, you don’t want to buy the wrong unit that is going to hold you back, especially if you fish all the time, so make sure it’s fit for purpose. I always buy the best unit within my budget.
Purpose & Features
Are you fishing on the ice or from a kayak or boat? Are you always in a lake or are you going offshore? Do you just troll or do you drift, cast, and bottom fish too? These are all the questions you need to ask yourself to work out what features you need to match the purpose of your fish finder.
For lake fishing off a boat, a full feature set is incredibly useful as the addition of SideVu helps you spot a bass nest 200 ft off your starboard gunnel.
For kayaking and on the ice, portability and a flasher are the key features you need before anything else.
For offshore, SideVu isn’t that useful but GPS, charts, and CHIRP are key.
Features To Always Have
The two main features that will help you the most every time you go fishing are CHIRP and GPS, and luckily every Garmin fish finder has these. The GPS gets you from A to B safely and lets you save your spots while CHIRP provides super-accurate images of the entire water column so can find more fish.
The other extra features are useful but you’ll use GPS and CHIRP first.
Which Garmin fish finder is best?
Thanks very much for reading my Garmin Fish Finder Reviews, I hope you found them useful and have found the right Garmin fish finder for you. In case you haven’t, here are the three fish finders I’d recommend and for different reasons.
If you’re looking for a portable unit, want to use it for ice or kayak fishing, and/or are on a tight budget, then the Striker 4 CV is the way to go. With GPS, self-mapping, plus being super portable and affordable, it’s hard to beat.
For a powerful fishfinder for offshore fishing, the Echomap Chirp 74Cv is the way to go. It comes with a touchscreen, coastal charts & GPS, has both CHIRP and ClearVu sonar, it networks to AutoPilot & VHF, and it’s super reliable and affordable.
If you want the best that Garmin has to offer, the EchoMAP CHIRP Plus 93sv is the one. It has it all from CHIRP to SideVu, GPS to Charts, and Wifi that can remote control and trolling motor and more but it’s expensive.
