I’m interested in any opinions on these portable machines on the market, I’m looking for one that dosent suck batterys and would be good for hooking the transducer to a canoe, and ofcourse is easy to take on a wilderness trip. Any and all replys would be apprieciated!
Look at the Fishing Buddy’s from Bottom Line, a one piece unit that will clamp to about anything and uses 3 C cells for power. A friend of mine has one and gets all weekend on a set of batteries and then some. You can buy a carring case for it also and they start at $100.
Another possability would be to look at the Eagle locators (and others) Spend a little more for a good locator for your boat, the get the portable case and an extra transducer. Use it in your boat all the time, then make it portable for those once or twice a year trips.
Taking a vexlar FL8 or 18 might be a option. Depending on how long you are going to be using it you might need a extra battry with. The transducer will shoot right thru the bottom of a aluminum canoe with a little water for it to sit in. This worked well for me on a canadain trip. A little water in the back of the boat and the only time it lost a reading was when running full speed.
These little Norcross Portable Fishfinders sure look handy as far being really portable. They run on 4 AA batteries so a guy could just keep an extra set or two in the tackle box. According to the manufacturer, battery life is 25-30 hours. It does have a battery save feature. The manufacturer also notes that it is able to be used for ice fishing, which might come in handy.
I purchased the Eagle FishMark 320 last year (with the portable pack) and love it. Suction cup transducer easily mounted to the back of my canoe and I was able to use it for the better part of a week last summer without re-charging. This year, I’m mounting it onto the bow of my “new-to-me” boat. Bought another transducer so I can keep it portable and take it with me canoeing if need be…
I purchased an Eagle Ultra Classic in ’98.
Still got it…………
Still use it…………
Even love it for ice fishing………..
I think you can pick them up for $200 (Eagle 320 portable)
I think you will like it!
i guess you couldnt get much more portable than the new smartcast rf20 and rf30 , one is a wristwatch with a transducer that hooks to your line and the other aone that hooks to your pole and a casting transducer , how cool is that if they work they say there good from 100 ft and a 100 ft depth range and a 400 hr transducer charge also they have a couple other units that work with these transducers , i believe they will work with any matrix series hummingbird systems 
You might be interested in something like this.
http://www.marinegeneral.com/acatalog/Online_Catalog_Strikemaster_Handheld_Depth_Finder_215.html
I use a small handheld like this on fly-in’s
and week long boundry water canoe trips.
It ain’t fancy but does help find humps and holes.
This one in the link is also for ice fishing.
I’m going into Quetico Provincial Park for 9 days of canoing. So I need a locater that will pack easy and not suck juice. I like taking a lot of fishing tackle on these trips but lets face it- limitations are there. The more you take the more you carry, I have taken a portable on this trip in the past but its been about 5 years since my last trip. Going into these Canadien shield lakes with a locater can be worth its wieght in gold-Literaly in the form of golden walleyes, its easy to find obvious structure but those underwater humps and islands are were these units from a canoe come in handy, nothing fancy just show me the bottom and mark obvious structure- fish ,weed lines, and such. I did take an Eagle portable in the past and this served very well, I see Gander has a Eagle portable for $199. A little pricey (for 1 trip)but I know it will serve all my needs, also I can use it for fishing local streams- were my big rig wont fish. Thanks for helping me answer my question! 
Hi, BigPike
I don’t know if you’re still looking for feedback, but here’s some anyway 
I used a Fishin’ Buddy for a few years. They work OK for large structure, but on some of the Canadian Shield lakes I fished, the Fishin’ Buddy would get ‘confused’ with a really hard bottom, and once it got confused it needed to be rebooted. Also, the fixed screen angle made it hard to read during the day. And, with the small power boats were were using you couldn’t use the FB at more than a couple knots, though you shouldn’t have that problem in a canoe. Finally, it really couldn’t find a fish in a supermarket. 
I purchased an Eagle Fish Easy II a few years ago and it works great. The suction cup transducer stays put easily at 25 knots. The Eagle portable hard shell is very durable, and fits a 12v Gel Cel battery plus the transducer and cable inside it with the display mounted on toip. You can adjust the angle of the display easily. And the unit (without using the back light too much) will easily last 7 days. Plus it comes with a battery holder to use “D”-cells instead of the gel cell.
I bought by Fish Easy II a year before the Fish Mark 320 came out. Now-a-days I might go with the FM320 instead.
Have fun on your paddle and share the stories when you get back!
Rick, I’ve also heard negatives about the Fishin’ Buddy. Thanks for sharing your experience too. The Eagle 320 is still out there at some places, in a portable version. It’s still a good unit in my book. There’s also the lower priced Eagle Cuda 128 Portable. It does not have all the specs. that the Eagle 320 has but will cost a bit less.
Two other low-cost options I can think of are the Humminbird Piranhamax 10 Portable and the Garmin Fishfinder 80 Portable.
Good luck this season! 
Wade,
I also need to purchase a portable unit for Canada. Currently I have a Minnkota power drive with universal sonar on the bow. I use a special cable from minnkota MKR-US-9 to hook up my Eagel 320. This unit is on a Johnny Ray mount and is transfered to the back when running the kicker. I would like to kill two birds with one stone and buy an Eagle 480 portable that could be used year around and end the transfering.
My question is are the connectors for the Power and Transducer on a portable unit different from a standard unit? Thanks for the help
Tom, my understanding of the Eagle 320/480 portable is that it is the exact same unit as the regular unit. What you are basically doing is purchasing the 320/480 AND the Portable Power Pack. However, not all retailers are setting these up the same way. The connections should be the same but what you get in the portable package may vary from store to store. Check it out with the retailer before you buy for sure. I wish I could help you more but we don’t carry a portable pack so I don’t have all the info you probably need. I do like your idea though. Makes a lot of sense to me. Take care Tom, — Wade
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