[CON KSO]

I'm fairly new to fishing and using fish finders - I bought a Hook5 and am now hooked on using a fish finder. Here's what I like:

1. GPS I use this as a split screen with the down scan feature of the Hook5 - I find a good looking section of bottom and mark it on the GPS. I fish for spotties a lot and staying on top of a bottom feature is really helpful. By marking a waypoint I can hover around the feature and see how productive it is. I've found and marked some consistent spots - I love this feature about my fish finder.

2. Depth and Water Temp - I fly fish 90% of the time and knowing how deep I'm fishing helps me to know if I'm getting my fly down to where the fish are. I like watching water temperature too - I'm not sure why yet but I like that I get a reading on it.

3. Down scan and "regular" fish finding sonar mode - I like to switch between both modes to compare what I'm looking at. The side scan is cool, it seems to me that I can pick out what's a weed growing off the bottom and what's a rock. I haven't fished free swimmers like yellowtail with the fish finder yet so I can't speak to the effective of actually finding fish with it but it is fun to see what's happening down on the bottom.

4. Pre-installed with Navionics data - I love this for the topographic underwater contour lines - I often look for fishy spots on the GPS Navionics data and then verify with the down scan/fish finder sonar.

I'm really hooked on my fish finder and I like it a lot.

That being said I did have my brand new Hook5 die on me. I ended up contacting Lowrance and they had me mail it to them (on my dime), they checked it out and for some reason they decided that I should get a new one.

It really sucked that it broke so early in its life aboard my kayak but I did like the Lowrance was easy to deal with as far as returning the unit and getting a new one sent out.

I'm now very careful with my Hook5 I put a plastic bag over it while I'm paddling (a clear one) and I keep ANY water contact with it at a minimum.

Important: I'd consider the Noqua battery instead of the Hobie battery and tray that's available. I have both and I prefer the lithium battery for it's discharge characteristics, weight and water resistance.

I don't know if I'd feel comfortable dropping more than 350 for a kayak fish finder unit - but if I had to do it again, I'd probably buy the Hook5 from a local brick and mortar and then pay for any extra protection plan available. I would verify with them that if the thing dies I want a replacement under the plan (that way you could skip dealing with Lowrance). If I had that reassurance (try to get in writing) I'd go for the Hook5 again.

In short - I kinda feel naked out there without my fish finder. I'm going to always have one on my boat.