Has anyone used one of these Hawkeye Portable Fish Finders? What do you think of them? I have a floattube that I want to purchase on for but am a little skeptical.
Squawfish (alias: Pikeminnow)

I received a Hawkeye as a gift two years ago.

PROS: lightweight, portable, accruate depth & temperature readings

CONS: the display wasn't waterproof (which eventually led to its demise), I had to move very slowly to maintain accurate depth readings, the transducer would move around while moving quickly and give inaccurate data, it wouldn't show ledges or humps on the display, in order to find bottom contour you had to constantly watch the depth while moving very slowly

Durability is a HUGE question mark. The light weight & portability are the only advantages to the Hawkeye. I used to wrap it in a plastic bag while fishing in the rain.

My final day with the Hawkeye was striper fishing on a clear day in the SF Bay. A huge wake from a Ferry boat soaked it. Game over.

I'm currently in the market for a Bottomline Fishin Buddy, and I'm trying to determine which model is the best value... any suggestions?

Mike F

I have a Bottomline Fishin Buddy 1200. It's really great. It only weighs 5 lbs and only requires 3 C batteries for around 40 hours use. The bottom is clear and doesn't take to much to learn how to set it up. There is a side view feature which I think is useless, so I've turned it off and never use it. All and all it is a great tool for fishing, for me it has taken the guess work out of fishing. For a float tube you'll have to buy a different carrier that straps to the tube, I believe the manufacure makes them. I hope this helps.

Show me the water, I will fish.

Great feedback, thanks for the info. I considered the Fishin buddy also and have heard good things about it.